Irrigation 101 for Your Home

If you want to keep your grass and flowerbeds healthy in hot weather, but you don't want to run around all day running here and there with pitchers of water or a hose, some type of sprinkler system or irrigation in crucial. But what would be best for your garden and what do you need to know to implement it effectively?

The most uncomplicated types of irrigation are ponds and ditches intended to dispense water around the plants that need it. A central pond in your garden can help to keep the top soil damp. You won't be capable of keeping fish in it as soil run-off may be toxic to the water, but it can make a handy resource for other, hardier wildlife. Ditches are a more effective means of ensuring that water reaches every corner of your yard, but unhappily, both ditches and ponds suffer a large amount of evaporation, due to having a huge surface area exposed to the sun.

Sprinkler systems work around the evaporation dilemma by making sure water is enclosed in pipes until releasing it as spray, whereupon plants will begin using it straight away. If your sprinkler system employs surface pipes, make sure they're black to thwart unpleasant algae growth. However, you may find that an underground sprinkler system is less noticeable. In an underground system, valves stick up inconspicuously just above the surface of the ground and release a spray of water when activated.

Drip irrigation is an even more conventional way of releasing water, providing it straight to the roots of your plants. This is usually the most economical option in terms of water use. However, because water from drip irrigation collects locally rather than dispersing over a wider area, drip irrigation is not usually the right choice for entire lawns.

You can control both sprinkler and drip systems from afar, manually or hooking them up to a computer. In the latter case, it's possible to operate these systems on a timed basis (vegetation often does best if watered at sunrise at sunset, when they would naturally expect dew) or attaching your system to a monitor that checks the ground's moisture levels.

Any you select to irrigate, it's worthwhile to think conscientiously about the source of all that water. In several areas, diminishing natural water resources can have serious damaging effects on the ecosystem. You can alleviate this by using reclaimed water for irrigation. Ask your area Home Owners' Association about your choices.

It's necessary to calculate the quantity of irrigation you give your plants and grass. More does not always denote better. Too much irrigation can drown your plants or lead to a salt build-up of the soil surface as the extra water evaporates. Pay close attention to how your plants are responding and you can keep fiddling with your systems to make sure you get the balance right.

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April Walters is a real estate expert. She writes articles that will help her clients and others to understand the ins and outs of the business, so they know what to expect. She gets many of her leads from the real estate Web sites featuring her listings.

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