This month we are thrilled to have a guest blog post on watering tips written by the irrigation experts at Wes-Tech Irrigation
To maintain a lush lawn during the summer, you’ll need to water your lawn more frequently. Generally, an application of water in the morning, before 4 am, (after midnight If an automatic system – See CRD revised watering bylaw) and evening, after 7 pm on the two days of the week allotted per home address, is sufficient. Sprinklers with spray nozzles should run for 12 to 15 minutes per cycle on average, while rotors or oscillating nozzles should run anywhere from 35 to 45 minutes per cycle. Lawns need about 1 – 1.5” of water per week during the summer months. Different soil types will dictate the frequency or duration of watering your lawn. Soils that tend to have a higher clay content will hold water and moisture a lot longer and may need less frequent watering, whereas a sandier soil will require more frequent watering with a short run time for the sprinklers including a *cycle and soak.
Raising your cutting height during Summer will help your lawn retain moisture. Aim to mow your lawn between 2.5 – 3” in length every 5-7 days. Plus, leaving your grass a little longer will help prevent the crown from burning during the summer heat. Try not to cut any more than a third of the lawn’s current height at any given time.
For gardens in hot weather, you should always water in the mornings when it is cooler, typically 3-4 deep waterings per week (cycle and soak). It is always best or a better practice to minimize adding more water to the leaves of plants and apply the water more to the direct soil surface for many reasons. Water left on plants’ leaves may cause the plant to burn up or “scorching” the leaves. Topical watering, aside from Mother Nature’s rain, could attract fungal diseases not healthy for your plants. Wasting water by watering the leaves of plants or the potential for water to drift off from sprinklers and not actually find its way into the soil surface is bad for the pocketbook and does not allow available water to reach the plant’s root system. A type of drip or micro irrigation will allow more water to reach the root system before it evaporates in the heat and is a much more efficient way of irrigating. This will allow a lot more available water to reach the roots of your plants, cause less evaporation or interference from the wind, and require a shorter run cycle in most cases. At the very least, all water will be used appropriately and with less waste.
For your vegetable gardens during the drought months, one or twice daily waterings is usually the best practice as most of our vegetables are shallow rooted and tend to dry out a lot faster than your average perennial or ornamental shrubs that are established. The growing medium for vegetables tends to be very well-drained soils so as not to not cause root rot or the plant itself. More frequent waterings for shorter durations is the preferred method, where drip or micro irrigation is the most efficient method of delivering the available water to your crops. Much like above with the garden beds, drip offers a superior delivery system for the water, not to mention, less encouragement for weeds to take root.
Thanks to the team at Wes-Tech Irrigation for providing these great lawn and garden watering tips.
*cycle and soak description found here