Are you considering the best way to water your yard? This article will discuss several options available to you.
What can you do? The next step is to buy mobile above ground sprinklers to do the job for you. Portable sprinklers come in several types. Oscillators are good for covering "traditional" rectangular or square yards. Sprayers or fountains are better suited for irregular shaped yards. You can even purchase a "walking" sprinkler that moves slowly across your yard. The advantages to irrigating with these methods over hand watering are that they are less time consuming and will save water. The disadvantages are that the sprinklers will have to be monitored, will still have run-off, and will still probably have to be moved to get complete yard coverage.
The next upgrade is an underground sprinkling system in which your yard is watered from a series of underground pipes using aboveground sprinkler heads to disperse water. Sprinkler systems can be customized for an individual yard by varying the types of the sprinkler heads used. Heads can be bought in varying degrees of coverage, from 25% coverage that would be suitable for a corner, to 100% coverage which could be placed in the middle of a yard and would spray in 360 degrees. Heads can also be purchased at different heights, from flush to the ground to several inches high to spray over taller plants or bushes. This system is better than portable sprinklers, but still must be turned on and off and still incurs run-off. Adding a timer will do the trick as far as the necessity of physically turning your system on and off. It will also allow you to use water more effectively by sprinkling during the early morning or evening hours, thus diminishing evaporation.
Another system to consider is a drip system, tubes or hoses with tiny holes that slowly disperse water. Drip systems can be installed either above or belowground. An aboveground system has the advantage of being mobile; it can be moved or adjusted easily as needed. A belowground system has the advantage of not being affected by wind or by evaporation as much as an aboveground drip. Drip systems efficiently irrigate by watering, or fertilizing if nutrients are injected, the root zone of plants. Drip systems inherently minimize the growth of weeds by only providing water to specific areas. There should be no run-off problem using drip irrigation. These systems can also have timers added to take advantage of watering during dark hours. There are, however, problems with drip systems. They must be monitored frequently. Holes can become clogged with lime or other matter. Underground systems with problems can be particularly difficult to fix because the tubing can not be seen without literally digging it up.
The best system to use might be a combination of both an underground sprinkling system and a drip system, perhaps with timers. In this way, irrigation can be adjusted to the needs of a particular portion of your yard. For example, trees and shrubs which require infrequent but deep watering might best benefit from a drip system. Containers can also benefit from using a drip system. It might be more logical to use an underground sprinkling system with heads for grass lawns because all of the grass needs to be drenched periodically in order to avoid brown spots.
Whatever system or combination of systems that you use, talk to your local nursery or home center to get a better idea of what will best suit your lawn, the plants in your yard, and your climate. Advice from local experts will help minimize potential problems. And, do not forget that hose. Even though you will no longer need to use your hose to water, that is not to say you should not use it, particularly on a shimmering hot summer day, at least for a few minutes.
