Water-wise Gardening

Drip irrigation systems save you time watering and help your plants grow better. That’s because a drip system does all the work of delivering a slow, low pressure watering to individual plants or specific areas. No more hand watering or running in and out to move hoses. Plus, the soil absorbs the water better and your plants utilize it better, so you’ll enjoy a healthier garden.

You’ll find a drip system relatively easy to install, particularly when you start with a kit. Most drip systems consist of plastic tubing you custom fit with emitters to soak or spray only where your plants are. It can be above ground, underground, or set up practically out of site along a deck or porch to water planters. And systems are easy to expand with additional kits or individual pieces.

Then once you’ve set it up, all you do is turn on the water (it hooks right up to your faucet). To make things even easier on you, add a timer. Then the system automatically turns itself on and off to water at the times you’ve set.

Check out these benefits of a drip system…

• Better watering for your plants. The point of watering is to deliver water to your plants’ roots so they absorb nutrients and grow. Drip irrigation does this so well, you’re likely to notice a healthy improvement in your garden. By watering "low and slow," the water can seep down farther into the soil, encouraging deeper root growth. You also avoid "drench and dry out" symptoms like plant shock and stress, which often come from overhead watering.
• A real time saver for you. Once your system’s in place, all you do is turn the faucet on and off. No more dragging sprinklers all over the place, battling tangled hoses, or hand watering. And if you set the system up on a timer, you won’t have to lift a finger for your plants to get watered!
  Versatile and durable. You can use them anywhere from flat terrain to terraced gardens to steep hillsides. The hoses can be buried or left above ground, year-round, in all climates.
• Drip watering can help reduce weed growth. You water only the plants, not the weeds.
• Saves water and money, too. Think about those higher water bills that come during summer. Then think about the money you could save with a drip irrigation system, which can use up to 70% less water than conventional sprinklers. With a drip system, water is delivered more efficiently, so your plants use less water yet enjoy healthier results.
• And your system is easily expandable with other kits and accessories.

Good places to install drip irrigation…

• In narrow flower beds and borders where regular sprinklers create too much run-off
• Around plantings at the foundation of your house
• Along hedges
• In vegetable gardens
• In areas of widely spaced plants
• Along your porch, deck or patio to water individual planters

There are a lot of really great reasons to install a drip irrigation system. And now that gardening chores have slowed down some, it’s a good time to do the project. For the rest of this summer and many more following, you’ll appreciate the time and money a drip irrigation system saves you...