Watering Plans

So... in years past my garden watering has been accomplished by standing in the garden with a hose squirting one plant or one row at a time. Or, worse yet, walking down the aisles with a watering can. Somehow, the plants never seemed to get enough water during the hottest months. Despite the fact that we have a limitless (not really, but it may as well be) supply of well water.

I wanted a more efficient setup, one where I could walk out back, turn the water on, go do something else, and come back to turn the water off. My options were sprinkler or soaker hose. Initially I thought soaker hose, but figured it would require an awful lot of hose, and the soaker hoses in my flower garden didn't seem to spread the water very far from the hose. So, when I saw a sprinkler that claimed to cover a 30' by 30' area for $2, I was hooked. Bought it, tried it. Unfortunately, it actually covered more like a 10' by 10' area. Whether that's due to water pressure or deceptive advertising is hard to tell. But it sent me back to the soaker hose idea.

I have now purchased 200 linear feet of soaker hose, which should cover 8 rows looping back and forth across the garden. Once the rain stops and the ground dries out a bit, we'll set those hoses out and see how they do. We'll be using garden staples to hold the hoses in place so they don't roll around and squish seedlings. Here's hoping this great idea works out.