Lawn Care

When you first get fresh sod installed, you excitedly set up your irrigation system with all of the recommended settings. At first, you did all of the important testing and measuring to make sure you were giving your lawn just the right amount of water. But if you’re like most homeowners, at some point you decided the settings were right and you could just let it do its thing.  Unfortunately, you really can’t just forget about your sprinklers. There are a lot of things that can go wrong that could ruin your lawn if you aren’t actively monitoring it.

Do you enjoy connecting and automating all of your devices and home features? If so, you have probably wondered more than once if you can automate your sprinkler system the same way. The short answer is yes—but you need to keep a few things in mind for it to work right. Make sure you get one with the right features—like rain sensors. One of the pitfalls of buying products online instead of locally is that you get options advertised to you that are not actually appropriate for your region. You may be able to find a ton of cheap automated sprinkler systems, but they might not have features you need for Florida’s tropical climate.

The technology we have today is amazing. Almost everything in your life can be completely automated, adjusted, and put in your pocket. This extends even to lawn maintenance.  The latest irrigation systems offer automated features such as rain sensors that determine when to turn on your sprinklers, but the automation goes even beyond the traditional timers and newer sensors. These sprinkler systems can actually connect with your smartphone and other devices so that you can manage and monitor your lawn’s irrigation in real-time.

The Florida rainy season is a long one, and a lot of homeowners have questions about how they should be watering their lawns. You want to avoid drought-related problems, but you also don’t want to overwater your grass. Overwatering sod can actually kill it, and quickly. Oversaturation allowed to sit in humidity instead of drying smothers the grass, floods its roots, washes away needed nutrients from the soil, and more. The health of your lawn requires that you be very careful about how often you water. Here are some great tips. Water in the morning. If you water in the morning, you have the entire day of sunshine to help the excess water evaporate.

From late summer to November, Tampa lawns get a ton of extra moisture. Not only do you have more humidity in the air in the late summer and early fall, but you also have much more rain. Severe storms or even hurricanes are almost commonplace in Florida.  With all of the rain that you get this time of year, it is important to make sure that you’re not overwatering your lawn. You need to adjust your sprinkler system according to the weather. Most of the summer it will rain at least a few times per week, and you may not need to water at all.  Here are some things to keep in mind as you adjust your watering schedule.

Did you recently buy a home, or did you recently have new sod installed? If so, you may be working on implementing your lawn’s irrigation system. Current homeowners may also need to think about improving or upgrading their system. Whether your goal is a beautiful lawn, water conservation, or both, you’ll be able to make progress with these steps. Assess your landscape. You can visually assess your landscape yourself, or you can hire a professional to do this for you. Before you can design an effective irrigation system, you first have to understand what areas of your lawn actually need watering. The grade or slope of your yard could have a lot to do with this. Your lawn’s features may also allow you to use fewer sprinklers if water from rains can be redirected to drier areas.

If you are new to southern Florida, you may not be used to the tropical climate. There are a lot of things unique to Florida that make lawn care much different from other parts of the country. One of the things that differs is how much you need to water your lawn. Florida has a long rainy season, and as such we have to mow our lawns more frequently and water less frequently during those times. Here’s what you need to know about watering your lawn in Florida. How often should you water your Florida lawn? This will depend somewhat on the time of year, the weather, and how rain affects your lawn. Some lawns are designed so that water from rain just runs off the property, preventing it from over-soaking or eroding the soil. These lawns will need to be watered twice a week, even if there is rain.

If you’re working with a budget for your sprinkler system and lawn maintenance, you might be looking to minimize the number of sprinklers on your property. While this is entirely possible, it does require some careful planning. With the right resources, you can easily design irrigation to take advantage of rain while limiting the number of overall sprinklers. Assess your lawn’s natural irrigation. If you don’t use sprinklers, how does water distribute and run through your yard when it rains? What areas of your lawn are damper or spongier after a good rain? Are there any areas of your lawn that don’t seem to get much natural water at all? All of this information is necessary for determining where to place your sprinklers.

Most people who want to have a well-manicured and healthy lawn will use a sprinkler system as a method of irrigation to keep the soil moist as necessary for growth and maintenance. You may have even researched exactly how much water and how frequently you should run the sprinklers for your climate and type of grass, but many people do not think to adjust their sprinklers according to the weather. Most grass and turf will become diseased and rotted when it becomes overly saturated. It is important that you are not overwatering your lawn during periods when you are getting a lot of rain. Florida weather is infamous for its rainy seasons. While you don’t want to completely turn off your sprinkler system during these months, you should be aware of the weather and ready to make adjustments to the system at any notice.

You know that you are supposed to mow your lawn on a regular basis, usually at least once a week in the spring and summer, but lately there have been movements trying to eliminate mowing for a month at a time. While this could be tempting, it is important that you continue to mow your lawn if you want it to remain healthy. Here’s why. Infrequent Mowing Hurts the Grass When Cut The longer the blades of grass become, the more resources it becomes used to consuming. If you suddenly cut the grass by a few inches all at once, it’s going to be shocked as it suddenly needs fewer resources. This can sometimes kill your grass if it is unable to recover. Sometimes it needs additional irrigation to recover fully.