Summer is an exciting time for anyone with a green thumb. There’s nothing quite like watching your carefully tended garden plants grow tall and beautiful in the warm sunshine. Unfortunately, with the warm weather and new growth comes the potential for some serious dry spells. Depending on your region, you may get scant rain—or even experience drought—by mid summer, which makes creating a good irrigation design in Yelm, WA absolutely essential.
Get in touch with a reputable irrigation systems company as soon as possible and follow the tips below to keep your plants healthy and hydrated in the summer heat.
Consider a drip irrigation system
One of the best options for an irrigation design in Yelm, WA is a drip irrigation system. This works by running a series of hoses or tapes throughout your garden (often particularly effective in long rows of plants), which dispense water regularly and consistently throughout the grounds. Your irrigation systems expert can help you space out the emitters properly and consider factors such as terrain or pressure changes.
Weed and mulch consistently
Be vigilant about weeding, as weeds can suck up valuable resources and moisture from your flowers and plants. In fact, some particularly nasty weeds such as crab grass can consume about 80 gallons of water, just to produce about one pound of plant tissue!
Add mulch
Combine weed control with a good layer of mulch, and you can conserve up to one extra inch of water each week – a significant amount, especially during the sweltering summer months. You can help the soil retain more water by adding in other forms of soil, such as compost or manure.
Try a buried reservoir
If you like to plant wide beds, consider grouping them around a buried reservoir, which can provide water to plant roots directly. Reservoirs are usually placed four to eight inches below the surface of your soil, and can be a great way to keep plants hydrated without worrying about when to turn your water system on and off.
Sprinklers are a basic go-to
Sprinklers have been popular for decades because they provide consistent, rain-like moisture to plants in any setup:
- Pros: they cover a wide crop area, can help dissolve accumulated salts in the soil, and ensure that newly planted seeds are kept hydrated.
- Cons: they are often much less efficient than other systems, require more water, and can create problems for plant leaves that are kept moist for too long (think diseases and mold).
Weigh the benefits against the challenges when considering a sprinkler system.
At the end of the day, you owe it to yourself and your plants to get the best irrigation design in Yelm, WA possible. So don’t wait—contact your local irrigation specialist soon and watch your garden flourish!