The Benefits of Using an Irrigation System
There is a lot of work that goes into making sure your lawn is always looking and feeling its best, including proper watering, regular fertilizing, and keeping regional insects and diseases out of your lawn. Because climates across North America can vary, it's important to consider the best times and frequency to water your lawn – but this can be difficult when you go from extreme hot days to ones where frost might accumulate over night. That's where the benefits of having an irrigation system can come into play. An irrigation system that is properly designed, maintained and managed, applies water only when needed. And, it only applies the amount of water necessary to replenish soil moisture once it has been lost due to evaporation from the soil, or through transpiration from the lawn and landscape.
Types of Irrigation Systems
There are two types of irrigation you can use on your lawn: • Manual Irrigation • Automatic Irrigation System
Manual irrigation is done by hand watering turf using hoses, sprinklers, or nozzles. Using a manual irrigation process can be more efficient and less expensive, but it can require a lot of work and attention from the homeowner. Attaching timers to a sprinkler system, installing quick connectors, and using drip irrigation on trees, shrubs, and flower beds can all help make manual irrigation more efficient for a landscape.
An automatic irrigation system is in-ground and clock-driven. It can be more expensive to install and maintain, but the results will pay off in the long run. An automatic system requires professional installation, but once it is installed, you can schedule your irrigation system to accommodate your climate and landscape needs. It's also important to have a professional perform regular irrigation system maintenance to ensure your irrigation system is always functioning properly.
So, whether you go with an automatic irrigation system, or start performing manual irrigation on your own, remember to monitor how your lawn, or other parts of your landscape, are reacting to the irrigation. Some plants and turf grasses require high volumes of water; while others are drought resistant (you don’t want to waste your water resource on plants like these).
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