I have lived in El Paso for just over a year now, and would like to understand the basics of watering and conserving water. I will be reading in here but I notice there is no FAQ.

I have about 2000 square feet or so of yard and all but about 1/6 of it is covered in grass: various types as well as St Augustine that is growing in my back yard and in my neighbors' yards too. It's lovely. I also have 13 cedars, mostly large ones, many bushes, two huge hardwoods and two small hardwoods. For such a small yard, it's a virtual forest. The large hardwoods are twenty plus year old non flowering mulberries which are no longer allowed to be planted since they love water so much.

Recently, with the high temperatures for the past week, I have been noticing some bushes that were previously lush, wilting. I am not getting to them during the watering times, obviously, so for the past day or so, I've been letting water drip on them during the day, under mulch.

We are only allowed to water three days a week, during hours in the morning and after six.

I have a sprinker system in the front yard. I use a series of small soaker hoses on my gardens after watering nights. I don't have a lot of money this year to put into systems. I'm using old fashioned hoses in back.

Basically I have been following the lead of my neighbors, who insist upon and love their green lawns that back up to mine. When one doesn't water I listen to them complain about what an awful person who isn't out watering...I assume they know more than I do so I water every allowable day.

Unlike most people around here I've been watering since March so I was wondering if it may be okay to back off a bit of the every other day watering. I don't pay for water so that's not the issue. I figure I live in the desert!With all the trees I'm thinking the water isn't getting deep enough for trees that are either getting well established by now or ones which have been here for over twenty years! The grass around what look like four year-old hardwoods is very thin and dry.

I think what happens is that the trees look fine until they suddenly aren't fine. Then they end up looking like winter trees all summer.

With all the trees, bushes and grass, I wonder if watering three days a week, in the morning and evening is the best method.