Terms of use

General information

Root Zone publishes general information about watering gardens, lawns, trees and small plots, and about the soil and water involved. A garden depends on its climate, its soil and the plants in it, and no piece is written for one particular yard. For a diagnosis, a planting plan or a question about local rules, a county extension office or the local water utility knows the conditions on the ground.

Dates

Every piece was checked with care against the sources available on its date, and is offered as correct for that day only. Rainfall records, drought declarations, water restrictions and recommended practices change after that. Check anything a decision rests on with the agency or office responsible. Anyone who finds an error can report it from the contact page.

Labels and safety

Fertilizers, pesticides and water treatment products come with labels, and the label is the legal instruction for using them. A piece that mentions such a product describes it in general terms and never overrides its label. Digging, pruning from a ladder and running electric pumps or timers near water carry risks that reading cannot remove; whoever does the work takes responsibility for doing it safely, and for calling 811 before digging.

Other websites

Sources cited on these pages sit on websites this one does not run. A link is there because the page supports a fact, and it implies no endorsement of anything else on that site.

Using the text

Brief extracts can be reused if Root Zone is named as their source and the original page is linked. Republishing an entire piece, or the bulk of one, is not allowed.

Changes

The wording here may change whenever the site sees fit, and the current text of this page is the one that binds.