by Gardens of Babylon | Jun 24, 2024
With the summer Olympics just around the corner, we might be thinking about gold more often than usual. But, when it comes to your yard, you want it to be anything but a golden hue this summer. Dry grass, dying plants and malnourished gardens are not ideal. We’re going for the green this summer with irrigation!

Not only is irrigation good for keeping a yard looking and feeling lush, it’s also a common agricultural practice that’s been used for centuries. The earliest forms started with people carrying buckets of water from wells, rivers or other water sources. Then came canals and aqueducts. And now we have modern sprinkler systems and other irrigation forms.
While the Nashville area is humid, especially in the spring and summer months, that doesn’t always equal precipitation. If you’ve lived in the southeastern U.S. at any point during the summer, then you know it can be unbelievably hot and prone to dry landscapes.
Irrigation can be the solution to protecting your yard and your plants (and also local wildlife and insects!). When your landscape is full, bright and blooming, you can enjoy it visually. Wildlife can also benefit from it as shelter and food sources, which can be hard to come by in the heat of summer.


Even something as simple as hooking up a sprinkler to a hose can make a difference in a dry yard or garden. Not to mention, this can also be a great way to get the kids in your life involved in outdoor spaces. You can turn watering the yard, plants or garden into work and playtime as kids also have fun running through sprinklers.
However, not all irrigation systems are equal. While standard sprinkles are ok for some situations, most flowering plants prefer drip irrigation. You may have seen drip irrigation systems while browsing a greenhouse, especially if you were browsing ferns earlier this spring. Drip irrigation saves flowering plants’ delicate blooms and stems from being battered by overhead water, and directly waters the soil around their roots. Not only is this better for your flowers, it also saves money by wasting less water.

Integrated sprinkler and irrigation systems can be even more effective for your yard, as they are adjusted based on different areas. Some spots have more shade or more slope, and don’t need as much water as more exposed areas. These systems also help reduce water waste for this same reason.

You can now take even more hassle out of caring for your yard. Many sprinkler systems now have smart capabilities. This smart technology allows you to design proper water schedules. Your plants and landscape will flourish without you having to think about them. Plus, you’ll never have to worry about your yard getting watered properly while you’re enjoying your summer vacation.

Additional Tips for Successful Watering
- Hand Watering: In areas not covered by an irrigation system, hand watering is essential. This is especially important during the first 90 days after planting your new additions.
- Consistent Monitoring: Keep an eye on your irrigation system to make sure it’s functioning correctly and delivering adequate water to all areas of your landscape. Even smart irrigation systems need regular monitoring and maintenance to make sure they run properly. (Not sure how to maintain your system? Gardens of Babylon provides installation and maintenance services!)
- Winter Considerations: We’re in the thick of summer, so winter is probably the last thing on your mind. However, you can prepare for the lifelong success of your yard, garden and plants anytime of year. Protect your plants from harsh winter conditions by ensuring they are well-watered before the first freeze. Also check your irrigation system before closing it up for winter, so it’ll be ready to go next spring.
By following these guidelines, you can help ensure your new plants establish strong roots and grow to be healthy and robust – and that your green spaces are successful all year long!
At Gardens of Babylon, we’re committed to connecting you with nature and providing the best care for your landscape. Are you looking to set up your landscape for success with an irrigation system? We provide irrigation system installation and maintenance, so you’ll never have to wonder if your yard is getting the care it needs. Schedule an appointment with our irrigation experts today, and enjoy the lush landscape of your dreams. Happy gardening!
by Emily Vogler | Oct 10, 2022
Fall landscape cleanups are a vital step to take to ensure spring success in your lawn and garden beds. They also protect your investment – your landscaping! Plants need proper preparation to endure the rigors of winter. Our landscape company offers landscape cleanups and plant enhancements throughout the year, which includes removal of fall leaves and debris, pruning and trimming at the proper times, creating fresh bed edges to prevent turf grass creep, and installing fresh mulch for protection and also curb appeal. So keep reading! We’re sharing three main reasons why fall cleanups are so important. (Not to mention now is a great time to get the landscape looking tidy for the holidays…)
A fall landscape cleanup protects your turf.
We love the natural look and feel of fallen fall leaves on the lawn, but if turf health is the goal, it is important to remove them and toss them in the compost. A layer of soggy fall leaves creates a barrier on top of the turf blocking water, sunlight, and healthy air flow, which can create disease and unsightly brown patches. Therefore, we regularly remove leaves and compost them when working in all our clients’ landscapes, and recommend our DIY gardeners do the same.

Fall cleanups reduce disease spread in spring.
Not only does a landscape cleanup in the fall reduce diseases in turf, but it keeps your landscape plants and vegetable gardens healthier when the temperatures rise. Removing old, dead, and diseased plant material in fall will reduce the spread of fungal and bacterial infections in spring. Any rotted and unharvested fruits, dead branches & limbs, and diseased plant parts can all be composted to create a healthier winter environment before temperatures rise again.

Fall cleanups protect plants.
After removing plant debris such as fallen leaves from your landscape beds and vegetable gardens, it is important to replace it with a disease-free mulch. Mulch protects the roots of perennial plants and the topsoil during winter’s harsh conditions. Our landscape company installs a variety of mulches in our client’s landscapes, but mostly a natural no-dye pine-bark mulch to retain moisture, vital nutrients, and leave the landscape looking fresh. In vegetable beds, cover crop such as clover that double as a mulch and also a spring fertilizer when tilled into the soil are best. Pruning excess limbs and branches during fall also protects plants from winter’s snow and ice and reduces breakage.
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If you would like to speak to one of our landscape experts about your fall cleanup project, schedule a free phone consultation.
by Gloria Ballard | Mar 1, 2022
Invite some friends over for an outdoor gathering, tap some buttons on your phone, and smile as your guests look around and exclaim, “Ooh, where’s that sound coming from?” It’s coming from an outdoor audio system that brings another layer of enjoyment to your outdoor retreat.
“Outdoor audio is one of the newest offerings,” says Tim Nebel, Gardens of Babylon’s operations manager for irrigation, lighting and audio. “And we are really excited about it. You absolutely have to hear it in person to get a feel for the quality, and you can! Book a free demo through our website and we will bring a system to your home, set it up in 10 minutes, and show you how to use it in 2 minutes. We can even leave it with you over the weekend to play with!
Gardens of Babylon is a certified dealer of Coastal Source, a landscape audio systems company based in Moorestown, NJ. “We tested a few different systems, and Coastal Source speakers are far and away better than anything else we heard.” The quality is key, Nebel says. “It’s built to withstand the outdoors for a long time. But the sound quality is what stood out. There’s nothing that compares.”

Nebel explains: Coastal source systems allow connectivity through Bluetooth, with limited range, or with Sonos, which can be integrated into an existing home audio system. “Coastal Source systems’ speakers have a tweeter that catches the high notes, a subtweeter that catches the middle, and the subwoofer catches the lows,” he says. “They offer a variety of options for different budgets. But even at the most basic, the sound quality blows any portable Bluetooth speaker out of the water.”
You hear the sound, but you may not see where it’s coming from; the most visible components of the system are designed to blend in with the landscape.
“The speakers are typically buried in the landscape so that just the head of the speaker is showing,” Nebel explains. “They look very sharp, and blend in nicely.” And they are built to live outside year round, made from the same material that is used to make Yeti coolers, he says.

There are three package levels of the company’s products. The entry-level package provides two 8-inch mini-bollard speakers; a slightly larger 10.0 2-way bollard provides more robust sound, and the 10.0 three-way ellipsis bollards – Coastal Source’s flagship package – “has the most robust sound of anything they offer,” Nebel says. Any of them can be retrofitted into a landscape design or set on hardscaping to be able to move them around.
Other components of the system include an amplifier and power supply unit in a weatherproof box that is typically mounted on the home or other structure with a power outlet. The system’s wiring is encased in another coated cable that is more difficult to break than typical spliced connections, and features the company’s “plug and play” waterproof connections that lock into place.
“With the cabling leading from the amp to the ground in conduit, from there all you see is the ellipsis of the speakers in the landscape,” Nebel says. “They are designed to look natural in any landscape.”
When it’s time to que up the music, tap onto your phone or tablet and you have all your music sources – Apple Music, Pandora, Spotify, your own music library with digital mp3s – at your fingertips.
Interested in including audio in your backyard retreat? Schedule a free phone consultation through the Irrigation, Lighting & Audio portal on the Gardens of Babylon website or book a free demo to hear the system in your yard Outdoor Audio Demo. “We are offering free on-site demonstrations to anyone who wants to hear it,” Tim Nebel says. Schedule an in-person audio demonstration to hear how outdoor audio can transform your outdoor living areas.