July Smart Watering Tips for Summer
July 13, 2016 | By webadmin
Summers here in the Dallas area are hot. With August just around the corner, it’s only going to get hotter! Keeping plants water the right way through summer can be tricky. That’s why July is designated as the Irrigation Association’s Smart Irrigation Month. Now that the extra rainfall is drying up, you’ll need to provide supplemental water to keep your lawn and landscape healthy through the heat. Follow these tips for a stunning summer landscape:
Add a Smart Controller
The most modern and efficient way to water your landscape these days is by installing a Smart Controller to work with your existing irrigation system - or a new system. A Smart Controller affords you the flexibility to water each zone with a specific volume and frequency of water that best fits the types of plants in each area. Add the SmartLink wireless option and you can manage all of your irrigation right from your smartphone - no matter where you are!
Go Faux?
Have an area of the landscape where grass just won’t grow? Perhaps you have too much shade, pets are digging and destroying the ground or, you need a more resilient place for kids to play? Today there are a gorgeous selection of faux lawns that look real, are environmentally friendly and easy to maintain. When real green just won’t work, it’s ok to go faux when it works best in your space. It’s also a great way to cut down on water use.
Smarter Watering Methods
Looking for a better watering strategy? Two of our favorites smart watering methods are the cycle and soak method and the hydrozone technique. If you have compacted soils or a steep grade, you may be losing a lot of water to run off. You may need to run your system in shorter “bursts” to get more water to absorb into your lawn. With the “cycle and soak”, you basically split up the recommended watering duration into several applications, rather than delivering it all at once.
Run the zone until you see the pooling up of water, or runoff, on the surface, then stop. Let enough time pass between the next watering start time that the first watering is fully absorbed. That means you may water for a total of 15 minutes, but you’ll use 3 separate start times, each with a 5 minute watering duration (all on the same day). It is always better for your lawn and landscape plants to be watered deeply and less frequently, than for short durations more times per week.
When you “hydrozone” your landscape, you are simply grouping plants with similar water needs together in an area of your landscape. When you combine high-water needs plants such as elephant ears with say, succulents or Texas natives, you may end up killing one or the other if you water too much, or not enough.
Rain Barrel
Take advantage of the few times it rains in summer, and all the big rains in spring and fall with a rain barrel. Catch as much “free” water as you can for watering containers, vegetable gardens and swaths of seasonal color during the heat of summer. Nowadays there are a variety of designer barrels that are made to fit into a different landscape styles. See our Houzz Idea book of rain barrels.
Right Plants for the Right Space
Ultimately, your first step to keeping a landscape that still looks great in the heat of summer is choosing the right plants. Planting near a concrete driveway? Be sure to select plants that can handle a lot of reflected heat. Be sure sun loving water-wise plants are chosen for full sun locations and if you have areas without automated irrigation be sure to choose plants that can go awhile without water once established. If you’re planting under shade trees, look for perennials and groundcovers that can handle dry shade (trees will always outcompete your garden plants for water).
