Richmond Irrigation Blog

People often become preoccupied with holiday festivities and winter happenings and don’t think about their yard until the spring rolls around, but there are actually many activities you can do now to ensure your yard stays lush and beautiful:

• Protect your plants from freezing temperatures. Be sure to water thoroughly before a freeze, and then cover your plants with a sheet or blanket. Place a layer of plastic on top of the sheet and position it so the plastic is not actually touching the plant, the plastic can actually burn the plant when cold. Remember to remove the plastic as warmer temperatures approach because heat can accumulate under the plastic and damage the foliage.
• Aerate your yard now to increase air circulation, assist in the breakdown of organic materials, such as thatch, help sunlight reach the root system and improve moisture distribution.
• Prune trees and shrubs, it’s best to do so before new growth sprouts.
• Add mulch to discourage weeds, increase soil moisture and defend plant roots against freezing temperatures.
• To ensure a lush spring lawn, ornamental grass needs to be cut down this time of year to encourage new growth, which can be stunted by old foliage.
• Prune Crape Myrtles during the late-winter to remove weak and dead branches.
• Last, but certainly not least, winterize your irrigation system if you haven’t already done so. Water left in your pipes, valves and sprinkler heads can freeze during the cold winter months and cause serious damage to your system. We’re happy to provide winterization services or repair services, if necessary. Call today for an estimate at (804) 271-8030 or click here.

Now that it’s officially autumn, it’s also a good time to seed and aerate your lawn.  Aerating your lawn is key to a lush healthy yard because your soil compacts over time, which reduces the amount of oxygen that can circulate. Dense soil also decreases the amount of water that can be absorbed into the ground where it can reach the grass roots. When your lawn is aerated, cores are removed from the soil, allowing air to circulate, roots to grow deeper and water to be absorbed further into the ground. It’s best to heavily water your lawn a day or two before aerating to allow the aeration machine to work more smoothly.

Timing is essential when seeding or overseeding.  Spring seeding isn’t ideal because the new grass doesn’t have enough time to establish a root system before the summer temperatures burn it out.  Fall, however, is the perfect time to lay down new seed, as the extreme summer heat is over, but it’s not yet cold enough to damage the newly sprouted grass. Seeding your lawn each fall will help to reduce the rate of disease and prevent weeds.

It is also important to aerate and seed now, before you turn off your irrigation system for the winter, because once you’ve seeded it is very important to keep your newly seeded areas moist. These areas should be watered daily for 3 weeks.

Remember to schedule your winterization visit over the next few months before the temperatures approach freezing.  Print a coupon to have your irrigation/sprinkler system winterized for just $59 here.

For our existing customers: Have you received your annual maintenance agreement sent to you via email?  If not, please contact us at 804.271.8030.

For those with irrigation/sprinkler systems that do not have a maintenance agreement with any irrigation company, give us a call. We'll take care of starting and pressurizing your system and check for anything that's not working correctly. You'll receive a 10% discount on any repair work (discount up to the value of your maintenance agreement).

At the end of the season, we'll winterize your system as well. If you would like a backflow test to meet county/city requirements, we can take care of that as well for an additional amount.

Winter is upon us and freezing temperatures arrived with it. Is your irrigation system ready? If it has not been winterized, the damage from frozen pipes could be costly. Contact us to make sure you are ready for the cold winter.