We have had rain at my house this summer, but not nearly enough. I have had to water much of my garden this year. Unfortunately, that has been a combination of soaker hoses, overhead sprinklers and hand watering. I have thought all summer that there has to be a better way to do this.
Turns out there is. My colleague, Stan Roark, assures me that even I can install a drip irrigation system for my garden. He says if I can assemble legos or tinker toys, I can install a simple system for my garden.
Commercial operations were the first to use drip irrigation and years ago, drip systems were complex. These days, companies have simplified systems, and starter kits are widely available online. Stan recommends starting with a kit—guaranteeing you have all the parts you need and no long searches through bins at the local hardware store.
I hope to order my kit this weekend to water several beds where I intend to plan vegetables for the fall.
As I see it, there are a lot of advantages to installing a drip irrigation system. First, the water is directed right where the plants need it—the root zones. If I bury the drip emitters under the mulch, I will reduce water loss to evaporation. Since the water is applied so slowly over the course of several hours, less runoff and plants benefit from deep watering.
It will also allow me to be a better steward of our water resources. Most estimates put drip irrigation efficiency at around 90 percent while sprinkler irrigation is around 50 to 70 percent efficient. I think my plants will do better with this new system, and my water usage should drop as well.