Water savings in foodscaping

There is no denying that growing your own fruits and vegetables requires water, but you may be surprised to know a well designed foodscape can substantially reduce water use when compared to turf grass.

We have foodscaped our entire front yard transforming our landscape into a beautiful food producing oasis that produces the most delicious and nutritious fruits and vegetables possible.

In this video we talk water savings in foodscaping and take a quick tour of our frontyard foodscape. Our waterwise foodscape design (Phase 2) saves 75% of the water when compared to grass and our maximum food production design (Phase 1) saves 25% compared to grass. They both look beautiful and produce the most nutritious and delicious food right in our front yard. We also offer tips on how to design a water-wise foodscape and how to conserve water with drip irrigation, mulch and water-wise perennials.

‘Phase 2’ uses 75% less water than grass. We did the math compared to how we used to water it, which was 3 times per week in the heat of the summer. Here’s the numbers:

984 square feet
Grass: 1,500 gallons of water per week
Foodscape: 370 gallons per week
Grass: 0 food
Foodscape: estimated 250lbs of food per year

Phase 2 features 80 sqft vegetables, three nut trees, Belgian fence espalier apples, water wise perennials, and a flagstone gathering area with creeping thyme.

The other side of our frontyard foodscape (Phase 1) uses more water than phase 2 but still saves 25% when compared to grass and produces about 3 times more food.

Of course, there are a lot of other things to consider like the time and money invested in foodscaping, but for us, all of the work is worthwhile because it makes us healthy…and it does something productive with our space. You can’t eat grass 😊 and the only time we were on our grass in the front yard was when we mowed it. We view foodscaping is the most sustainable thing we can do with the space we have.

We do still have a small area of grass in our backyard to play on. This year we are only watering it once a week and then we’ll dump a little grey water on the driest spots. It will survive. Brown is the new green.

For more on how we foodscaped phase 2

For more on how we foodscaping phase 1

For more on installing drip irrigation with our video and recorded class

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