Have you noticed that your sprinklers “water” your driveway or patio, even though you set them to spray only the grass and not waste a drop by overspraying onto your hard surfaces? Or maybe your sprinkler has 30-foot heads, but your grassy area is only 25 feet wide, so they spray 10 feet of water on surfaces that don’t need watering.
The reverse can happen, too: You’ll set your sprinkler to drop water on your 25-foot patch, but most of it is turning brown because only 10 feet of it is getting watered. The solution: Adjust your sprinkler heads, every month. Sprinkler heads can be knocked out of alignment if playing children bump them, the soil they’re buried in moves or you brush against them with the lawnmower. Like anything with moving parts, sprinkler heads are bound to come out of alignment from time to time.
Tip: Set a few cans around the outer perimeter of the area you intend to water, and place some more a foot or two beyond the reach of the spray. If there’s no water in the cans within range after a sprinkler run, that means your sprinkler isn’t sending water as far out as you want it to. If the cans beyond the perimeter are full, it’s overspraying.
Sprinklers need ongoing maintenance, just like any other equipment. Adjusting yours regularly can prevent them from wasting water, or from skimping on it where it’s really needed.
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