Let's Talk Irrigation

By LMG Calla Victoria

  Hydrating our gardens can sometimes become a daunting task. There are several suggestions that can make our lives easy. If you have an installed irrigation system, the problem is solved. But for everyone else, I have a few great tips because avid gardeners would prefer working in their garden rather than watering it.

     First and foremost set up a rain catchment system. Do you know that a one-inch rainfall will collect 600 gallons of rainwater from a 1,000-square-foot roof? Now that is a serious amount of FREE water you are allowing to escape. Rain barrels are reasonable and easy to install, also you can make your own. Basically you place the rain barrels under your downspouts and they catch the water that runs off your roof.  You can find numerous “how to” videos on YouTube. Using rainwater will save on your water bill and the rainwater has all of the minerals that plants need to grow, minerals that are extracted from tap water so that it is palatable for us.

    Rainwater is great, but when there is no rain, what is a gardener to do? You can create your own irrigation system quite inexpensively. Consider purchasing a watering hose timer, they range from $20 and up, depending on the technology. Purchase soaker hoses, they are 50 feet in length and cost $8 each. Buy as many as you will need to cover your garden beds. Lay the soakers throughout your garden beds, circling those plants that are heavy feeders.

     Soaker hoses are great because they sweat and don't sprinkle, so they water the roots of the plants only. There is no extraneous water loss as with sprinklers where the water sprays all over the place including the walkways. Once the soaker hoses are laid in your garden beds, cover them with mulch. Then set the timer for the watering sequence; every day, or every other day, for thirty minutes or one hour, starting time, etc. Connect the timer to the water faucet, connect the soaker hoses to the timer, and turn the water on, now you are all set.

     You can buy timers that have several hose ports for a pretty penny, or you can buy a timer with a single hose port and purchase a splitter that will convert your single-port timer to a multi-port time for just a few bucks. Some timers are so sophisticated that they monitor rainfall amounts and will not come on if it is raining or has recently rained. Cheaper timers do have a “manual” button and can be turned off in the case of rain. There are also more sophisticated systems that you can control through your smartphone.

Multi-port Hose timer Hose pipe splitter Smartphone irrigation App

      Another cost-effective option for irritating your garden is by utilizing gray water to hydrate your garden. Gray water is also quite valuable in drought conditions. Gray water is water from your sink, tub, and shower. Imagine how much water goes down the drain that could be used in your garden. Let’s not forget how much water we allow to go down the drain just waiting for the shower to get hot. Consider placing a bucket in the shower to catch that water, then toss it in your garden beds. The traces of soap and detergent in graywater will not harm your plants. If you enjoy a long soak in a bubble bath, you can use that bath water in your garden. Think of how many gallons of water are just going down the drain after your bath.  As long as you do not use any type of oil in the bath water, gray water from your bath is fine. Only use bubble bath, shampoo, or Epsom Salt in the bath water if you wish to use it in your garden. Also, after boiling pasta or steaming veggies let the water cool and toss it in the garden.

     Also if you have an air-conditioning window unit, place plants under the unit to capture the runoff water.  With central-air units, you can place an extender at the end of the water release hose and direct that water into the garden. But disconnect the extender hose if you decide to flush out your system.  If you are running the air conditioner that means it is hot, and there is always that water runoff from cooling the air. So why not make use of that, otherwise wasted, water thereby saving on your water bill because your electric bill is going to be sky high?  The use of gray water is a vital option in drought-prone states like California and Colorado where they are subject to watering restrictions allowing watering only several days a week. And get this, in Colorado, it is illegal to have a rain catchment system....why?

Remember, never get too busy to stop and enjoy the beautiful flowers!