►
Description
The City of Bloomington and the Housing and Redevelopment Authority hosted the 10th Home Improvement Fair on Saturday, February 25, 2012. Fairgoers attended how-to seminars, visited with home improvement exhibitors, asked questions and got ideas for upcoming remodeling projects.
A
So
thanks
for
coming
to
class,
so
that's
some
water,
smart
landscaping.
The
main
three
points
that
we're
going
to
cover
is
using
water
wisely
ways
to
do
that
within
the
yard,
to
absorb
and
absorb
runoff
and
in
the
rain
building
good
soils
to
help
rut
soak
into
the
ground
or
help
roots
grow
into
the
ground
and
get
rain
to
soak
in
and
selecting
proper
plants
to
thrive
in
your
yards,
various
conditions
so
I'm.
My
name
is
Greg
Thompson.
A
During
my
day,
job
I'm,
a
water
resources
specialist
with
the
city,
vegan
lakes
and
wetlands
program,
I'm,
a
Bloomington
resident
I've
lived
here
for
10
years.
Something
I
think
like
that.
Originally
I'm
from
South
Dakota
I
grew
up
on
a
farm
out
by
the
Mitchell
area
for
randomly
familiar
with
corn
palace
I
grew
up
out
out
there,
but
during
the
evenings
and
weekends
I'm
volunteer
with
the
bush
lake
chapter
of
the
Izaak
Walton
League,
which
is
a
conservation
organization.
We've
had
a
property
on
Bush
Lake
out
of
the
end
of
Isaac
Walton
road.
A
Since
the
1930s
and
it's
awesome,
I
lived
there
for
eight
years.
I
was
the
caretaker
there's
a
little
cabin
there?
It's
it's
so
spectacular
of
as
I
came
from
the
country.
Moving
to
the
city,
I
moved
to
downtown
Minneapolis,
and
that
was
quite
a
quite
a
shock,
just
quite
a
change
for
me,
but
then
ultimately
moved
into
this
place,
and
it's
like
living
up
north,
it's
just
beautiful.
If
and
if
you
haven't
been
out
to
Bush
like
you
got
to
go
out
there.
A
It's
a
beautiful
lake
super
high
water
quality
because
it's
been
really
protected
around
the
drainage
area
for
it,
but
anyway
we're
out
there
rainfall
every
dream
fall
in
the
United
States
a
little
color
coded
map,
and
they
say
by
zip
code.
But
really
the
thing
to
look
for
is
this
blue.
The
darker
blue
coloration
is
in
the
later
it
gets.
The
less
annual
rainfall
so
in
the
United
States
is
down
really
in
the
South,
gets
a
lot
of
rainfall
and
then
up
in
the
Pacific
Northwest
a
lot.
A
Then,
as
you
start
getting
up
here,
Minnesota
are
specifically
in
the
Twin
Cities.
We
get
about
32
inches
of
annual
precipitation
where
I
grew
up
in
South
Dakota.
We
were
like
20
inches,
22
inches
of
annual
precipitation.
We
thought
Minnesota
was
like
a
tropical
rainforest
compared
to
where
we
were
at.
You
know.
I
just
seem
like
they're,
always
getting
rain
and
I
move
here.
Oh,
it's
always
dry.
A
It's
never
rains
but
there's
quite
a
bit
of
variability,
but
this
is
sort
of
where
it
falls
out
in
in
average
it's
just
how
we,
how
we
deal
with
that
ring
a
lot
of
times.
Water
just
runs
off
as
soon
as
its
falling
on
the
ground
it's
flowing
off
and
we
just
sort
of
lose
that
rain
Vantage,
don't
give
it
a
chance
to
soak
in
and
then
we
have
to
water
a
lot
to
make
up
for
it.
So
with
water,
smart
landscaping.
This
is
just
one
method,
and
so
this
is
on
the
cover
of
the.
A
This
was
what
a
homeowner
did.
This
is
in
in
Bloomington,
just
west
of
here,
like
five
blocks
away.
They
had
water
that
was
coming
off
of
the
roof
and
and
off
of
the
driveway
was
just
going
right
out
to
the
street,
and
then
they
were
having
a
water
a
lot
to
keep
areas
alive.
Plants
life
so
what
they
did,
they
had
they're
having
their
driveway
redone
anyway,
because
the
asphalt
was
just
shot.
It
was
at
the
end
of
its
useful
life,
so
they
slightly
regraded
the
asphalt.
A
So
the
driveway
pitched
off
to
the
side
dug
down
a
shallow
depression,
ilan
the
side
to
take
that
driveway
water
in
here,
and
then
they
redirected
their
downspout,
which
before
was
hooked
onto
the
driveway
to
just
run
that
way
redirected
it
so
closer.
A
little
dry,
creek
bed
install
these
little
stone,
check,
dams
or
little
weird.
What
the
engineers
column
just
to
slow
the
water
flow
down.
A
But
water
will
ultimately
come
this
way
and
then
I'll
towards
the
street,
but
it
gives
it
a
chance
to
soak
in
there
that
was
right
after
planting
and
then
so
as
a
bunch
of
native
plants
within
here,
some
blue
flag,
irises
and
some
others
and
we'll
go
through
plants
and
a
little
bit,
but
then
right
out
at
the
edge
of
the
driveway.
Instead
of
doing
traditional
Kentucky
bluegrass,
which
has
a
really
shallow,
they
use
I'm
castings,
which
have
a
much
deeper
root
system,
9
to
12
inches
deep.
A
A
So
we
look
a
lot
at
the
one
inch
rain
event,
so
seventeen
hundred
gallons
of
water
coming
off
of
a
typical
driveway
about
1,200
gallons
of
water
coming
off.
If
a
person
has
compacted
lon,
just
really
rock
hard
soils
underneath
the
lawn
surface
that
can
be
shedding
a
lot
of
water
as
well,
potentially
4,500,
gallons
of
water
coming
off
of
the
lawn.
So,
on
the
in
a
one
inch
rainfall,
just
a
regular
residential
property
could
be
shedding
about
7,000
gallons
of
water
coming
off
of
it
over
the
course
of
the
year.
A
That's
two
hundred
twenty
thousand
gallons
of
water
coming
off
soil
compaction
is
the
biggest
issue
with
lawns
lon
health.
A
lot
of
so
I
should
mention
back
in
the
I,
went
to
school,
for
landscape
architecture
and
graduated
about
18
years
ago
and
then
went
into
residential
landscaping,
and
we
did
new
home
construction,
mostly
western
suburbs
Southwest,
and
we
were
so
new
home
construction
we'd
be
the
last
contractor
and
soils
are
rock
hard.
All
the
other
contractors
have
been
driving
over
it
come
in.
A
We
just
throw
side
over
the
top
of
it
trenching
an
irrigation
system
and
then
crank
up
the
irrigation
and
walk
away
and
in
case
to
put
into
plans
to
larger
shrubs
the
trees.
We
would
use
a
big
auger
on
the
front
of
our
skid
loader
to
bore
the
hole
because
it
took
too
long
to
dig
it
with
a
shovel
because
it
was
just
so
rock
hard
drop.
The
plants
in
just
irrigate
the
heck
out
of
it
and
it's
not
a
very
sustainable
system.
You
shut
off
the
irrigation.
Those
plants
are
dead.
A
So
what
we
do
in
the
city
or
we
use
a
soil
compaction
meter.
It's
this
probe,
that's
about
three
feet
long!
We
push
it
into
the
soil.
It
gives
us
a
readout
of
how
compacted
the
soil
is.
What
a
homeowner
can
do
or
is
the
super
low
tech
method?
You
get
a
wire
flag
like
utility,
locate
flag
and
keep
it
nice
and
straight
you
want.
A
If
there's
any
bends
in
the
wire
you
want
to
take
those
out,
keep
it
nice
and
straight
hold
the
wire
really
firm
about
four
or
five
inches
off
of
the
bottom
of
the
wire
and
start
pushing
it
into
your
yard
or
into
the
lawn
once
once
frost
is
gone.
Obviously,
and
so
you
push
it
in
the
lawn
and
see
how
far
down
you
can
push
it.
If
you
can
only
push
it
a
couple
of
inches
and
then
it's
you
just
can't
go
anymore.
A
You've
got
some
shallow
compaction
issues
if
you
can
sink
the
flag,
all
the
way
down
which
a
lot
of
people
can,
especially
in
lawns
that
haven't
had
construction
equipment
across
them
in
the
last
20
years.
25
years
it's
possibly
can
sink
the
thing
all
the
way
down.
Then
you
don't
have
a
compaction
issue.
You
you
don't
have
to
worry
so
much
about.
Should
I
do
a
core
plug
aerator
and
what
should
I
do
you
might
have
if
your
lawn
is
browning
out
in
areas
where
you
can
sink
that
flag
all
the
way
down?
A
You
have
some
moisture
holding
issues
that
it's
just
that
soil.
That's
there
is
not
able
to
hold
on
the
rain
that
comes
through
it.
So
then
there's
some
other
things
that
you
do,
but
with
the
wire
flag,
you
can
also
feel
the
soil
texture.
You
can
push
it
down.
You
can
feel
the
sand
grains
against
it.
If
you
got
sandy
soils
or
if
you
don't
feel
anything
if
it's
really
soft
and
you
got
a
clay,
but
typically
you
can't
push
that
thing
into
a
clay
when
it's
dry.
A
So
anyway,
with
soil
types,
our
main
mineral,
soil
types,
sands
or
clays
sands
naturally
can
infiltrate
13
inches
up
to
20
inches
of
water
per
hour.
So
we
get
a
big
rain
event
that
can
absorb
it
in
naturally,
if
it
has,
if
it's
non
compacted,
it's
got
root
systems
that
extend
down
into
the
soil.
You
can
compact
sand
with
just
driving
equipment
over
it,
skid
loader,
whatever
constant
foot
traffic
over
a
specific
spot,
and
then
it
reduces
the
infiltration
rate
down
to
1.4
inches
per
hour,
potentially
one
inch
per
hour
with
clay
soils.
A
Those
can
naturally
infiltrate
almost
10
inches
of
water
per
hour.
If
they've
got
root
systems
in
the
soil,
an
organic
matter
in
the
soil
that
gets
stripped
off
the
organic
matter
gets
stripped
off
when
sites
are
developed,
they
take
off
the
top
layer,
they'll
bring
in
topsoil,
and
we
did
this
in
the
landscaping
business.
We
didn't
care
where
we're
getting
the
stuff
from.
We
were
calling
it
topsoil
if
it
just
sort
of
looked
sort
of
darker
color,
that's
cool.
A
We
dumped
it
over
and
we
drive
over
it
with
our
skid
loader
to
level
it
out
if
it
had
a
clay
content
at
all.
We're
just
made
rock
hard
soils
again
on
top
of
rock
hard
soils,
but
so
the
Clay's
can
get
compacted
down,
so
they
can
only
infiltrate
point
2
or
0
point
0
2
inches
per
hours,
so
it
doesn't
take
much
of
a
rainfall
to
just
max
out
what
the
clay
can
take
and
then
everything
else
is
just
going
off.
A
What
this
guy
did
study
John
Barton
with
the
Three
Rivers
Park
District,
he's
a
limb
knowledge.
Astore
lake
scientists
did
a
study
on
the
effect
of
lon
soil
compaction
on
lake
water
quality
because
he
was
finding.
There's
theory
was
all
these
lawns
are
so
compacted
they're,
acting
like
concrete
and
just
letting
the
water
flow
off
of
them,
and
then
that's
taking
nutrients
along
with
it
into
the
lakes.
A
What
he
was
finding
in
a
study
of
soils
in
the
western
suburbs
of
residential
lawns,
that
between
4
inches
and
17
inches
below
the
surface
soils
are
so
compacted.
They
would
not
allow
any
root
growth
and
then,
if
you
can't
have
root
growth,
you
can't
have
moisture
penetration
in.
So
you
want
to
focus
on
in
those
cases
loosening
this
this
layer
and
that's
caused
from
construction
equipment
on
typically
homes
constructed
after
the
1980s.
A
It
still
hasn't
loosened
up
so
with
soil
compaction
that
greatly
affects
rooting,
depth
of
the
turf
grass
or
any
plants
that
are
above
it.
So
again,
you
have
a
ton
of
water
that
could
potentially
be
coming
off
of
a
relatively
small
residential
lon
easiest
step.
To
do
to
encourage
deeper
root.
Growth
is
to
raise
the
mole
height
up
to
three
inches.
That's
where
everybody
should
be
at
I
grew
up.
A
So
in
the
country
we
had
a
our
lawn
was
a
former
pasture
that
our
house
got
built
on
in
mid
70s
super
hard
clay
soils
because
it
just
got
super
compacted
getting
graded
out.
We
had
no
irrigation
system
and
my
mom
was
the
main
mower
for
a
while
for
me
growing
up
and
she
was
a
scalper.
She
would
drop
the
mowing
deck
down
to
an
inch
because
she
wanted
it
to
look
like
a
golf
course.
We
had
no
irrigation
system
super
compacted
soils,
she'd
mo
like
that
in
July
or
in
August,
and
it's
super
dry.
A
The
next
day
be
brown,
we're
two
days
later
completely
brown
and
she
was
killing
it.
She
just
had
control
issues
who
are
like
you
know,
Gray's
the
deck
up.
We
don't
have
to
mow
quiet
as
often
especially
you
don't
have
to
mow
when
it
gets
dry
outside.
You
can
stop
mowing,
because
that
lawn
is
so
close
to
going
dormant.
It
gets
additional
stresses
when
you
go
out
and
mow
it
and
create
all
this
additional
surface
area
where
it
can
just
lose
moisture
to
the
atmosphere.
You
don't
want
to
cut
it.
A
So
if
you
raise
it
to
three
inches,
then
in
theory,
top
growth
is
directly
correlated
to
rut:
growth
on
Kentucky
bluegrass,
you
moded
an
inch.
It
can
only
support
a
one
inch,
deep
root
system,
you
mode
at
three
inches.
It
can
support
a
three
inch
deep
root
system
if
the
roots
can
actually
push
down
into
the
soil.
So
if
you
have
a
really
a
dry
dry,
soil
area
got
sandy
soils
and
there's
still
a
lot
of
sandy
soil
areas
in
Bloomington
mowing
it
short
is
bad
for
sandy
soils.
A
You
know
you
want
to
mold
out
at
three
inches,
so
I
can
extend
down
into
the
three-inch
area,
so
it
reduces
moisture
loss
promotes
deeper
growth.
A
root
growth
makes
it
more
drought-tolerant
next
step
so
say,
you've
got
compacted.
Soils
use
the
wire
flag
to
push
into
the
lawn,
and
you
can't
push
it
in.
Just
even
in
the
first
inch
you
get
below
the
turfgrass
layer,
it's
rock
hard!
That's
you
should
be
looking
at
the
core
plug
aerator.
You
can
get
these
at
rental,
centers
and
I
do
have
down
at
the
Izaak
Walton
League
booth.
A
A
It's
usually
60
bucks
to
rent
it
for
like
four
hours,
and
you
can
be
done
in
like
two
hours
easily
of
the
lawn
that
pokes
of
a
almost
a
three
inch
hole
about
two
and
three-quarter
inch
hole
into
the
lawn
and
then
kicks
up
these
plugs
on
the
lawn
and
makes
it
look
like
a
goose,
cam
and
pooped
over
your
yard.
Eventually
they
break
down,
but
it
opens
up
these
holes
punches
through
the
best
time
to
do
the
aerations
in
the
fall
second
best
times.
Do
it
in
May,
first
to
June
fifteenth.
A
You
just
want
to
do
it
when
the
soil
is
not
really
wet
and
not
really
dry,
when
it's
sort
of
moist,
so
it
can
really
puncture
into
the
full
extent.
If
you
have
any
irrigation
system,
you
want
to
mark
out
those
heads
beforehand,
because
this
thing
is
pushing
down
with
so
much
force.
It's
going
to
bust
right
through
irrigation
heads
and
any
shallow
other
shallow
utility
lines,
invisible
dog
fences.
A
It
will
punch
right
through
those
the
next
best
thing
to
do
you
rate
and
then
top
dress,
with
the
lawn
with
a
compost,
a
thin
layer
of
compost,
a
quarter-inch,
thick
I'll
show
a
slide
on
that.
So
that's
the
core
plug
aerators
I
forgot
to
add
on
my
rental
down
at
intersection
of
France
and
old
shakopee.
There's
that
a
hardware
store
down
there
that
also
rents
I
forgot
to
add
them
on
my
list
for
the
deeper
aeration,
and
we
can't
get
this
yet
in
the
residential
field.
But
Toro
makes
his
deep
tie.
A
Narrator
that
goes
down
to
16
inches
to
18
inch
depth
and
that
thing
jams
down
these
spikes
and
then
shakes
physically
shakes
the
soil
to
loosen
it
up
but
like
over
in
the
city
of
Eagan.
This
is
what
we
use
in
our
parks
to
go
through
in
areas
that
have
been
super
compacted
just
from
foot
traffic
that
they
run
this
thing
through
in
the
fall,
and
you
can
just
loosen
soils
back
up
again.
It's
quite
the
quite
the
piece
of
equipment.
A
This
is
what
leaf
compost
looks
like
well
aged
leaf
in
grass
clipping
compost,
there's
a
couple
of
commercial
sites
that
are
sort
of
close
to
Bloomington.
One
is
really
at
the
at
the
landfill
down
in
burnsville
and
that's
on
one
of
the
handouts
that
I
have
downstairs
of
where
to
get
well
aged
compost
and
the
Shakopee
mid-walk
it
and
just
started
a
compost
site
that
people
can
go
and
purchase.
Compost
there,
a
truckload
of
compost
or
pick
up
load
of
compost
is
ten
bucks.
Twelve
bucks,
it's
really
cheap
stuff,
but
it's
we'd
seen
free.
A
A
Instead
of
doing
a
regular
synthetic
fertilizer
but
another
a
good
thing
to
do
in
the
spring
as
soon
as
you
can
dig
into
the
soil
is
do
a
soil
sample
and
send
it
into
the
U
of
M
to
the
lab
there,
and
I
think
I
have
the
sheets
downstairs
for
the
forms.
Otherwise
you
can
go
online
and
print
them
off,
but
it's
like
15
bucks,
something
like
that
to
get
a
soil
sample
analyzed,
and
then
that
tells
you
really
what
your
lawn
needs
for
nutrients.
So
then
you're
not
guessing!
I
had
out
my
uncle
was.
A
He
would
always
tell
me:
how
do
you
take
care
of
a
lawn?
You
take
what
you
take,
what
it
says
on
the
bag,
for
how
much
to
apply
you
take
that
times.
4
and
then
you
apply
once
a
month
during
the
summertime
along
can
only
take
so
much
faster,
so
much
nitrogen.
You
know
any
of
those
things
and
then
it
just
it
sheds
the
rest
it
can't
hold
on
to
it
and
so
don't
I,
don't
recommend
anyone
following
Uncle
John's,
lon
advice,
but
I
always
cite
all.
You
should
really
know
about
lawns
you're.
A
A
You
can
you
can
get
a
thin
layer
like
an
eighth
inch
or
quarter
inch
layer
on
it
and
and
that
breaks
down
goes
into
the
soil,
helps
increase
the
organic
matter,
content
of
the
soil,
because
a
lot
of
our
soils
are
too
low
and
organic
matter.
Content.
There's
contractors
now
that
have
these
spreaders
that
then
can
come
and
spread
compost
on
the
lawn
super
fast
there
in
and
they're
out,
but
it
applies
a
very
even
layer
across
the
lawn
and
I
do
have
a
list
of
companies
down
there
to
that.
A
It's
on
the
green
sheet,
the
lawn
sheet
that
applied
this
plus,
where
you
can
get
the
compost
and
where
you
can
buy
certain
types
of
grass
seed,
one
type,
the
low
brand
name
is
no
mo.
Also.
Another
name
is
seldom
mole,
but
it's
fine
fescues,
and
so
that's
in
your
in
your
handout.
I
think
this
specific
slide
is
written
down
in
there.
So
fine
fescue
is
the
main
thing
you
want
to
be
looking
for.
No
more
Kentucky,
bluegrass,
Kentucky
bluegrass
comes
from
that
area.
A
When
I
showed
that
map
the
United,
States
and
annual
rainfall,
it
was
grown
a
lot
in
the
kentucky
area
that
gets
floor
time.
I
take
that
back
three
times
as
much
annual
rainfall
as
we
get
in
minnesota.
It
comes
actually
from
Europe
from
an
area
that
gets
four
times
as
much
rainfall
as
we
get
in
Minnesota.
So
here
it's
under
drought
stress
almost
all
the
time
unless
we're
watering
it
or
right
after
rain.
A
The
fine
fescues
do
come
from
an
area
in
Europe,
but
it's
further
north
in
Europe,
more
in
line
with
Minnesota,
and
there
are
linked
to
our
annual
rainfall.
This
is
just
it's
way
better
stuff
to
grow
here.
It
works
well
on
sands
or
clays,
but
if
you
got
clay,
you've
got
to
reduce
the
compaction
first
and
it
doesn't
like
heavy
foot
traffic.
So
if
it's
in
a
path
you
say
of
a
path
in
the
yard,
that's
just
you
can't
get
grass
to
grow.
A
A
League
I
would
mow
there
once
the
summer
and
then
I
would
usually
have
to
do
that
in
mid-june,
I'd
mow
it
and
then
it's
done
for
the
year
and
I'd.
Let
it
get
three
to
four
inches
tall.
But
it's
really
nice
stuff,
you
go
into
august
and
we
get
dry,
this
stuff
still
green,
because
it
once
it's
established
it
as
a
root
system
goes
down.
A
9
and
12
inches
below
the
surface
in
the
city
of
Eagan
are
starting
to
convert
our
center
boulevard
areas
where
we
were
previously
having
a
mole,
a
lot
converting
those
to
the
fine
fescues.
So
then
they
can
send
the
mower
in
there
once
a
year
and
take
care
of
it.
Then
we
don't
have
to
irrigate
those
areas,
another
lon
substitute
yaros,
which
is
a
typical
garden
plant
that
can
grow
as
a
lawn.
If
you
have
to
mow
it
sort
of
regularly
every
two
to
three
weeks:
super
drought,
tolerant!
A
If
you
have
heavy
clay
compacted
soils,
you
can
plant
this
stuff
into
it
and
it
loves
those
conditions
out
at
the
farm
in
South
Dakota.
This
was
the
only
thing
that
would
be
green
after
my
mom
mode
in
an
inch
we'd
have
these
big
patches
of
yarrow
that
was
just
growing
out
and
because
it
was
a
former
pastor,
it's
awesome.
It's
super
comfortable
to
walk
on
barefoot.
A
A
A
Yeah,
so
the
question
is
on:
do
you
have
to
start
from
scratch
or
over
seed
in
the
fescue
case?
If
you
want
a
true,
no
mow
lawn
or
a
reduced
mowing,
lawn
you've
got
to
kill
off
the
Kentucky
bluegrass,
because
if
the
Kentucky
bluegrass,
if
you
don't
mow,
Kentucky
bluegrass
grows
to
18
inches
tall
to
the
top
of
its
seed
head,
and
then
someone
from
the
city
will
come
and
visit
you
about
a
code
issue.
A
So
if
you
want,
if
you
want
to
get
to
that
point,
you've
got
to
kill
off
the
lawn
and
then
start
from
scratch.
If
you
know,
if
you're
going
to
still
more
regularly-
or
you
know,
want
to
pull
it
back
to
every
two
weeks
or
something
like
that,
every
three
weeks
during
the
summer
time
you
can
over
seed
fescues
into
your
Kentucky
bluegrass
lon.
The
fescue
works
really
well
in
the
shade.
You
know
where
Kentucky
bluegrass
won't
grow.
A
Roughly
a
ten-by-ten
area,
maybe
a
little
bit
more
and
just
try
an
area
in
the
link
in
the
yard
and
experiment,
see
how
it
goes
for
you
if
you
want
to
start
converting
the
rest
of
the
yarn,
but
in
the
case
of
the
of
the
clovers,
you
should
start
from
scratch
in
the
case
of
the
yarrow
is
so
aggressive
if
you
plug
some
of
the
yarrow
in
it
will
take
over
over
time.
Yes,.
B
A
Yeah,
if
especially
if
the
Kentucky
bluegrass
is
struggling,
then
it's
it's
not
going
to
be
growing
as
much
yeah
I
like
it
I
now,
I
just
bought
a
house
over
by
90th
and
France
area.
Sandy
soils
I
last
fall,
I
was
overseen
fescues
into
and
I
want
to
I'm
gonna
so
transition.
My
lawn
into
the
fescue
I
couldn't
I.
Wasn't
we
had
just
had
a
baby?
I
wasn't
ready
at
the
time
that
take
on
a
big
yard
project,
but
yeah
overseeding,
I
think,
is
a
good
good
way
to
end
it.
A
Try
it
you
don't
try
it
in
an
area
of
the
yard
and
see
what
you
think
diagram
of
root
systems.
So
this
is
one
foot
increments
over
on
the
side.
This
is
Kentucky.
Bluegrass
has
a
two
to
three
inch
deep
red
system:
three
inches
max
over
in
South
Dakota
Nebraska,
North,
Dakota
Kansas
are
starting
to
use
this
buffalo
grass.
It's
too
wet
here
to
grow
buffalo
grass,
but
out
there
because
it
likes
Lowell
precipitation.
A
It's
eight
foot
down
there,
so
you
get
to
August.
This
stuff
doesn't
even
know
that
there's
been
that
there
hasn't
been
rained
for
a
week
or
two
weeks
or
a
month.
It's
got
access
to
moisture
way
down
here.
We
would
have
that
in
areas
of
our
pasture
you
have
a
bunch
of
tall
plants,
you
know
driving
through
trying
to
find
the
cattle,
and
then
you
get
to
the
spot
that
just
super
short
that
it
would.
It
would
just
be
this
big
colony
of
buffalo
grass.
A
It
was
really
nice,
nice,
looking
stuff
it
sort
of
has
a
greenish
blueish
as
a
bluish
tinge
to
it
rainfall
map.
This
is
from
last
year
of
where
we
were
at
the
yellow.
Color
is
about
four
inches
behind
normal.
This
bluish
color
is
they
were
16
to
20
inches
above
normal,
but
it's
there's.
These
funky
maps
on
you
can
get
online
and
see
precipitation
changes
over
the
years.
A
So
with
compacted
soil
to
put
turf
grass
on
a
life-support
system,
we
water
so
much,
there's
so
much
water
that
gets
used
for
irrigating
lawns.
So
this
is
Bloomington
water
usage
over
the
course
of
a
year
from
2006,
typically
using
300
million
gallons
of
water
per
month.
Of
drinking
water,
then
it
gets
to
the
summertime
hops
up
to
800
million
gallons
of
water
per
month.
Sort
of
the
peak
late,
80s
I,
think,
is
when
it
was
up
and
in
to
this
area,
where
really
jumped
up.
A
We
had
a
long
dry
spell
where
we
get
our
water
at
Bloomington
and
in
most
of
the
suburbs
areas
about
400
feet
to
a
thousand
feet
below
the
surface,
and
these
really
deep
aquifers.
This
is
really
old
water.
It
takes
a
long
time
for
water
soaking
in
again
on
the
ground
to
ever
make
it
down
to
these
we're
just
pulling
out
a
lot.
There's
still
there's
a
lot
of
supply
down
there,
but
this
is
water,
I,
look
at
it.
This
should
be
used
for
drinking.
A
You
know:
I
just
have
personal
issues
with
it
being
used
for
lawn
watering
of
this
really
old,
very
pretty
clean
water.
We
also
get
about
twenty
percent
of
our
water
and
during
the
summertime
from
the
city
of
Minneapolis,
that
they
pull
it
out
of
the
Mississippi.
They
have
to
go
through
quite
a
treatment
process
to
make
that
drinkable
so
with
irrigation
systems.
A
It
just
makes
me
even
sadder,
then,
when
you
have
broken
heads
or
heads
that
aren't
adjusted
very
well
at
people,
watering,
the
street
or
just
a
lot
of
just
waste,
so
much
water,
that's
out
there.
So
in
this
case
you
know
they're
watering
out
they
just
have
the
irrigation
head,
just
spinning
completely
around
they
can
go
out
and
just
do
a
very
simple
adjustment
to
get
it
to
stop.
You
know
they're,
so
it's
on
the
lawn
there's
rain
sensors.
A
If
you
have
an
irrigation
system
that
is
older
than
like
two
thousand
two
or
2003
when
when
they
become
it,
became
sort
of
mandated
for
contractor
installed
irrigation
systems,
this
little
rain
sensor,
the
top
of
it,
gets
wet
it
shuts
off
the
timer,
so
it
doesn't
water
in
the
ring.
There's
still
so
many
places
and
a
lot
of
down
84th
a
normandale
area,
those
big
office
towers
every
it
seemed
like
every
time.
I
would
be
driving
home
from
work
in
the
rain.
A
A
I
will
give
you
because
toro
had
given
me
a
couple
to
sort
of
give
away
and
no
no
call
back
and
then
I
just
sad
Toro
also
has
so
there's
all
the
other
manufacturers
have
this
stuff
too,
but
Toros
recently
come
out
with
a
lot
of
neat
new
water
conservation
retrofits
for
irrigation
systems.
This
has
a
rain
sensor
on
it,
plus
a
solar
sensor,
so
it
can
tell
how
hot
it
is
outside
and
that
can
then
control
or
override
the
irrigation
timer
they
have.
This
is
a
soil
monitor,
so
this
you
push
into
the
lawn.
A
It
sends
a
wireless
signal.
Back
to
this
little
box.
It
gets
wired
into
the
irrigation
timer
that
then,
if
the
soil
is
moist
enough,
it
won't
let
the
irrigation
timer
go
off.
This
I
think
is
really
our
good
next
step,
because
we
have
those
the
rain
sensor,
but
oftentimes
you
can
have
the
day
after
a
rain
and
then
the
irrigation
timer
wants
to
go
off
in
it.
It's
not
controlling
it
and
it's
like
okay
go.
You
know
it's
just
it's
not
raining
at
the
moment,
this
one
senses,
moisture
and
so
that
pushes
into
the
soil.
A
It's
got
a
six
inch
deep
probe
and
then
that
tells
the
irrigation
timer.
When
the
go.
It's
there's
just
all
kinds
of
cool
irrigation
things
happening
now:
drip
irrigation
systems.
That's
for
plant
beds.
You
don't
want
to
do
overhead
watering
on
the
plant
beds
that
can
lead
to
just
fungus
buildup
on
the
on
the
leaves
drip
irrigation.
That's
a
line!
That's
right
on
the
ground.
It's
dropping
water
directly
on
the
soil
rather
than
spring
it
into
the
air,
because
you
just
lose
so
much
moisture,
spraying
overhead.
A
A
If
it's
sunny
it's
just
off
before
those
plants
can
absorb
it
avoid
watering
on
windy
days,
because
then
it
can
just
really
blow
it
off
of
its
target
and
evaporation
happens
a
lot
in
the
wind
and
then
avoid
over
watering
too
frequent
of
watering
if
you're
watering
every
day
or
sometimes
every
other
day.
If
the
soil
doesn't
doesn't
need
it
or
can't,
take
it
you're
encouraging
the
roots
to
stay
really
shallow,
to
not
try
to
move
down
to
access,
moisture,
so
harvesting
rainwater.
A
So
a
typical
rooftop
can
gather
you
know
seventeen
hundred
gallons
of
water,
or
it
has
seven
Tanner
gallons
of
water
shedding
off
in
a
one
inch
rainfall
there's
a
lot
of
water
coming
off
of
each
like
downspout
location.
If
you
have
downspouts,
there's
rain
barrel
systems,
so
this
is
then
a
rain
barrels
to
rain
barrels.
So
this
is
a
hundred
gallons
of
storage
using
a
diverter,
a
downspout
diverter.
A
So
it's
a
box
that
goes
in
line
with
the
downspout
diverts
the
water
into
the
barrels
once
they're,
full
they
back
up
to
the
downspout
line,
and
then
the
overflow
goes
through
the
downspout
and
goes
away.
It's
a
nice
safe
system
to
take
water
off
line
compared
to
putting
a
rain
barrel
right
in
line
with
the
downspout
that
the
downspout
hooks
into
because
back
to
this
diagram
off
of
this
chunk
of
rough
here,
you
can
have
500
gallons
coming
off
in
a
one
inch
rainfall,
those
rain
barrels
hold
50
gallons
apiece.
A
It's
going
to
max
it
out
really
fast.
If
you
had
a
downspout
that
was
dumping
right
into
the
rain
barrel,
it
takes
it's
50
gallons,
what's
going
to
happen
now
with
the
other
455
or
500
gallons,
if
it
could,
if
it,
if
it
maxes
out
the
little
overflow,
that's
built
into
the
rain
barrels,
it's
going
to
be
bubbling
over
the
top
of
the
of
the
barrel
right
next
to
a
foundation.
So
the
diverters
are
really
nice
insurance
policy
that
you're
not
going
to
have
any
issues
menards
that
super
menards.
A
Now
that's
an
Eden
Prairie
is
selling
those
diverters
and
only
50
bucks,
but
it's
a
nice
little
box.
It
also
comes
with
a
really
nice
spigot
for
the
rain
barrel.
That's
a
full!
It's
a
wide
open
valve
compared
to
our
regular
little
spigot.
You
open
a
regular
spigot
up
and
it
really
restricts
it
down
by
two-thirds
of
the
water
flow
that
comes
through.
So
it
comes
out
so
slow.
This
thing
you
crank
it
open
its
wide
open.
It
really
pushes
out
a
lot
of
water.
This
is
an
installation
we
did
at
the
Egan
art.
A
How
so
sort
of
like
you
know,
encouraging
community
art
that
it
was
a
community
art
test
to
paint
the
rain
barrels.
So
we
have
those
installed
in
tandem,
so
two
next
to
each
other
and
in
two
corners
of
the
building,
so
we
have
200
gallons
of
storage,
but
in
an
800
or
in
a
one
inch
rain
event,
there's
800
gallons
of
water.
That's
coming
off
of
this
corner.
This
is
at
a
residence
in
eagan.
He
wanted
it
to
blend
in
didn't
want
his
neighbors
to
get
freaked
out.
A
You
know
about
having
a
bunch
of
barrels
behind
his
house,
but
he
has
actually
six
barrels
back
here,
so
he
has
300
gallons
of
storage,
and
you
can
only
really
see
this
one,
but
he
painted
at
the
same
colors
deciding
to
get
it
to
blend.
If
you
get
a
plastic
barrel.
First,
you
need
to
apply
a
plastic
primer
paint
to
it
to
make
that
whatever
paint
you
put
on
it
stick
and
you
can
get
plastic
primer
paint
at
menards,
your
home
depot.
A
Any
of
the
hardware
stores
in
a
spray
paint
can
or
there
is
a
brush
on,
but
the
spray
paint
one
works.
It
adheres
better,
but
then
you
put
that
stuff
on
and
those
a
lot
of
people
use
the
primer
and
they
have
different
colored
primers
use
that
as
the
only
coat
they
put
on
and
that
works
I've
done
that
for
eight
years
on
mine,
but
otherwise
you
want
to
stick
on
the
primer
and
then
put
on
you
use
your
house
pain
or
your
trim,
pain
or
whatever,
if
you
want
it
to
blend.
A
This
is
a
system.
These
are
50
gallon
tanks,
but
flat
mounted.
These
are
underneath
this
deck,
so
they
have
250
gallons
of
storage
underneath
the
deck
you
don't
even
see
it
when
they
want
to
water.
They
have
a
little
valve
over
on
the
side.
They
flick
it
off
or
flick
it
open
and
waters
the
plants
larger
cistern.
So
this
is
at
a
roadside,
stop
in
Illinois.
They
capture
the
water
use
it
for
irrigation.
This
is
at
a
Walmart
store.
This
is
also
in
Illinois
as
15,000
gallons
of
water.
A
This
store
is
it
takes
a
rooftop
run
off.
This
is
at
a
Chipotle
restaurant.
They
have
a
buried
tank
that
takes
two
thousand
gallons
of
water.
Then
they
have
a
pump
in
it
so
that
pulls
that
water
out
for
their
irrigation.
This
is
at
a
target
store
in
Michigan
that
has
a
thirty
thousand
gallon
cistern
on
the
rooftop
or
takes
rooftop
run
off.
They
use
that
water
for
toilet,
flushing
and
then
outside
irrigation.
Then
this
is
it
during
construction.
A
So
in
eagan
we
just
had
a
meeting
with
a
developer
of
a
new
retail
space
there
they're
proposing
putting
in
a
hundred
thousand
gallon
tank,
because
then
they
they're
looking
at
their
overall
summertime
water
usage
for
irrigation,
so
they're
planning
on
putting
in
a
hundred
thousand
gallon
tank
to
take
the
rooftop
water,
and
then
they
won't
have
to
purchase
any
city
water
for
irrigation
city.
Water
is
great
for
drinking.
It's
met,
that's
what
it's
meant
for
it's
not
meant
for
lawn
watering
and
so
all
of
the
nutrients.
A
In
it
they're
stripped
out,
you
know,
rainwater
is
way
better
for
irrigation,
sometimes
watering
with
lawn
irrigation
or
with
excuse
me
with
drinking
water.
Kens
he'll
also
wash
out
the
nutrients
in
the
soil,
just
because
they're
sort
of
mobile
move
out,
but
picking
the
plans
for
your
condition.
If
you've
got
a
really
dry
soils,
you
want
to
pick
a
plant
that
loves
dry
soils
and
there's
a
lot
of
them
that
do
and
in
that
little
handout
in
it.
For
anyone
who
came
in
after
we
started,
I
have
a
little
handout
booklet
up
here.
A
A
That
I
I'll
pick
a
slightly
different
plans,
but
one
that
likes
those
conditions.
There's
different
plant
nurseries
around
I,
really
like
the
native
plants,
because
they're
adapted
to
living
here,
but
there's
a
lot
of
regular
garden
perennials
that
are
just
really
good
in
the
dry
conditions
or
wet
conditions.
You
know,
but
one
company-
and
this
is
on
one
of
the
handouts
that
I
have
downstairs
this
Prairie
nursery
calm.
They
have
a
great
catalog
that
has
all
the
plants
organized
by
soil
type
and
moisture.
A
So
here
they
have
a
list
of
clay,
busters
and
other
plants
for
medium
soil.
So
if
you
have
really
heavy
clay,
soils
there's
certain
plants
that
love
clays
and
they
help
loosen
up
the
clay
soils
because
they
have
a
really
strong
root
system
over
here
they
have
plans
for
dry
sandy
and
rocky
soils,
but
they'll
have
just
pages
of
options
within
this
category.
There's
also
another
really
good
luck.
This
is
my
favorite
one,
this
landscaping
with
native
plants
in
Minnesota
and
that's
referenced
in
the
little
handout
guy.
That's
in
the
center
section.
A
That's
authors,
lynn,
steiner,
she's
over
the
stillwater
area,
and
it's
a
it's
a
great
book
with
great
plant
lists.
They
have
great
lists
in
their
native
plants
of
the
deciduous
forests,
see
these
are
trees
that
grow
underneath
shade
native
plants
for
shade
gardens.
Then
they
also
have
plants
for
under
conifers
evergreens.
These
are
you
know.
People
say:
oh
I
try
to
grow
grass
underneath
it
nothing
will
grow.
A
Underneath
my
evergreen,
my
spruce
tree,
there's
a
lot
of
planes
that
will
grow
underneath
it
Kentucky
bluegrass
won't
do
it
it's
too
acidic,
but
it's
you
know
just
picking
the
right
plans
for
the
right
situation.
I
got
too
much
stuff
on
one
wrap
up:
strawberries,
little
wild
strawberries,
woodland
strawberries,
awesome
little
ground
cover;
they
get
about
six
inches
tall.
A
They
form
a
really
nice
carpet,
they're
great
in
the
shade
or
in
just
semi
shade,
but
a
really
nice
area
for
a
ground
cover
and
you
get
little
fruits
off
of
them
that
are
very
tasty,
they're,
very
sugary,
very
nice,
a
dwarf
Bush
honeysuckle,
really
underutilized
in
the
residential
landscape
plant
that
gets
about
24
inches
tall.
It's
really
drought,
tolerant,
but
it's
also
very,
very
wet,
tolerant,
it's
real,
versatile
and
it
works
well
in
the
shade.
It
really
works
well
in
the
shade
and
works
well
in
the
Sun,
but
it
you
know
two
feet
tall.
A
Really:
nice
plant
super
low
maintenance.
This
you
have
a
wet
area
too
soggy
de
Mol
plant
it
to
something
else.
You
know
if
you're
burying
the
mower
in
one
area
of
the
yard,
because
it's
so
wet,
maybe
think
about
some
other
planting
I
had
too
much
stuff.
This
I'm
going
to
just
show
you
very
quickly
well
why
we
get
all
caught
up
about
phosphorus
and,
what's
hat,
why
are
the
lake
screen?
There's
too
much
phosphorus
so
naturally
occurring
nutrient,
but
it
was
in
fertilizer
for
a
long
time.
A
It's
in
soil
particles,
it
just
moves
attached
to
things
it
dumps
into
water
bodies,
and
then
algae
can
use
it
really
fast.
It
just
takes
one
pound
of
phosphorus
runoff
to
make
five
hundred
to
a
thousand
pounds
of
algae.
So
a
little
bit
of
phosphorus
that
gets
dumped
into
a
water
body
goes
a
long
way
to
making
a
big
mess.
So
rain
gardens
work.
Well,
this
little
rain
garden,
there's
another
class
later
today
about
rain
gardens,
and
so
that's
a
whole
nother
thing
that
I
didn't
quite
touch
on,
but
there's
information
in
a
little
booklet.
A
A
There
is
but
I,
don't
think,
there's
enough
water
contained
within
those
rain
barrels
you
would
well,
if
you
want
to
use
it
for
lawn,
irrigation
I
would
then
step
up
to
a
cistern.
You
know
that
then
is
going
to
be
500
gallons
to
2000,
3000,
4000
gallons,
because
the
irrigation
system
goes
through
so
much
the
rain
water.
Also,
you
would
want
to
run
through
quite
a
filter
system
before
it
went
into
your
irrigation
system
because
the
heads
can
get
plugged
with
with
the
stuff.
A
With
the
rain
water
there's,
you
can
hook
it
hook
up
the
rain
barrels
to
a
drip
irrigation
line
to
a
one
with
a
actual
physical
hole
drilled
in
the
line
run
that
through
the
plant
beds
and
then
open
it
up,
and
then
that's
what
a
lot
of
people
are
using
them
for
irrigating
plant
beds
around
they
hook
up
the
hose
to
it,
and
then
all
you
do
to
water
is
flip
the
lever
and
then
you
walk
away,
and
then
you
wait
and
shut
off
the
lever.
When
it's
drained
down,
you
don't
have
to
use
pitchers.
A
You
know
to
move
around,
try
to
think
also
where
you're
putting
rain
barrels
where's
it
going
to
be
the
most
convenient
location
for
you
to
get
access
to
them
or
where
there's
a
plant
bed
that
you
want
to
add
water
to
or
have
the
irrigation
system
I
put
mine
initially
the
first
barrel
I
did
in
a
very
inconvenient
spot
and
so
I
had
it
was
so
far
away
from
where
I
was
trying
to
water
plants
that
then
I
kept
running
water,
pitchers
back
and
forth,
and
lesson
learned.
But
alright.
Thank
you
very
much.