-
{ How Will You Keep Your Landscape Green and Healthy? }
Posted on March 8th, 2010 No commentsWhat can you do to make your landscape healthy and green? You can learn about the factors that make the landscape fresh and healthy. Here are some landscape tips for you which will help you achieve your results.
Using Sprinkler Heads:
1. It is good to adjust the sprinkler heads properly so that they do not spray sidewalks, driveways or walls. Or else, it will be a waste of water.
2. You should set them so that they can facilitate head-to-head coverage. In other words, the spray of your one sprinkler ought to reach the head of the close by sprinkler.
3. You have to level all your sprinkler heads to grade with the intention that you can avoid spray blockage.
Using Nozzles and Irrigation Clocks:
4. Exploit the most efficient nozzles and irrigation clocks to obtain the best results.
5. You need to adjust your irrigation clock seasonally. Also you have to observe some watering restrictions.
Checking Your Irrigation System:
6. You ought to check your sprinkler system on weekly basis. If you discover some missing or broken sprinklers, then you should immediately replace with new alternatives.
7. You can also check the drip line once in a month. This will help you make out whether there are breaks in the line or emitter clogs.
Using Drip Irrigation System:
8. Low-flow or drip irrigation are efficient watering option you can choose for irrigation trees and shrubs. The main advantage behind using this system is to give water directly to the root level and thus also benefits in maintaining moisture level.
9. Using drip irrigation less frequently is better for plants than daily watering.
It is obvious that several plants and shrubs require different level of irrigation. And thus, your selection of irrigation system can also vary. You need to schedule your irrigation task keeping in mind the level of moisture, shade and the climatic condition. Water the areas in the shade something about 30-35 % less than the sunny areas.
-
Using Microclimates For Better Landscape Design
Posted on February 11th, 2010 No commentsRegardless of where you live, and regardless of the weather patterns in your area, different areas of your property will have different special climates – microclimates – brought about by several different factors working together. The factors include the orientation of your site, its protection from wind, whether it slopes or not, and the amount of sun and shade it receives each day. Considering microclimates into your landscape design could prove to be one of the most important elements to how successful your landscape or garden is.
A structure or building placed on your lot can cause a number of different effects on the microclimate. All your landscaping and garden plans could easily be effected by just one placement. A house, for example, can cause a windbreak that changes the airflow around it. Some areas on either side of the house will be cooler or warmer than others. There will also be shade in different places around the building at different times of the day. A fence or wall can have an effect on a garden or landscape just the same as natural features like trees and bushes.
Locally, the temperature changes depending on what the ground surface consists of. Some surfaces get so hot that you cannot walk on them in warmer summer months and the heat is also felt in the air above. A concrete surface, by contrast, keeps cooler. All landscaping projects will be effected differently by different elements. Grass areas are always cool with the soil temperature under it being influenced by the length of the grass. You can use temperature changes like this to help you grow warmth loving plants like semi-tropical varieties. A surface that gets hot during the day will release the heat energy through the night. This can be used to prevent frost damage in vulnerable areas.
In gardens and landscaping exposed to heavy winds, some type of barrier is usually needed. It’s been noticed that solid wind barriers such as solid wood fencing makes areas of turbulence on both sides of the barrier. This is common knowledge to most landscaping contractors. The best barriers and blocks are those that allow some air flow. A partial barrier like that will work more like a filter rather than a solid baracade. Lightly foliaged trees or a spaced board fence will often provide an effective wind barrier.
A body of water such as a pond or pool can have different effects on microclimates. It helps create a more stable air temperature depending on the size of the pond. A pond reflects light, so plants around a pond will tend to get more light as well as water than those planted in other areas. And while a pond will cool a surrounding garden and landscape on a hot summer’s day, it can be extremely cold in Winter. Keep this in mind when deciding where to place a pond in your landscaping or garden.
Both people and plants benefit when you think carefully about your site’s microclimate and plan accordingly.
Uncategorized gardening, gardens, landscaping, landscaping ideas, micro-climates, microclimates -
Choosing the Right Integrated Lighting System
Posted on January 30th, 2010 No commentsIntegrated Lighting systems are now more of a theory than a narrowly defined package. Several specialized businesses provide products which are referred to as Integrated Lighting, and each will offer a specific package of features. The prevalent feature found in these systems is flexibility and resourcefulness. Different manufacturers will most often combine their own unique blend of sensors and ballasts which standardize the quantity of power that is employed. A few companies use a combination of solar and electrical power to significantly lower energy expenses, while others just exploit the effective use of existing natural light to cut electrical usage. Depending on the priorities of your business, and the region you are located in, you’ll find a few features that might make your life easier. A nice option are solar power lights & sets.
Solar LED Lights have been in use for thirty years, but there are one or two problems which continue to be difficult to work around. In certain parts of the world, daylight hours are short during the fall and winter, and during these very months, solar tiles or shingles may be obscured by cloud cover or snow. By designing a configuration which uses solar power when it can, but converts to electric power as necessary, some manufacturers have effectively blended energy savings with constant power availability.
Other companies use models such as Harvesting Daylight to manage available power sources in a more effective manner. To let you harvest daylight, a series of specifically located sensors keeps track of the ambient daylight levels in a space and then uses ballasts to turn up or turn down the artificial lighting levels accordingly. Obviously, a shop or office that presently incorporates skylights or solar tunnels could profit the most from this system, although any business with sufficient windows could benefit from an energy savings from this feature. Harvesting daylight permits a room to be properly bright all day without the lights being completely lit all the time.
Using programmable timers is a tried and true procedure in building management. Scheduling lights to routinely flip on or off at certain hours could make an open area safer and more welcoming. The issue with timers, though, is that bypassing them is not normally easy or practical. This can result in entryways or salesroom floors being unnecessarily lit on weekends, or staff members stumbling down darkened stairways simply because they arrive early or leave late. When those timers are used with occupancy sensors, fortunately, the “common sense” factor may be used. If a staff member is in a given room, it is lit, and any time a room is unoccupied for very long, the lights are click off.
If you have an opportunity to help with the creation of a new building, or retrofit an existing one, it will be worth your while to contact an Solar LED Power Light Set company in your area. When you learn about the energy savings that may be the consequence of a one-time purchase of integrated lighting, you’ll be shocked that your company didn’t take advantage of it sooner.
Uncategorized gardening, home, home improvement, landscaping, lighting, outdoors



