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By: Jack Greenwood
You know that watering your lawn is an important part of
lawn care but you have limited time to do it. Other than hiring
someone to do it for you, you can set up a portable sprinkler
to do the job for you.
A portable sprinkler is particularly useful if you have a
small lawn since it can be chore to move it around by hand
for a large lawn. If you live in an area with reasonable amount
of rainfall, the portable sprinkler can be use to supplement
rainfall when the occasional drought period arise.
You can shop for a portable sprinkler easily in any well-stocked
nursery or hardware store. Review the information on the sprinkler
box. It should indicate the size and shape of the area it
can cover.
There are many designs for portable sprinkler and you should
evaluate carefully which one will meet your needs. Some models
allow you to cover odd-shaped lawn while other may have a
tractor system that can move along the water hose.
After you purchase your portable sprinkler, you will want
to do a test to see how it performs. In particular you want
to know how much water it is using to cover your lawn. First,
place the portable sprinkler at the center of your lawn and
turn it on for about ten seconds. You want to know exactly
how much area it can cover. After ten seconds, turn the portable
sprinkler off and place about seven or eight empty cups in
the area covered by the portable sprinkler. Turn on the portable
sprinkler again and leave it running for ten minutes.
After ten minutes, turn off the portable sprinkler and check
the amount of water for each cup. The amount in each cup will
vary, as portable sprinklers tend to have uneven water distribution.
However, the variation should not be more than 0.25 inch.
You will use the cup that has the least amount of water for
your estimation. Lets assume that there is 0.2 inch of water
in the cup with the least amount of water. If you want to
apply 0.5 inch of water, you will have to leave the portable
sprinkler running for 25 minutes.
A good hose is also vital for your portable sprinkler to
work efficiently. A good hose will roll up easily in any weather
and does not kink or crack. A cheap hose will give you more
maintenance headaches down the road as it tend to kink and
crack after using it for some times. You will also waste precious
water due to leakage from the cheap hose.
It is also advisable to hook up a timer between your faucet
and your hose. You simply set up the timer and it will shut
off the sprinkler automatically after the set amount of time
has elapsed. This will prevent any wastage of water.
Once you have everything set up properly, you will want to
monitor the response of your lawn and adjust the water application
accordingly. The portable sprinkler may not cover a few spots
in your lawn and you will have to do the watering manually
for these spots. Nevertheless, with the introduction of a
portable sprinkler, the time you spent watering your lawn
will be dramatically reduced and you can have more time to
relax and do the things you want to do.
About The Author
Jack Greenwood is the webmaster of GreenLawnCareTips.com which
provide information on lawn care and simple lawn watering
tips. Sign up for your free 7-part Green Lawn Care min-course
at http://greenlawncaretips.com today.
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