Many gardeners in the Southwest are familiar with the term "xeriscape" because it defines a common-sense approach to landscaping here in the desert to minimize water use.

What most people fail to understand is that any home landscape can become a xeriscape just by using some water-conserving principles.

Although a component of xeriscape is the use of drought-tolerant plants, that doesn't mean strictly desert landscaping with cacti and succulents. Many of our commonly used Mediterranean plants are also drought-tolerant, including oleander, bougainvillea, olive, rosemary, lavender and Indian hawthorn. It's not so much what you grow, but how you water that makes the difference.

An efficient irrigation system is important. One that has several zones for watering plants with different requirements on different schedules is ideal. But even if you don't have such a system, you can water more efficiently by watering less frequently but for a longer period of time. Deep watering provides a reserve of soil moisture that plants can draw from, allowing them to go longer between watering. This saves water and keeps plants healthier. Frequent, shallow watering wastes water and stresses plants for moisture.

Another xeriscape concept that can be fitted to any landscape is the on-site retention of rainwater. All homes have natural or man-made drainage ways that move water away from the home and off the property. Slowing the flow of water or channeling it to areas where it can be absorbed by plants will supplement and reduce irrigation requirements.

One way to reduce water flow across your property is to build a small rock dam, called a gabion, across the drainage way. It doesn't have to be a large dam, just big enough to hold back some water and allow it to soak into the ground. A gabion just a foot tall placed across a ditch, culvert or swale can slow the flow of water just enough for it to soak into the ground. The rocks are held in place by wire mesh fencing material wrapped around them.

To ensure that water doesn't undercut the dam, a trench is dug 12 inches deep across the wash and the wire mesh is placed in the trench and then filled with rock. The mesh is then drawn up around and over the rock and connected with wire to enclose the rock.

Another way to retain water around plantings is to build small berms of soil on the downside slope of trees and shrubs. These small raised mounds of soil formed in a large crescent shape will hold some of the rainwater back and allow it to be absorbed into the soil.

If your property is relatively flat and you're installing new trees and shrubs, form shallow basins to plant them in. At their deepest point, where the plant is to be installed, the basins need be only 6 or 8 inches deep, but the basin should extend out several feet beyond the mature spread of the plants. The saucerlike basin will collect and hold rainwater.

Just be sure to mulch the soil in the basins with typical rock mulch or organic mulch such as ground cedar. The mulch will prevent soil from eroding back into the center of the basin and building up around the base of plants.