The L'eau Down on Garden Irrigation

The L'eau Down on Garden Irrigation

By Rebecca Stott-Savage

Seedlings and other small plants trying to take root require water every couple of days. The soil should not be sopping wet as this is a breeding ground for fungus. On the other hand, you want to prevent the ground from hardening and drying out or your plants can become droopy with dehydration.

Maintaining a healthy water level for your growing garden can feel like a full-time job. When it comes to watering the garden, most hobby gardeners opt for one of the following two evils: Either they make frequent trips back and forth from their gardens to a water source, hauling heavy buckets, or they fight with a long, kinking uncooperative garden hose which may or may not hold them hostage to its coiling. Hoses can be particularly wasteful when it comes to watering. 

This week’s blog offers an eco-friendly solution for garden hobbyists when watering their gardens. An inexpensive and efficient idea is to install a drip irrigation system. You can recycle your garden hose and buckets in this project.

To create a garden hose irrigation system, poke holes in the hose and coil it around your flower beds . With one end attached to your water source (a tap or water barrel), you can use a pressure regulator and a timer to disperse the water; if your water source is a tap in your yard, you can turn it on and off by hand as necessary. A water barrel is quite useful in recycling rain water, although it may prove to be a problematic water source during a drought.

 It is a good idea to poke bigger holes for faster water disbursement and smaller holes for a slower flow. It is important to make certain the holes line up closely with the roots of your plants. This way you won’t lose any water to evaporation or runoff, and you won't inadvertently water the driveway or the side of the house as often happens with an automatic sprinkler system.

One article on the subject suggests that drip irrigation systems use anywhere from 30-50% less water than conventional watering sources, such as sprinklers  (www.eartheasy.com). Your plants will be healthier because they are receiving water directly at the deep root level, where they absorb it most effectively. Also, smaller amounts of water over a longer period of time are beneficial to plant growth.

(Pic from Getty Images)