Use a Lawn Irrigation System to Ensure a Proper Watering Schedule

Watering the lawn is one of the most important tasks a home owner can do to ensure a healthy, green and lush lawn. It is also not a topic of great fascination for most individuals either. Unfortunately, the average home owner is usually not watering the lawn in the proper volume or frequency.

Many lawns are being over-watered. Even though an irrigation timer might be present in the sprinkler system, over time and through "tweaking" by the home owner, the proper program has been altered beyond any benefit or completely shut off. There is no one rule of thumb, however, for how often a lawn needs to be watered. Every lawn can vary greatly from the one just a few houses down.

The key is to water sufficiently enough to ensure the roots are well watered. What many people assume is every other day of watering is the best rate. In fact, many town and city ordinances only allow for watering every other day with water conservation in mind. Just because it is or isn't allowed does not necessarily mean that is what is needed by the lawn.

What determines how frequently a home owner should water the lawn is the type of subsoil and the overall climate. A region with a sandy or rocky soil will drain faster than soil with a thick and heavy clay layer. A region with milder temperatures, such as Minnesota, will allow the soil to retain water longer than a hotter climate as is found in New Mexico. Surprisingly, different zones within the same lawn may need drastically different quantities of water due to whether the area receives full sun or full shade.

Over saturating the lawn without allowing the soil to dry out between each watering encourages mold, disease and fungus. Conversely, not affording enough water to penetrate to the roots will cause a weak and shallow root system. Shallow roots mean increased risk of disease or dead patches, just as too much watering.

It can be a delicate balance, but a professional irrigation installer conversant with the local soil types and sprinkler layout can help to ensure a properly healthy lawn. Just having a sprinkler system installed is not enough. Details such as spray patterns, the needs of individual plant types and so on all need to be taken into account. Unless the home owner does not have experience in irrigation and sprinkler system, there should not be any guess work. Guessing most assuredly will end up costing the home owner more.

Many websites provide additional information on the topic of sprinklers, irrigation, and lawn maintenance. One such site worth visiting is http://www.clearwaterirrigation.com.