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Properly watering lawns and plants on a hillside or slope |
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Contributed by Steve Boulden
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Lawns on slopes tend to develop dry dead spots during the hot part of the season. This is primarily due to water running off the lawn before it has a chance to saturate.
Deep saturation is a key to a healthy lawn. Water that runs off or just barely breaks the surface, does the lawn very little good. So how do you give a lawn on a slope better saturation?
Split the water cycle duration into two or three short cycles. If your water cycle is 30 minutes, you might split the cycle into three 10 minute cycles.
To determine the exact amount of time needed, turn on the lawn sprinkler and watch for how long it takes for runoff to begin. This is how long each cycle should be. So on watering days, you'll run the system for the specified amount of time, let it soak for a few hours, then repeat this for the number of times needed.
Landscaping and specimen plants on a hillside will also benefit from better saturation. Plants should be planted in larger holes filled with good soil that absorbs water easily. Also, dams and water wells should be built on the downhill side of the plant. This will help give the water time to soak straight down to the root zone before it runs off.
Written by Steve Boulden
Steve is the creator of The Landscape Design Site.com which offers free professional landscaping advice, tips, plans, and ideas to do it yourselfers and homeowners. Visit his site at http://www.the-landscape-design-site.com .
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