With the summer heat already starting to bear down upon us, you might be getting worried about drought and its impact on your landscaping. Beating the heat can be a challenge, but it’s easy to do with a properly installed and maintained irrigation system. Here’s how you can make sure you’re ready for the summer.
Nashville Summers and Your Lawn and Landscape
Tennessee is no stranger to droughts, and our lawns are the first to pay the price for this lack of rainfall. Grass roots need 1-2 inches of water each week to thrive. Sure, when it’s drier, your lawn grows slower, but it can also quickly die and turn yellow and brown. Dead grass, besides being an eyesore, can encourage pests to set up in your lawn and cause further damage. Additionally, dead grass patches don’t usually grow back perfectly, so even if you do get rain, it’s not going to be the way it was without some hard work. Irrigation systems are excellent ways to protect your lawn and keep it hydrated, but hydration isn’t the only issue summer poses.
Sunlight contains ultraviolet light, which is harmful to our skin and, perhaps more surprisingly, our lawns. Shade in landscaping is almost as important as water, so it’s crucial to make sure that every part of your lawn has shade for some part of the day. Planting shade trees is the best way to guarantee that your grass is well-shaded. Some of the best trees for providing shade are wide-canopied trees like the paper birch or pin oak tree. Too much shade isn’t really a huge concern, but there is such a thing as too many trees. You don’t want to transform your lawn into a forest because a good deal of sunlight is safe and necessary for grass to flourish and remain green and vibrant.
Exploring Your Irrigation System Options
Garden hose sprinklers are good at hydrating lawns, but they take a lot of attention and can lead to wasted water. The best method for keeping your lawn hydrated is to invest in an automatic irrigation system. An irrigation system is a series of connected sprinkler heads that are all connected to a single pump system. This system of buried or above-ground pipes connects each sprinkler to the next, guaranteeing proper coverage. A skilled irrigation system installer can determine the necessary layout of your sprinkler system. Irrigation systems come in many forms, from the simple to the futuristic and complex. A simple irrigation system may operate on timers, while more advanced systems can connect with a smartphone, tablet, or computer to provide data and adaptability.
A weather-based irrigation system is a more advanced system that can adapt to the local weather and tune itself automatically to provide more or less water to your lawn. These smart systems can connect to local weather services and use hydrometers and other devices to perform real-time measurements of your landscaping’s hydration level. These systems are the best at conserving water because of how finely they measure, making them the most eco-friendly option.
On the simpler, more budget-friendly side of things, there are more basic timer-operated irrigation systems. These systems are cheaper because they involve less technology, but they have been keeping lawns hydrated for decades. You choose when the sprinklers operate, but keeping them on a consistent schedule is good for the lawn. You want to avoid watering at the hottest time of the day, instead opting for early morning or evening when the sun’s rays aren’t so hot. Moisture in the soil can become too hot and actually damage the grass and its root systems, harming your lawn if you water at the wrong time of day. This might sound like a lot of information to absorb, but don’t worry. When you work with professional landscapers, they go over every aspect of the irrigation system with you and often have a plan that works with the local weather systems. With a landscaper like The Parke Company, you’re in good hands when we leave after installing your system.
Irrigation System Installation and Maintenance
Now that you know how these systems work and the different options you have, let’s explore installation and maintenance. Installation costs are not cheap, but these systems put DIY irrigation options to shame. The urge to DIY and save money might be strong for you, but keep in mind how fragile a lawn’s ecosystem can be. Many people make the mistake of overwatering a lawn, causing grass to die out, or creating a breeding ground for mosquitoes and other pests. Planning exactly where each sprinkler head goes is also easier said than done. Improperly installed systems can lead to dry patches or areas that are too wet. These systems also don’t allow you to measure your water consumption as well, leading to higher water bills and a lot of wasted water. In times of drought, water conservation is important at every level. A professional irrigation system installation will ensure that you minimize the time it takes, the potential for damage to your lawn, and the headaches doing it yourself can cause.
Maintaining irrigation systems is necessary to prolong the life of your investment and your lawn. Many landscaping companies offer maintenance plans with regularly scheduled checks and irrigation system tune-ups in addition to other landscaping services. So how do you prepare your irrigation system for summer? There are some necessary winterization steps that you should have taken in the fall to prepare your system for cold weather. Now that summer is here, there are a variety of things that must be done to make sure your irrigation system is in good working order. A landscaping company will check water pressure in the lines to ensure that pipes weren’t damaged and will perform visual inspections for damage to sprinkler heads. It’s also critical to check the health of the pump machinery and any electrical components to ensure that things will work when they need to. All of these health assessments are important, and they’re best left to the pros.
With The Parke Company, you can rest easy knowing that your irrigation system is in the hands of professionals. Whether you need your Nashville irrigation system installed, repaired, maintained, or have further questions, don’t hesitate to give us a call today.