Yes, landscaping needs irrigation. Watering your landscaped area is the most effective way of ensuring that the plants look attractive and healthy all year round. An irrigation system will be essential if you stay in a dry area that scarcely gets rain. Irrigation is perfect for you if you live in such an area or are growing tired of watering your flowers or shrubs using a sprinkler and hose or finding it hard to achieve a beautiful green lawn.
What is landscape irrigation?
This watering method helps homeowners develop and ensure that custom landscapes, gardens, and lawns thrive. The main reason for establishing a landscape irrigation system in a home is to make sure that you can distribute water evenly and at regular intervals all over your landscape. In most places in the world, you need to irrigate your lawn nearly every day. Only a few parts of the world have regular rainfall, and hence, people living in such areas do not need to have a complicated irrigation system installed for their landscapes.
There are various types of irrigation systems and designs available. You can choose the irrigation for your compound using different factors, including environmental laws, geographical location, and lawn size. The types of plants in your landscape will also influence the type of irrigation method you will choose.
There are four primary types of irrigation:
- Underground lawn irrigation system
- Overhead systems
- Mobile systems
- Drip systems
Most landscapers love underground irrigation systems. It is considerably expensive owing to its sophisticated technology. Its components include automatic times and sprinkler heads. If you tweak it slightly, it can become eco-friendly since water directs near the plants’ roots, and thus you waste only a little water through evaporation. It is excellent for lawns, flower, and vegetable gardens regardless of size.
On the other hand, overhead irrigation is perfect for vegetable and flower gardens, but it is not suitable for lawn irrigation. The system has a timer, and it involves using piping and tubing, which are great since they do not ruin the appearance of a lawn or garden. There will be no need to dig trenches that make the landscaping look unappealing with this irrigation method.
Most people opt for mobile systems for garden and lawn irrigation. This method of irrigation entails using consumer-grade sprinklers and garden horses. Homeowners with little time to spare may not like this irrigation method because it requires moving it around and assembling it from time to time.
Landscapers use drip systems for vegetable and flower gardens. Drip irrigation systems range from simple ones that consist of a pipe with small holes to a more advanced one that uses unique elements to regulate the water flow. These irrigation systems are the best substitutes for sprinkler systems since they are eco-friendly and offer value for money. They use about half of the water sprinklers to keep a landscape or garden looking healthy and beautiful.
Tips for effective landscape irrigation
- Research shows that plants use water more productively in the morning hours. Therefore, this is the best time for you to irrigate your landscape. Watering your plants or lawn at night or in the evening will not be as effective as morning hours because plants prone to fungus suffer in damp climates. Watering them during the day when the sun is heating the ground intensely is even worse because most of the water will evaporate before the plant absorbs it. This way, you will spend a lot of money to pay for the water bills with nothing to show for it.
- You can attain the best results when you water irregularly and deeply. Doing this helps the plant to grow a deep root system. The outcome is that the plants will develop stronger drought hardiness because the topmost layer of the soil is the first to lose moisture, followed by the layers underneath.
- Overhead irrigation beats the other methods easily when it comes to lawns. Drip irrigation is more effective for fruit trees, herb gardens, vegetables, and shrub beds, because the method ensures that plants get metered water slowly.
- There is minimal or no water wasted through evaporation and no loss due to runoff since the system pours water near the ground and at a slow rate.
- The crop and soil types determine the length of time you need to spend watering the plants in your landscape. If you are landscaping in an area with loam soil, 1 inch of watering will translate to 12 inches of penetration. If it is clay soil, the penetration will be less than 12 inches, whereas the penetration will be more than 12 inches for sandy soil. Avoid overwatering clay soils because they retain water for lengthy periods; thus, too much water will limit the amount of oxygen in the soil, hampering plant growth. When you are watering young shrubs in loamy soils, irrigate them thoroughly once every week.
- Different plants need varying amounts of water. Some plants can survive in an area that is damp all the time, while others can only do well in the regions that are only wet occasionally and have intervals when the region is arid. With this knowledge in mind, it is advisable to grow plants with similar water requirements together. It would be best to learn all you can about the plants you are planting in your landscape so you can use a water-wise landscape design.
- Apart from controlling the amount of water you use when irrigating, versatility is another significant benefit of using drip irrigation. You can customize the system to irrigate specific plants by giving each plant its emitter. It is also easy to adjust the system because all you need to do is increase or reduce emitters and lines when the need arises.
- Consider aerating your lawn to enable water to penetrate better and capitalize on your irrigation system.
- In addition, it would be best if you plant native grasses and plants that will quickly adapt to your local weather.
- Evaluate your landscape’s unique characteristics, including the amount of shade and sun it gets. This process will help you know which plants you should plant in a specific area in your landscape. For example, you may plant shrubs or plants that need a lot of water at the bottom of a sloppy surface and those that do not need much water in flat areas.
- Plant during fall or spring. Planting during summer will require you to use more water for the plants to germinate.
- Mulch trees, shrubs, and plants. Utilizing about four inches of mulch will help you reduce evaporation significantly. Mulching will keep weeds at bay, which would have consumed the water meant for your plant. It will enhance water penetration and regulate soil temperatures.
Conclusion
Landscape irrigation comes with many benefits, such as reducing water runoff, helping you save on water bills and time, conserving the environment by saving on fertilizer and insecticides, and directing water to specific plants. An irrigation system has to be installed properly to yield the best results. Getting a professional to install it for you is an excellent way of achieving this goal of having an efficient irrigation system. With this information above, you will have a healthy and breathtaking landscape the whole year regardless of the weather.