The Senior Scene

Too much or not enough water and never when you need it. That seems to be the longtime plight of gardeners. Add to this extended droughts, flooding and watering bans. What is a gardener to do? Answer: Become a waterwise gardener.
Waterwise is not just about growing drought-tolerant plants or eliminating plantings. It is a holistic approach to managing water on your site to let the rain soak in rather than creating runoff that overwhelms storm drainage systems and pollutes waterways, target watering to avoid wasting water, and design landscapes in a way that won’t generate too much work and require too many resources.
Tacoma Public Utilities and Tacoma Environmental Services Department offer some simple waterwise ideas and tips that can make a big difference. The agencies are confident you’ll find that being waterwise is good for your garden, the environment and your pocketbook. Start with one or more of these strategies, and see which are the best fit for you and your yard to conserve water and reduce time and money spent on plant care:

Natural Lawn Care

• Use an electric mulching mower, which chops grass clippings and blows them down into the turf, where they become a natural nutritional supplement that promotes water retention. Lawns maintained with an electric mulch mower need an average of one-third less fertilizer and 300 fewer gallons of water per year.
• Manage your lawns to reduce water use. Select drought-tolerant grass to reduce watering. Prepare the soil before seeding or sodding, or aerate and spread a thin layer of compost over existing lawns to increase water absorption and reduce runoff. Mow high to encourage deep roots that are more drought-tolerant and pest-resistant. Allow lawns to go dormant during hot, dry weather.
• If you’re going to hire a landscaping professional, go with one that offers sustainable and natural yard care services. A guide with helpful questions to ask landscapers is available at www.piercecountywa.org/naturalyardcare under their Natural Yard Care Library resources.

Smart Plant Choices

•Try low-maintenance plants, especially ones that are native to the local climate and soil conditions, because they require less water and fewer chemicals. For help choosing plants, contact the Master Gardeners program at 253-798-7170, or check out the great local plant lists and planting plans at King County’s Native Plant Guide website (https://green2.kingcounty.gov/gonative).
• Select the right plant for the growing conditions. Plants that thrive in normal growing conditions for your area will be healthier, require less care and need less water.
• Look for drought-tolerant plants that require less water once established.
• Use plants to prevent runoff and conserve water. Plant trees, shrubs and groundcovers to slow the flow of rainwater and increase the amount of water that stays in your landscape.

Healthy Soil

• Adding several inches of compost to the top eight to 12 inches of soil increases the soil’s ability to absorb and retain water. This means less runoff into the storm sewers and less frequent watering.
• Mulch the soil around trees, shrubs and other plants with several inches of woodchips, shredded leaves, evergreen needles or other organic material. Mulching reduces watering frequency and prevents soil compaction from heavy rainfall, thus increasing water absorption. It also adds organic matter to the soil as it decomposes.
• When using fertilizers and pesticides, consider the following: (1) Give plants a healthy diet. Use a slow-release, non-leaching organic nitrogen fertilizer like Milorganite (milorganite.com). You’ll encourage slow, steady growth so your plants will require less water and be less prone to insect and disease problems. (2) Use TAGRO, the non-toxic, fish-friendly soil products produced by the City of Tacoma that return nutrients to the soil while recycling wastewater biosolids. Visit www.tagro.org. (3) If you use commercial chemical fertilizers, follow the directions in order to prevent excess from running off into storm drains and polluting water. (4) Never dump unused garden chemicals into storm drains, which flow into waterways. Ditto for sinks, which drain to the wastewater treatment systems and then out to the bay. Instead, drop off unused yard chemicals for free at Tacoma’s Household Hazardous Waste Center at the former Tacoma Landfill (3510 S. Mullen St.), open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. seven days a week, except holidays. (5) Don’t spread chemicals or fertilizers in the wind or rain. Wind can spread them where they aren’t wanted, and rain washes them into our local waterways where they promote the growth of algae and weeds that consume oxygen fish need to survive.

Water Savings

• Harvest rainwater. The ancient technique of capturing rainwater in jugs, barrels and cisterns has made a comeback. Collecting rain when it is plentiful and storing it until it is needed is one way to manage water for the landscape. Look for rain barrel workshops offered seasonally at the City of Tacoma EnviroHouse (www.cityoftacoma.org/envirohouse) and elsewhere in our area.
• Water plants thoroughly and only when needed. Water the soil, not the plant, using a watering wand, drip irrigation or a soaker hose so less water is lost to evaporation. Water early in the morning whenever possible to reduce water loss during the heat of the day and diseases caused by wet foliage at night.
• Look for and use clean wasted water. Collect the “warming water” typically wasted when preparing baths and showers. Use a bucket to collect this fresh water and use it for your container plantings and gardens.
All of these waterwise choices will help keep waterways healthy and vibrant, which is good for everyone’s quality of life. Yard chemicals are one of the sources of millions of pounds of toxic pollutants that rain washes into waterways every year. By reducing those and other pollution sources such as oil, carwash soap, pet waste and other toxins, everyone can help improve the health of Puget Sound and our community.
You can see one example of these strategies in action at EnviroHouse, the city’s permanent model home that showcases environment-friendly methods of maintaining a home and landscaping. It’s located at the former city landfill at 3510 S. Mullen St. and is open Wednesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and on weekends from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Seniors 55 years old and up are invited to free movie screenings in October at the Eatonville branch of Pierce County Library System.
“Unbroken” will be shown Oct. 9 at 1 p.m., and “Anna the King” is scheduled for Oct. 23 at 1 p.m.
The screenings are hosted by the library and Eatonville Family Agency. A spokeswoman for the agency said the movies are part of an effort to give seniors social opportunities.

Jean (Myers) Ehrlich celebrated her 100th birthday on July 20, the latest milestone in a life that began in Canada and included a career in medicine.
Now a resident of Cascade Park Gardens in Tacoma, she was born Leah Cecelia Myers July 20, 1915 in New Westminster, British Columbia. She graduated from Ballard High School and went on to receive her nursing degree from the University of Washington.
As an RN, she worked at Swedish Hospital and other hospitals and doctor offices in the Seattle-Tacoma area. She began living in Pierce County in 1936.
Jean retired as a nurse and medical technician and married Albert Ehrlich in 1965. They were married until his passing in 1986.
She didn’t have children of her own, but she married into a family of three daughters – Joyce, Joanne and Jeanette.
Jean was an excellent cook, seamstress and gardener. She loved to read, and at one point she belonged to three book-of-the-month clubs. She still is seen often with a book in front of her to read.
As a widow, she organized several widow’s groups in her churches and also worked for hospice programs. She even worked for a Tacoma service provider and did in-home care when she was in her 80s. She always loved to help others.
Jean is a past Matron of Eastern Star, Daughters of the Nile and Social Order of Beauceant.
She has lived a very active and full life and continues to love life and help people. When asked for her secret to a long life, she simply said, “Just living.”

Given a choice to love it, leave it or fix it, homeowners have mixed reactions – and in some cases a love-hate relationship – with their homes.
Washington Energy Services released findings from its semi-annual Northwest Energy Survey in May, revealing respondents’ attitudes about their homes as well as desires to upgrade the object of their sometimes affection.
People who have owned their home for three years or less appear to be in a state of bliss, with nearly 60 percent saying they have the home of their dreams or are proud to have visitors. This compares to all homeowners surveyed, where 41 percent say the same. Some 12 percent of respondents feel their home needs work, call it so ugly it’s cute or simply a money pit.
Nearly 40 percent of survey respondents see room for improvement and are likely to make upgrades this year. And those age 25 to 34, who probably don’t remember a home without remote-control everything, are much more likely to make upgrades than their elder boomers (63 percent versus 37 percent).
New windows and improved insulation or sealing are topping the list for homeowners this year. Other popular choices include roof repair or replacement and landscaping.
One in four homeowners believe they will save more than $500 annually by making energy-related upgrades. This may be just the incentive needed by the 23 percent of Puget Sound-area homeowners who aren’t planning to make improvements because they say they can’t afford it. It might also be the gentle push needed by the 44 percent who say they procrastinate when it comes to home repairs – with 17 percent admitting they’ve been putting off repairs and home energy improvements for over three years.
In all relationships, there’s give and take, but when it comes to temperature control, the battle’s on. Given the choice, 56 percent of male respondents would rather tolerate sweltering heat than suffer through freezing temperatures, compared to 45 percent of women who choose heat over cold. So it follows that more than a quarter of men are putting a heating system on their home upgrade list verses 18 percent of women.
Men and women seem to agree on the home water temperature, though. About 86 percent of all respondents reported that they’d prefer a three-minute hot shower to a longer shower that ends up cold. So it’s little surprise that, of homeowners planning to make upgrades this year, 22 percent intend to switch to a tankless water heater.
Buying a home can be stressful and particularly so when problems are discovered after settling in. More than 50 percent of homeowners report that, after moving in, they discovered problems with their home that were not disclosed in the sale. The top three unpleasant surprises include exterior issues such as siding, windows, or roofing, problems with plumbing or water heaters, and difficulties with heating or cooling systems.
The Northwest Energy Survey was conducted online by Washington Energy Services among 1,065 homeowners living in western Washington between Jan. 25 and Feb. 27, 2015.
Washington Energy Services has served the Puget Sound region since 1957 with home energy products such as energy audits, heating and cooling, plumbing services, and window and door installations.