One of Benjamin Franklin’s famous aphorisms, “When the well’s dry, we know the worth of water,” fits well with our planet’s current predicament. We now buy water in bottles and pay for access to water in our homes. Whether your concern is for the ecological or fiscal effects of water shortages—or both—our gardens and how we keep them flourishing depends on water.
May is a great time to examine our water supply and usage in the garden. Perhaps we can do more with less. Let’s take a look at (a) types of watering or irrigation systems for our gardens, as well as their (b) strengths, weaknesses, and common mistakes to avoid when we set up our garden’s watering system. In all cases, you may want to consult your landscape team, and if you decide to install a semi-permanent Drip System, you’ll need a landscape designer or plumber specializing in their complexities.
There are four watering systems that have proven their effectiveness over time. From simplest to most complex, they are:
1. Hand Watering: buckets, hoses and wands 2. Sprinklers: tall, short, directional, or circulating 3. Soaker Hoses 4. Drip Irrigation
Hand Watering
We’re all familiar with the old-fashioned bucket or watering can method of satisfying our thirsty gardens. We’ve probably added a flexible hose or two.
Advantages: The most common reason I hear from friends is the joy of quietly communing with the garden’s plants. There’s real pleasure in wandering through the garden, splashing life-giving water as each plant seems to require. There’s also the opportunity to watch for problems among the plants—sneaky weeds and aphids won’t escape your wandering eye.
Disadvantages: A gallon of water weighs over eight pounds! Unless you’re watering a patio garden, you’ll need quite a few gallons daily for your garden. (Need I say more?) Watering the foliage is a real danger. You will need to make sure to get the water around each plant’s base, not on its leaves and blooms.
Sprinklers
I don’t know about your garden shed, but mine is replete with sprinklers of various types and sizes, purchased in a fruitless quest for just the right sprinkler to handle my garden’s needs. (Nope! I don’t have the perfect sprinkler solution to share with you.)
Advantages: With an assortment of sprinklers, you can find the right water distribution for your various flower beds. Sprinklers are light and usually quite durable. Unlike watering cans, sprinklers usually keep ticking away for years on summer mornings. Sprinklers are relatively inexpensive.
Disadvantages: Sprinklers can’t help getting water on the foliage and blooms—a serious problem and actually a show-stopper. High watering can be disastrous if your plants’ leaves aren’t able to dry in the sun. Thus, morning watering is the best way to use a sprinkler. They’re rather unsightly. Tall, gangly ones or low, metal versions all wear tails of hose winding along the paths or through the beds of flowers. Water pressure outdoors and in the house must be factored into your watering schedule. If you have several sprinklers don’t set them all to turn on at once. There’ll only be dribbles of water coming out of each sprinkler.
Soaker Hoses
Addressing the important issue of watering plants at their bases, the soaker hose is a solution. Soaker hoses have evenly distributed small holes through which water seeps into the soil. There are also soaker strips that work well where extra flexibility is needed, particularly in tight spaces among young plants.
Advantages: The greatest advantage to distributing soaker hoses in your flower beds is your ability to get the water to specific plants—circling each plant or zigzagging among the plants. Once you’ve situated the soaker hose or strip properly all the water will soak down into the soil and to the roots.
Disadvantages: As with the sprinklers, the soaker hose requires good water pressure. If your hoses are too long the water will not reach the hoses’ ends, leaving some plants without water. Soaker hoses are not to be buried. You can disguise them with mulch, which will also hold in the moisture, but don’t let the hose’s holes become clogged.
Drip Irrigation
This system uses sturdy tubing with holes for emitting water, buried 6” to 12” deep. This ensures that the water will be absorbed into the soil and down to the root bed. You’ll probably want a professional to install the system which is made up of many essential parts. When setting up the installation, Polyethylene tubing is considered more desirable than PVC tubing due to its flexibility, weight, and resistance to abrasion or chemical erosion.
Advantages: No water will be wasted, and the foliage will remain dry. With a timer, you need not worry about your plants becoming parched. A properly installed drip irrigation system will not drain the water pressure in the house.
Disadvantages: The system is expensive, and you may need a professional to set up and properly bury the tubing. There are filters and backflow prevention components that are essential for a system to work properly for 12 to 15 years. Since the tubing is only a foot or less below the surface, you’ll have to be careful when planting or aerating the soil. You don’t want to damage the tubing. If you’re on a well, the drip system may too easily clog with “hard” water.
Caution: You’ll want to schedule yearly maintenance. Ask your specialist to come in the late fall to drain the tubes and check for any corrosion or leaking.
Whichever method(s) you decide to rely on to water your gardens this season, I wish you just the right amount of rain and sunshine so every one of your plants flourishes.
