7 Steps to Wise-Water Landscaping

Step 1. Planning and Design
First, you need to create a master plan for your land. It can range from a simple, freehand sketch to a professional topographic survey. Be sure to include the existing structures, trees and shrubs. This plan will include use zones and water zones. Use zones are determined by how you will use each portion of your yard, i.e. entertainment (such as a deck or patio), utilitarian (such as garden or dog run, play areas, traffic or transition areas such as paths, etc. Water zones are determined by what you plan to build into the area of your yard, such as a deck or path, or garden, coupled with the amount of sun and moisture that each area naturally is exposed to. Shaded or protected areas may not need as much water as an area of your yard that is in full sun. Paying attention to the use and water zones should also allow you to install your landscape in phases.

Step 2. Compost and Cultivate
Soils in the high plains range from heavy clay to very sandy.Clay absorb water very slowly, while sandy soil does not store water well and will dry out quickly. Most soils will need organic amendment, such as peat moss, compost or organic planting mix, added before planting landscape material. The organic matter should be worked into the soil and mixed well, at least 6 to 8 inches deep. In your existing flower and shrub beds, you can mix the organic matter into the beds 4 to 6 inches without disturbing the existing roots.

Step 3. Limit Turf Area
Turf should be located only in areas where it provides a functional use. Turf requires more water, maintenance and nutrients than most other plant material. Turf is best if separated from plantings of trees, shrubs, groundcovers and flowering plants. Turf requires about 1.5 inches of supplemental water per week when the temperature is over 85 degrees and should be irrigated separately. New varieties of grasses are available that require less water than traditional bluegrass. Ask your garden specialist for recommendations.

Consider using groundcovers and other low water demand plants in areas where foot traffic is infrequent. These will offer a similar neatness and uniformity as lawn, with less maintenance. Steep slopes and sharp angles are difficult to water efficiently and should be planted with plant material other than turf. Established groundcovers reduce weeds and help prevent erosion on slopes.

Hardscape is a wonderful way to enhance your yard. This is the use of wood, rock or concrete to create pathways, patios or other areas of interest. Potted plant material can be used on hardscape areas to add color and are easy to hand water

Step 4. Right Plant, Right Place
Ideally, the ultimate goal is to use plants that will survive with only natural rainfall or with little supplemental water. Higher water-using plants should be used only where greater amounts of water occur naturally, such as in low or runoff areas. Remember, the water-wise landscape will include areas of varying water needs, but plant materials with similar needs should be grouped together. This is called zoning.

Step 5. Efficient Irrigation
A good drip irrigation system is planned around the needs of the plant material it is intended to water. Plan to irrigate turf areas separately from other plant material. The greatest waste is watering too much, too often.

Turf areas are best watered with sprinklers that put out a large drop, as less will be lost to evaporation. Use drip irrigation or soaker hoses for garden and shrub areas. Drip systems apply water directly to the plant roots, reducing water evaporation. Check with the Utilities Department (720-733-6000) regarding irrigation installation permits and backflow protection requirements.

Step 6. Mulch, Mulch, Mulch
Mulched planting beds are an ideal replacement for turf area. Mulches cover and cool the ground and minimize evaporation. The best mulches are organic — aged manure, compost, bark or wood chips. Organic mulches increase the soil’s ability to retain moisture and can improve the underlying soil as it decomposes.

In organic mulch includes rock and gravel products. These products can actually increase water loss from the plants and soil as they re-radiate heat from the sun. Be careful where you use rock as a mulch.

Apply about 3” of mulch for weed control, with less around the actual plants to allow water to reach the root area.

Step 7. Good Maintenance
Your water-wise landscape will still need care and attention to keep it at its peak. Weeding, pruning, proper fertilizer and lawn irrigation system adjustments are some of the maintenance practices that you need to keep up with. Check for broken irrigation lines or sprinkler heads. Thatch and aerate your lawn once a year to help the water permeate into the root zone. Make every drop count, as over-watering will promote the excessive growth of weeds and other unwanted plants.

Which one to select Drip irrigation or Lawn Sprinkler System?

Sources of irrigation that are proved to be a helpful in irrigating a land! Lawn Sprinkler system and Drip irrigation. We will discuss both the resources so that it will clarify the utility and importance of these resources.

Drip irrigation in a process or method by which you can irrigate your plants, lawn or garden drop by drop, that to in an appropriate amount without wastage of the water. It can be consider as a best source for irrigation a plants, garden or lawn. Not only this you can also irrigate your land (agriculture land) with the help of this method or system. It will surely increase the productivity of your crop and protect them from the disease that is caused because of excess amount of water.

Lawn Sprinkler System: It is also consider being one of the best sources for irrigation. Lawn sprinkler system helps in irrigating the plants or land according to amount of the water needed to them. It not only provides the proper amount of water to the plants, but also saves the water as it sprinkles the water to the predefined area that receives the less amount of water.

The common factor in both the process is that, reduces expense that is incurred behind watering I.e.

• Saving Electricity.
• Saving money
• And Time

Both the system of irrigation proves to best in certain cases such as:

• Area with low rain fall
• Places that faces the problem of drought and famine
• Place where there is no facility of regular supply

More over Lawn sprinkler system is convenient to use and can be carried away to any place while drip irrigation system is bit difficult to carry at any place.
Hope this information will be proved to be an help to you and you will use these source of irrigation wisely and according to your need.

Grow Your Grass Greener with the Best Irrigation and Automation Options

With the coming of the modern irrigation and automation options gone are those days, when you had to haul buckets of water to irrigate your lawn. Though pouring water on the garden is still the most common way of irrigation but the newer irrigation and automation options are more efficient which save time and energy. Yet, there are conservative gardeners who think the advanced irrigation and automation options to be wasteful. According to them, the hand sprayers attached to the hoses and the common sprinklers are the best options for irrigating your garden. This is because; these sprayers and sprinklers not only come at the cheapest cost but are also very easy to set up. Besides, the sprinklers are available in different sizes and styles.

But what these gardeners overlook is that the hand sprayers and sprinklers need a lot of effort to use and on top of that, they spread large amounts of water which is not at all used by the plants. Using the hose or the oscillator for watering, actually wastes water. Besides, these methods do not even water the plant roots with any precision. The new age irrigation and automation options have several programming choices which allow you to discharge specific amounts of water in the targeted areas. So, you can see how these modern day irrigation and automation options help in promoting water conservation.

There have been times, when you had to uproot or replace the grasses and plants in your lawn because there were no good irrigation and automation options. The irrigation and automation options available these days are very convenient, especially for the people who need to travel. Once correctly installed and properly programmed these automatic irrigation systems can run great in conserving water, keeping your garden lush and fertile and save you lots of money. Another advantage of using these irrigation and automation options is that that these can be used in several useful combinations to effectively irrigate the different types of plants and different layouts of landscapes.

One of the best irrigation and automation options is drip irrigation. Drip irrigation systems use automatic sprinkler systems which use hoses to administer drops of water to the plant roots directly. Drip irrigation systems are considered the most cost effective method of watering the lawns as these spend the least amount of water. Drip irrigation has also come off as the one of the best irrigation and automation options for greenhouse gardening. A combination of drip irrigation systems and sprinklers can irrigate the greenhouse plants most effectively than any other. This way of drip irrigating greenhouses can gradually shoot up the moisture levels in the greenhouse and result in an improved health of the plants.

But even when you know the best of equipments can get your garden greener, you might not know the reliable source from where to get your irrigation systems. This is where we step in to supply you the best quality and well tested automatic irrigation systems. We understand how much a good landscaping investment can demand and thus we in every way strive to protect your valued investment with our finest collection of innovative irrigation facilities at the most competitive prices.