If you are away from home a lot but want your lawn to be beautiful an automatic irrigation system could be a perfect solution for you. An irrigation system can be installed and programmed to water at the optimum times. There is an emphasis on green living and conserving valuable natural resources today and an automatic irrigation system is a politically correct choice because you actually conserve water using it.
A lot of water is wasted when you simply use your hose and automatic hose reel to water. It is easy to over water your plants and then the water goes right down through the soil and is wasted. Depending on the type of soil too much water can actually move so quickly through the soil that the roots don’t even have a chance to absorb any.
The first step needed, prior to even researching automatic irrigation systems, is to put together a landscape irrigation design. This design considers the watering needs of different areas of your yard. It is simply mapping out your yard determining how much water each area needs. One area may have plants that are drought resistant and don’t need as much water. Plants with a southern exposure may need more water than plants with a northern exposure.
Having plants that have similar watering needs in the same area is optimum. Considering the watering needs of your plants and forming beds with plants that require the same amount of water is best for plant health and for water conservation. When plants that need a lot of water are planted next to drought resistant plants and watered to keep the thirsty plant happy the less thirsty plant suffers. Drought resistant shrubs can be planted with drought resistant annuals and perennials and all can be happy.
Once you have a good idea of the watering needs of your landscape and have created a plan you are ready to learn about automatic irrigation systems. Whether you plan on hiring a professional or doing it yourself you should know something about them. There are two types of irrigation systems: the sprinkler irrigation and drip irrigation.
The sprinkler irrigation system with underground piping has four basic components. One basic component of the sprinkler system is the timer which controls when the water is released. The other components are the underground piping and irrigation valves and sprinkler heads. Drip irrigation systems distribute water differently. They are basically a series of tubes which have holes at different intervals for the water to go through. You will probably have a need for both types of irrigation systems in your landscape. Drip irrigation works best in areas where shrubs and flowers are growing and sprinkler irrigation works best on lawns.
