Garden  Masters

 

 

                                                                  California State Contractors License # 523728

LANDSCAPE CARE GUIDE

Now that your landscaping has been installed, GardenMasters would like to help you maintain your new landscaping with a few tips and recommendation to ensure that you will enjoy your new yard with the proper landscape care. Reviewing the following information is the first step toward taking ownership for your new landscape.

 

 New Sod Lawn

Watering:

Water your new sod three times daily in the summer and two times daily in the cooler seasons, during daylight hours.  Soak the sod enough to keep the top three inches of soil along with the layer of sod constantly wet, but do not allow water to stand for long periods. When rooting has sufficiently developed to prevent sod from being pulled from the soil (about 14-21 days), cut watering to once a day during summer and every other day in the cooler seasons.


Recommended Watering Times: 7am / 11am / 3pm


Mowing:
Be sure to allow the soil to firm up to give you an opportunity to mow your lawn. A new sod lawn should be mowed two weeks after installation. Cut only the top third of the grass blade at any mowing. Keep the mower blades sharp.

 

 ESTABLISHED  LAWN

 When To Water:

The best time of day to water is early morning when evaporation is at the lowest and surface winds have not yet developed. Less wind movement allows proper water distribution from the sprinkler heads. Early morning irrigation avoids prolonged free water on the leaves, and helps cut down on disease.

How Often To Water:

Only water enough to avoid wilt between irrigations. Symptoms of wilt include a bluish tinge and noticeable footprints of crushed grass after walking across a lawn.  Strive to water every other day during the summer months, by the use of longer periods of watering. Deep watering will allow the roots to penetrate farther which makes a more water efficient lawn that is drought tolerant. Use a long screwdriver to check for water penetration. If you can insert it 8 to 10 inches easily, you have adequate water depth in the soil.

 

    Controller  

Multiple Programs:
When possible, use the multiple program capability of the timer (controller) to set up different watering schedules to meet the individual needs of each zone.  If all the zones are being run on the same schedule to meet the needs of the lawn, then water is being wasted on all the other zones.


For example:

Program A: Turf

Turf may require watering every other day.

Program B: Shrubs

Shrubs may require watering twice a week.

Program C: Trees

Trees may require watering once a week.


Seasonal Adjust:
The seasonal-adjust setting available on most irrigation time clocks allows the user to increase or decrease all of the zone times easily as a percentage in one simple step.
 
Increase percentage during dry periods and hot weather. Decrease percentage during periods of cool weather.


 

 Trees and Plants

Watering:

The appearance of your plants reflects how much moisture they have. Yellow, drooping leaves indicate over-watering, while grayish leaves and wilting indicate under-watering.  Look at your plants carefully before watering them to gauge the right amount of water they need.