The Best Permanent Lawn Irrigations

Size Considerations

• One important way of ensuring that you have the best lawn irrigation system is to design one large enough to accommodate the needs of your lawn. Obviously, this depends for the most part on the size of your lawn. For example, a small residential lawn may require only a single store-bought sprinkler head attached to a garden hose. A larger lawn, on the other hand, such as an athletic field or a lawn surrounding a commercial building, may require a complex irrigation system with underground piping and multiple sprinkler heads. Therefore, designing an irrigation system that is large enough to meet the moisture needs of your entire lawn is the first way of ensuring that you have the best lawn irrigation system.

Design

• Once the size of the irrigation system is set, there are many other design considerations to make when choosing the best irrigation system for your lawn. Features such as the number of sprinkler heads and the amount of water pressure provided to each head are key to getting the most out of an irrigation system. If too few sprinkler heads are installed or if the system does not provide enough water pressure to each head, the lawn will be consistently underwatered and you will notice brown patches breaking out over the lawn. Conversely, too much water can leave the grass more susceptible to disease, insect or other pest problems; runoff from the sprinkler system that's not absorbed into the soil can create pollution problems.

Costs

• Costs are certainly another key factor in choosing the best lawn irrigation system. The purpose of installing an irrigation system is to save you the hassle of having to water the lawn on your own. However, if the costs of the system spiral out of control and exceed your lawn-care budget, retaining the irrigation system quickly becomes a questionable investment. You ensure your irrigation system is running as efficiently as possible by treating sprinkler-head clogs when they appear and by using the irrigation system only as often as necessary to provide the minimum amount of moisture to keep your grass healthy. Exercising these preventive steps will keep the costs of running and maintaining the irrigation system at a minimum.

Grass Species

• Homeowners should also consider the species of grass they are growing when choosing the an appropriate lawn irrigation system. Cool-season grasses such as Kentucky bluegrass, tall fescue and and perennial ryegrass generally need more water than warm-season grasses such as blue grama and buffalograss in order to retain their health and vigor. This is particularly the case during the warm summer months. If the species of grass you are growing does not have particularly high water demands, the best and most cost-efficient irrigation system for your lawn may be simply a single sprinkler head attached to your garden hose rather than a complex system that would cost much more to install.