Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service‘s Healthy Lawns and Healthy Waters Program will host a residential rainwater harvesting and turf management training on Oct. 4 for Comal County.
The free event will be at the Comal County Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service Office, 325 Resource Drive, in New Braunfels, from 1-5 p.m.
Attendees can RSVP at hlhw.tamu.edu/workshops or by contacting John Smith, AgriLife Extension program specialist, Bryan-College Station, at john.smith@ag.tamu.edu or 979-204-0573. Attendees who RSVP to the event will receive updates and training materials via email.
The training is offered in collaboration with the Upper San Marcus Springs, and Geronimo/Alligator Creeks Watershed Partnership.
“The Healthy Lawns and Healthy Waters Program aims to improve and protect surface water quality by enhancing awareness and knowledge of best management practices for residential landscapes,” Smith said.
Learn residential landscape best practices
Participants will learn about the design and installation of residential rainwater harvesting systems and appropriate turf and landscape species based on local conditions and other best practices.
“Management practices such as using irrigation delivery equipment, interpreting soil test results and understanding nutrient applications can help reduce runoff and make efficient use of applied landscape irrigation water,” Smith said.
“Proper fertilizer application and efficient water irrigation can protect and improve water quality in area creeks, and collecting rainwater for lawn and landscape needs reduces stormwater runoff,” said Dean Minchillo, Texas Water Resources Institute, TWRI, program specialist, Dallas.
Annalee Epps, AgriLife Extension specialist and watershed coordinator for Geronimo and Alligator creeks, will also discuss updates on activities to improve and protect water quality in those watersheds during the event.
Free soil testing offered
Participants can have their soil tested as part of the training. The training will include information on understanding soil test results and nutrient recommendations to help interpret results once the analysis is mailed to them.
The soil sample bag and analysis are free to Healthy Lawns and Healthy Waters Program participants.
Residents can pick up a soil sample bag with sampling instructions and the Urban and Homeowner Soil Sample Information Form at the Comal County AgriLife Extension Office, 325 Resource Dr., in New Braunfels. Bags containing residents’ soil samples should be returned to the location where they were obtained prior to the training, or by Oct. 11. Soil samples may also be brought to the training, where staff will have soil bags to transfer the sample into. Please do not mail the soil sample to the lab.
Samples will be grouped into one submission and sent to the AgriLife Extension Soil, Water and Forage Testing Lab in College Station for routine analysis, including micronutrients, pH, conductivity, nitrate-nitrogen, and other parameters.
Funding for the program is provided in part by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality through a Clean Water Act 319(h) grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The project is managed by TWRI, a unit of Texas A&M AgriLife Research that brings together expertise from across The Texas A&M University System.
