La Mesa Resident Wins Helix Water District Competition

LA MESA, CA — A La Mesa resident has proved that a beautiful garden can still be water-efficient.

Nick Voinov recently won the Helix Water District’s 2022 WaterSmart Landscape Contest, which recognizes attractive yards that are also water-efficient. He was awarded a $250 gift card, a yard sign, an award certificate, and photos of his yard on landscapecontest.com.

Voinov spent over ten years on his garden, transforming it from a dry and thirsty lawn into a fecund paradise overflowing with succulent plants, colorful trees, and flowering, low-water-use plants.

“I love plants, and found them more appealing than a lawn,” Voinov told the Helix Water District. “I thought it was a bit of a waste because I had to water it every day, and then once you mowed it, it was hauled off to the dump. It was like a crop that you grew and then threw away.”

Voinov dug up his lawn and composted it into a soil, and added manure from a local horse ranch. Once he had a soil, he planted succulents, plants, and trees. He deep waters the plants with sprinklers once every two weeks during the summer season, but not during the winter.

Voinov also installed a rainwater catchment system that can collect up to 700 gallons of water. During storms, surplus rainwater is directed to fruit trees. He is able to maintain a bursting garden using less than half of what a typical family of five with a similar-sized landscape uses.

Visit hwd.com to learn more about more about the contest, which runs from January through mid-May.