Personally speaking, I don’t think there is smell that can compare to the great outdoors after a rain fall. The heat of the day evaporates, the lingering odor of ozone as the rain hits the dusty pavement, scuffing up puff balls, halting any maintenance mowing. If green had a smell assigned to it, it would be that. Then there are those draggy hot summer nights, mid-week drags of just plain scorching parched dry spells. The ones that suck the energy out of you AND the lawncare. You just don’t WANT to go out and water, but you know you have to. Is there a happy medium? You may want to consider upgrading from a traditional handheld nozzle that always leaks and drips at one end of the spigot valve or the other. The one attaches itself with the tensile strength of a tiger shark or having to put an entire algebraic theory together to place an ground oscillating free standing sprinkler which was a BLAST to run through and skip over when you were 8 years old….but not so fond of now as your garden hose will tangle underfoot. Irrigation systems might be your cure. Let’s take a look for a match.
How often should I water my lawn with a sprinkler system?
That always made my list of daily summer chores; water grass, set a hose timer, go to work, come home, water grass, repeat as desired First things first. Are you sure your grass NEEDS to be watered? How can you tell if it does or not? Region temperate zone or city ordinance in effect? Grass has this incredible way of telling you “Psssst! Hey you! I’m thirsty.” And the clues, my dear Waterson, are underfoot. Much like our skin, the grass is a living organ and when it becomes dehydrated, the first thing it will do is wilt and droop and allow you to leave your footprint. You can tell by the barefoot test. If your lawn becomes scratchy, crinkly and doesn’t bounce back but leaves imprints of passage, it needs watering. Sub sequentially, if, after a rainstorm, the normal puddle spots are not puddled, it could be signaling you that is slaking its thirst. If NEW pooling areas begin to pond up, the soil under the grass is also in need of a good soaking and possible quick aeration with a few pokes of a screwdriver or pitchfork to break up and clay or heat impacted drought attacked soil and a nice solo soaker at the hands of a regular garden hose. To stay healthy, we drink about 8 to 10 glasses of water a day. The best time to water lawn and garden is once the peak heat of the day vanishes. The best time to water plants depends on what you’ve got growing. I like to err on more is best for vegetables. You can always move ground plants around. The average weekly total for a lawn is about an inch. To determine how much an inch is, find something just over an inch tall and wide enough to not get tipped over; ex: a Tupperware bottom square, or an unused baking dish and place it in direct hit of the sprinklers spray. Turn your system on and let it run for about 5 minutes at a time until the inch level in your container is full. This should give you a base timeline for how LONG each pass of the system should be for a normal weekly lawn watering. Does the sprinkler system you have or would like to have come with a timer? Valve heads or just sprinkler tops? Is it a pressure vacuum pop up that auto shuts down to prevent and back contaminants from tainting your freshwater filtration? Auto valve diversion or manual setting? Of course, take into factor your forecast as well and adjust if needed by adding good extra-long soaks to your landscape grass and gardens during those drier days. Or cutting down after a couple of days of periodic downpours or by adding the best lawn sprinklers or irrigation system for your lawn.
What is the best time to water my lawn?
The best time of the day to water lawn is in the early hours of the day. So I hate to break it to you but if you aren’t a morning landscaping person or there isn’t one entrepreneurial teenager posting fliers that advertise sure best sprinklers service, you may not want to have grass. Insert smiley face here and wonder, how long to water lawn… But seriously, the best time to water grass and garden are in the early morning up until the warmth begins to peak for the noon time rush hours and then before the true overnight begins to dampen, causing the lawn to stay overly dank and damp. This can lead to unsightly and costly mold damage to your yard, attract nasty parasites and other grubby infestations and affect surrounding flowers or shrubs as well. Soaker hoses are great to have as bolsters, especially if you’ve got a lot of bark mulch. Too much sun and bark mulch has been known to ignite. Add to that all the chemicals in fertilizers and a small smolder can lead to a grass fire within minutes. Soaker hoses winding in through mulch and bark can keep things under control and if you’re extra ambitious, add to curb value with a few rock waterfall gardens that even the soaker hose can be responsible for irrigating. Even a best lawn sprinkler amidst your vegetables will pay dividends from gentler diversionary runoffs. Valve irrigation systems are designed to assist you by taking out that guess work for you. Especially if you opt for auto timing. While enjoying an extra cup of coffee in the morning or relaxed after dinner family time, you can be pleased knowing that your grass is being cared for as well and the extra hose can be rolled up and stored away correctly…for once….
What is the best lawn irrigation system?
The fact that you’ve decided to choose an irrigation system and upgrade from a hose and just a sprinkler, proves that you are taking a serious approach to maintaining your yard to a pristine condition and taking into consideration your own reason why. Perhaps you work long hours or are busier than others on weekends. Maybe you spend time traveling during the summer or it could just be that you just want to provide your landscape with the best you can by setting a hose timer and wonder aloud how long should I water my lawn. There are lawn irrigation systems and soakers popping up everywhere now, all with different “how to’s” and “we offer’s”, especially with the climates shifting about so much now, water and irrigation is becoming a hot commodity. Keep in mind, you’ll need to consider winterization for an irrigation system too. Toro®, for example, already has a foot ahead because of their preestablished credibility in the lawn maintenance industry. They cover both commercial irrigation and residential clients, service what they sell, provide an ample irrigation parts department and employ trained horticultural and landscaping professionals to evaluate, design, install and warranty their work and has been in the irrigation business since 1914, the time of the biggest droughts known. This is just one peek into one irrigation service company but if I had to put my money on what system to buy, I would bet it all on this lawn bull. TORO TORO TORO! You can still keep the hose for vegetable gardens, car washing and siding powersprays…..ummmm…too much? Well, one more thought to consider is how something as fun as an outdoor birthday or celebration can be a boon to your irrigation. A few mid to high spray sprinklers and low ground soaker hoses will have the kids and adults alike jumping between sprays and bubbling sprinkler patterns to stay cool. Now THAT is a great recycling tip.
What is the average cost of a lawn sprinkler system?
When asked, I like to answer with an average answer of generally around “a buck a duck.”, which translates into one dollar per one square foot, roughly. And that doesn’t waver much even if you are a qualified landscaping DIY’er who is looking to replace Old Faithful; the best sprinkler or have all out bells and whistles whiz bang one installed. The lawn kits can be classed in threes along with installation extra fees if you opt with a company installation buy. Your classic Good-Better-Best kit price on average is also dependent upon the size of the lawn area to be irrigated in square footage. Since we’re talking irrigation, your area to be covered must obviously be large enough for you to consider your options, right? So, an average 4000 square foot yard would run from $3000.00 to $5000.00 on the Good, Better, Best scale. A basic garden kit purchase, the central pump and “heart” of it, would be considerably less; approx. $10.00/100 feet equaling out to $400.00 but then you would still have to supply all the pvc piping or tubing, flow valves, connectors, tee fittings, sprinkler heads etc etc. Land and lawn building permits? You’ll want to check with your town office. Take into account winterizing your grass sprinkler hose system along with your lawn. If your garden area gets hit with even one or two good solid ground freezes, winterization will end up saving you a bundle in repairs or replacement. Optionally, with an actual service professional install, you won’t have to fuss around with warranty worry either. My personal choice is to go pro; they are in the “lawn know, flow and grass grow.” business. Don’t wait, go with the best time to water lawn synopsis, however. Oh, and winter is the OPTIMUM time to book and buy now to grab pre-season lawn deals and also take advantage of any post year discounted garden maintenance irrigation kits. Don’t be afraid to wheel and deal either as most irrigation and landscape companies will have WIDE and VARIED prices due to their own system lawn maintenance requirements as well. You still have top word as it is your grass, garden and lawn.
Any word to the wise about irrigation and vegetable and flower gardening?
In my own experience, from tilling to trendy companion planting and even grafting, the best way to get the best results is good, old fashioned hose sprinkling…sprinklers or just sprinklers. Gardens take a beating when you think about it. Fruit attacking bugs, grubs, damp under grass, moldy roots or outer flesh. Invasive roots, wildlife. Fertilizers must be of food grade if going the chemical way. All in all, a great backdrop to promote getting back to true green. By hand watering, you can take care with germinating seeds pods until tender roots can settle. A raised garden bed can provide watering run off to the grass and help with covering the overflow of how often should I water my garden and how often should I water my lawn. Forgetting how to turn on sprinkler system. If you have a lot of left-over sprinklers, consider breaking into new territory and start thinking about a small flower or veggie garden. No need for lawn irrigation system, lawn sprinkler heads, lawn sprinkler system with pressure vacuum breaker or any sprinkler system repair. You can leave the toro irrigation stampede to the toreador rings of Spain and use the rain as nature’s own sprinklers and sprinkler winterization is just a simple toss into the basement, garage or shed. Small, portable, moveable and yeah, still fun to run through, sprinklers still serve their purpose.
The day is done, and you settle out on your deck or porch to watch the sun fade away. All is quiet and cozy. And there it is, a scant breeze which carries with it the waft of that drying dirt heat. The taste of copper lines the back of your throat and the sound of a low rumble of thunder crawls forward in advance of a mid-summer’s night rain. Tilting your head back, you stand up and turn to head indoors but then something stops you and you have to just stand there, with closed eyes and recall when running through the backyard sprinklers was almost as fun as this moment is now. Because no matter how much you want to, you will never really roll up and put away Old Faithful….