Choosing the Right Equipment for Watering Your Garden

Every gardener knows that the garden needs water, especially during the hot, dry summer months. It can also be a real pain to water sometimes. Watering your plants can be less of a chore if you have the proper equipment.

Hoses
We all try to save money during the course of our gardening endeavors. For example, we will visit plant exchanges in order to get free plants. We also may use maple leaves and pine needles from our own yard to mulch our plants. There is one item, however, that you should not try to get by on the cheap. That is on your garden hose. Actually, a good rule of thumb is: the more expensive, the better.

Most hoses are made out of a flexible PVC. You do want to, however, look for good rubberized hoses rather than the flimsy plastic ones. The more expensive ones are double-walled and/or reinforced, which helps to prevent kinks. Also, the black rubber hoses are tougher and will, therefore, last longer.

Most hoses are 25-feet and 50-feet long. Buy the longer ones in order to avoid having to connect two shorter hoses together. In addition, hoses are either one-half inch or three-quarters inch in diameter. While the one-half inch hoses tend to be lighter, you will get more water out of the three-quarter inch hose.

Soaker hoses
Soaker hoses have small holes along the length of the hose and release water directly into the soil. There is also a type of porous soaker hose, which allows the water to seep slowly from the pores. Cheaper soaker hoses can spring leaks. (If the water is shooting upward instead of downward into the soil, you can lose a lot of water through evaporation.) These leaks can be easily repaired; however, you can save yourself a lot of time and effort by using the same philosophy as you do with your garden hose -- buy the more expensive soaker hose.

Sprinklers
There are all types of sprinklers. I can tell you from experience that if you have a lot of water volume coming through your lines, you will want a heavy-duty metal sprinkler. We blew apart a cheaper plastic sprinkler one time as soon as we turned on the water.

Once you have decided that you are going to get a heavy-duty sprinkler, the issue just becomes where in the garden you are going to use it. I have a pulse-jet sprinkler, for instance, that I use in the front yard. It reaches my many scattered flower beds better than other sprinklers while watering the lawn at the same time. In my herb garden, I have a decorative rotating head sprinkler. It not only looks nice but also reaches all areas of the garden. In one of my smaller flower beds, I have a ring sprinkler. This is just a small metal ring that sends water up and out. It is not really good for large beds; however, it is my favorite for my smaller flower beds. It is also quite inexpensive. (I think I may have paid five dollars for it.) I really do not use the oscillating sprinklers. (These are the ones that move back and forth and are quite common.) I find that a lot of water tends to be wasted. They do work well, though, for watering lawns.

Accessories
There are all types of accessories you can purchase to make watering your garden much easier. For example, if you want different flows of water for different areas, you will want to have at least one good nozzle for your hose. There are several types on the market that have different settings; e.g., spray, mist, shower, which are good overall hose nozzles. You can also buy specific nozzles, such as a barrel nozzle that just shoots out a stream of water or a fan nozzle that has a wider head with several holes and sends more water out than the shower setting on other nozzles.

If you change nozzles and/or move your hose from one area of your yard to another, disconnecting the nozzles and hoses can be a real pain. A quick-coupler system is fantastic. You attach one to the end of your hose and the other to your faucet. (You can also attach one to your spray nozzle.) When you are ready to make a change, all you have to do is snap one lose and snap on the other. Do buy brass couplers, though. Brass tends to last longer and does not drip as much. You can also add a Y-coupler to your faucet to which you can attach two (and sometimes more) hoses and water different areas at the same time. I have one that also allows me to shut off one side of the Y if I am not using that side.

There is a type of faucet that my plumber husband has placed about our house. It is called a full-port ball lever ball valve. I love these things! First, the full-port allows more water to come out of the line. Second, the lever is so easy to turn on and off. One finger will do it. No more twisting and turning a valve to get the water to turn on and then off. They are easy to install yourself, or you can get a plumber to do it for you.

Do not be like so many gardeners who I know -- even Master Gardeners -- who say they have not watered their gardens, because they do not like dragging the hose out or that the hose kinks every time they try to use it. There are a myriad of excuses you might use for not watering your plants; however, you can eliminate most of them by purchasing the proper equipment. Just do not let all of your hard work and the money you have spent on plants die by not watering.

References:

Brookes, John. The Complete Gardener. Avenel, NJ: Crescent Books, 1994.

Roth, Susan A. New Complete Guide to Gardening. Des Moines, IA: Meredith Books, 1997.