Lucky you! I'd consider doing it in late September/early October. You'll still be able to see where the hostas are and if you step on them, there's no loss since the season is almost over. If you wait till spring, you could trample some emerging hostas.

A word of advice: Install a spigot or two out in your gardens. My garden is mostly along my back property line and it took 100 feet of hose to get to be back corner for spot watering. With spigots in your garden, there's less need to lug hoses. Our irrigation company did this for a minimal charge!

spot on mel ...

the first thing i did way back when .. was run spigots all over the 5 acres.. like spigots at a cemetery ... placed them about every 50 feet ... so that i could cover most of the garden with one 75 foot hose.. rather than dragging 450 feet of hose i was using the first year ...

i dont know what you won .. value wise.. but consider investing a little extra cash.. to live your dream.. if necessary ...

in a typical suburban rectangle yard.. i would suggest one spigot on each side.. plus the one at the house ...

personally .. i skipped electronics... when i get too old to go turn on the water.. i may as well give up the garden ... hosta will need more than the grass ... but other plants will need less .. etc ... i never bothered to figure out how fancy of a computer you would need.. and how many miles of wire ... to custom fit individual bed water requirements ...

time the lawn ... but not the gardens is probably the way to go ...

ken