Lawn Maintenance: Is Your Irrigation System Ready for Spring?
Spring is fast approaching, and with it, a desire to get outside. As the weather warms up, though, the issue of lawn care and garden maintenance creeps up on us again. You need to make sure your irrigation system is up to the task, and there's no better time than the present.
Waiting for spring to actually kick in could leave you exposed to potential issues. A malfunction or burst pipe could lead to flooding. This could destroy your yard and damage your home.
Improper coverage or issues with your smart controls could also result in underwatering. To avoid this headache altogether, you need to act fast. Doing your inspections, maintenance, and adjustments now will save you later.
Keep reading for a guide on making sure your irrigation system is ready for the spring.
Inspect Your Irrigation System
With spring around the corner, many people are already looking towards lawn care and maintenance. Your irrigation system is only a part of this, but you should inspect it first.
Depending on where you live, you might not have run your irrigation or sprinkler system since last autumn. A lot can happen in a few months. Critters or infestations could have made a mess out of your yard or irrigation system.
A pipe could have burst or suffered damage during the winter cold as well. The same can hold for your hoses or irrigation pumps. Preventative maintenance is the best course of action, which makes winterizing key.
Double Check Your System
That said, inspections are necessary, too, even if you do everything right. You never know what could go wrong with your set-up while you aren't using it. If you don't do an irrigation inspection, you could run into major issues in the spring when you need it most.
Inspect all your sprinklers, pipes, and irrigation channels if you can. Your pumps need to be in tip-top shape, or you'll have a bad time. The last thing you want to do is set everything up to get ready for those April showers, only to end up with a soggy yard.
Check to make sure your meters or smart controls are working fine if you have them. If you need to swap the batteries or reset anything, it's better to get ahead of it now. Those looking to upgrade to smart controlled setups should ensure it all works first.
Check Your Sprinkler Placement
Check your sprinkler system installment before you forget. Make sure you have proper coverage and that all of them work. If you were planning to expand or update your coverage, now would be the time to set it all up.
Assuming the weather permits and the worst snow is behind you, the earlier you place your sprinklers, the better. This will free up time for other projects in the spring and allow you to enjoy yourself and the lovely weather. If you've done major yard, garden, or house renovation work, check that your sprinklers reach everything.
You should also check what exactly your sprinklers are watering. If a sprayer is getting more of a basement window than the grass or flowers around it, you need to adjust. If you're having trouble reaching certain corners, stronger irrigation or booster pumps could be the answer.
This is especially if you can't or don't want to run any more sprinklers on your current system. There are plenty of reputable options you could go with if you need more reach for your irrigation system.
Make Sure It's Going to Flow Well
Installing an irrigation system can be a major undertaking, and no one wants to mess with it if it's working. However, sometimes things don't work as well as you'd like them to. It's important you make sure everything about your irrigation system flows well.
If any of your sprinklers aren't watering, you need to do sprinkler maintenance. If it looks like a whole row isn't working, it might be an issue with that whole line. No one likes digging up their pipes, but if all your troubleshooting fails, you might not have a choice.
Too much watering leads to a soaked and soggy yard. Too little watering and your grass and flowers die. Spring is only round one.
If you don't hit the ground running with your irrigation system in spring, summer will destroy your yard. Not planning for proper drainage can also be a nightmare. You don't want to be cleaning up the damage after a strong rainstorm.
Making sure your irrigation system runs effectively now saves you that trouble later.
Revisit Your Settings
A good thing to remember is that having smart controls doesn't absolve you from adjusting. Many people set up their irrigation systems and never change them. As winter winds down, it's a good idea to revisit your settings and compare them with expectations.
It's easy to overwater in the early part of the season or not run your system enough in the middle part. You'd hope spring rain gives you a hand in the latter part, but it isn't a guarantee. A set-it and forget-it mentality is almost always the wrong way to go.
What’s worse is you could end up running afoul of local restrictions if you don’t set things right.
Drip vs. Spray vs. Rotor Irrigation Systems
This is something you might want to consider when setting up or making changes to your system. The types of sprinklers your irrigation system is using should vary based on need. Your options are sprayers, rotors, and drip irrigation, but a mixture of all 3 is common.
There are two main reasons you'd want to consider changing or moving your sprinkler types. The first is practical, and the other is environmental.
Practicality Is Key
Your sprinklers and entire irrigation system are set up to do one thing. Help provide the right amount of water in the right places without going overboard. If you have brown spots, it's easy to think the solution is more sprayers or extra watering.
The thing is, such an approach could lead to overwatering, or at the very least, a waste of water. This drives your water bill up, threatens to hurt your yard, and is all around plain inefficient.
Sometimes drip systems can do the job well enough without needing overlapping sprayers. Garden beds and planters, in particular, can benefit from this. This is especially if they contain flowers that are water sensitive.
Drip sprinklers are easier to control as well. Rotors can reach distant corners and penetrate better and can have auto-alternating distances. This makes them a standard go-to for most general setups, but they tend to waste more water.
The key is to mix them in strategic spots to ensure full coverage and effective water usage. Take a look at your setup before spring finally arrives and make any changes you need to.
Environmental Factors
Irrigation systems strive to be more efficient and make better use of the water we consume. There are financial and energy reasons for this, but it's also good for the environment. Wasting a ton of water without needing to is ethically wrong.
Running your sprinklers at full blast all day is wasteful. Addressing brown spots or poor coverage by cranking up the water is wasteful. Changing your layout to incorporate better-positioned drip sprinklers is far better.
Being able to water your lawn and garden with less water means less of a footprint on the environment. Figuring out a setup that works for you without excessive water use should be your priority. Safeguarding our planet and its resources for future generations is crucial.
It ensures everyone can enjoy green lawns and fresh flowers for generations to come.
Do Regular Maintenance
The last thing on this list is irrigation system maintenance. In an ideal world, you would have winterized everything at the end of autumn or early winter. That would be a good time to do your regular maintenance, but many prefer doing it in the spring.
It's never too early to do regular maintenance. Even if you did your inspection earlier and didn't notice any glaring issues, there are still things you can do. Buying a replacement hose if the old one looks like it's seen better days is a good start.
Running the water to clear any sediment or chemical build-up would also be a good idea. For example, many plants are sensitive to the chlorine in municipal water supplies. Making sure nothing is blocking your sprinklers from doing their job is also vital.
This can be mechanical, like a broken valve, or external, like an obstacle or trapped dirt. If you need to replace or install anything, there are a number of brands you can trust.
Readying Your Irrigation System for Spring
It's important for your irrigation system to be ready to go when spring hits. However, you can do most of the preparation before winter is even over. These include inspections, maintenance, placement, and adjustments or new installations.
At Supreme Water Sales, we're experts in knowing exactly what you need to take care of your lawn. We only deliver the best, from irrigation pumps and boosters to water purification. Give us a call or check out our site to learn more.