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Water means life to just about every creature on Earth. Yet, it may be the resource we take most for granted, in both our own lives and our efforts to nurture our gardens. As our demand for water increases, drought, pollution, and the declining watertable shrink our supply of this critical resource and threaten the habitat of mink, herons, dragonflies, and countless other wildlife species.

Since your goal is an ecologically sustainable garden, you want your projects to consume as little water as possible. Apart from the extra water required to nurture newly planted vegetation, growing drought-resistant, native plants should allow your garden to thrive on rainfall alone.

Thoughtful planning and maintenance help produce a garden that remains vibrant no matter what nature has to offer. Here are some tips to minimize watering:

• Group plants according to their water needs.
• Use drip irrigation to provide maximum moisture with minimum waste.
• Mulch plant beds for better moisture retention.
• Choose drought-tolerant grass species (native grasses are adapted to local climate conditions).
• Water lawns more deeply and less often to allow grass to develop deep roots and allow the lawn to survive periods of drought.
• Minimize lawn areas.
• Use regionally native plants chosen to suit the particular conditions of each area of your property — once established they should require little watering.