Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers

Watering a Lawn and Garden

How well your soil holds water is what determines how often watering is required. In general sandy soils require more frequent watering than clay soils because sand is porous and lets water flow through it while soils with clay retains moisture. The texture of soil is one factor affecting watering but so is the frequency of your rainfall.

A nice long gentle soaking rainfall is a gardener's delight because there's a steady supply of rain water and time for it to seep deep down into the roots in the soil. The same is true for watering techniques. A sporadic short burst from the garden hose encourages shallow root growth. Proper watering encourages deep root growth that helps anchor a plant into the soil and keep it healthy and strong. As a rule of thumb, you can figure that your lawn or garden needs at least one inch of water a week.

Admittedly you have no control over the rainfall but you can initiate watering routines to keep your lawn and garden well tended. The best time to water is early or late in the day when the temperatures and wind tend to be the lowest. Cooler temperatures and calm winds reduce the amount of water that will evaporate into the air during watering. Mornings and evenings are also usually 'down times' for water consumption. If you live in an area where water is restricted there will be local regulations to follow which you can learn by contacting your water department.

When Do Plants Need Watering?

Some of the telltale signs to look for are leaves that curl or crinkle up or old leaves that are dry and turn brown and begin to drop off. Another indication that the plant is stressed and needs water is when new growth begins to wilt.

Grass is dry and wants water when you can see footprints on it. Another way to check is to use your small hand trowel to dig down below the sod and see if the root area is moist. If it's crusty or hard the grass needs water. Remember not all areas of lawn require the same amount of water. Sun-drenched expanses of lawn or those affected by drying winds will need more water than those areas tucked away in the shade.

Getting water to your plants and lawn on a regular basis can be accomplished in several way. You can use a garden hose and oscillating sprinkler, a soaker hose or install a drip irrigation system. Of course, you can drag your hose around to individual plant bed and areas of the lawn and use a spray attachment to sprinkle spot areas, but a more effective way is to know how much water your garden or lawn requires and then follow a schedule that provides just the right amount and not too much water.

In general, a lawn and garden need 1 inch of water at each application. To find out how much time that requires using a sprinkler get three plastic gallon milk bottles and cut off the top neck. Draw a line on one side one inch up from the bottom with a waterproof marker. Place these containers in the path of the sprinkler and turn the sprinkler on noting the time. Check the water level often and when it reaches the one inch mark jut down the time. Determine how long your watering time is by subtracting the time you began from the time the one inch water mark was reached.

The most common drawback about the traditional oscillating or rotating sprinkler is that it wastes water. Often you can't avoid positioning a sprinkler without it hitting pavement or walkways that don't need water. And much of the water evaporates before it reaches the soil using this rig. On a hot summer day, however, you can't beat it for providing good clean entertainment for kids while its watering your lawn. You can make your sprinkler more accountable using a regulator that attaches to the hose and displays a digital readout of the water being used. This is a handy devise when calculating the amount of water used.

A soaker hose is a lot less fun, but much more efficient at getting water to where you want it. It's a hose with holes in it that connect to your garden hose which you lay on the ground or bury it a few inches beneath the soil. It brings moisture directly to the roots of the plants where it is needed. See the soaker hose project in section 3 for a do-it-yourself solution to your watering needs.

For watering specific areas like around a tree or bush you'll find special use soaker hoses that wrap around them for uniform coverage. These units attach to your hose and have their own on-off control which means they can be moved without leaking.

The epitome of a watering system for a garden is a drip irrigation system which automatically waters plants at their roots and sprays a fine mist over them at a predetermined time through a network of hoses, spray heads and emitters. You customize the installation according to the size of your garden and the frequency of watering needed. While the investment isn't trivial, the long-term advantage is you'll be spending less money on water because you're using less of it and because it's automatic your plant life is likely to thrive.

written by Gene and Katie Hamilton

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