Drip Irrigation: A Functional System for Your Garden and Plants

Ongoing drought and water shortage in some regions of the United States, for instance in North Georgia, make water conservation very crucial. If you live in such an area, you certainly know that every drop counts. You have possibly thought about the usage of a hose, a sprinkler system or even the good old watering can for your garden. All of these techniques might be handy, but in the end you will waste too much of the valuable water on plants that don't demand any more.

There are more efficient ways to water your garden without investing too much time and money. You should consider the installation of a drip irrigation system. Once you decide to set up a drip irrigation system, you can select one of two alternatives: the above ground and underground version. The above ground method drips low quantities of water constantly onto the soil, and enables it to be absorbed. It is all adjusted by a pressure controller, which assures that the water only exit at a drip instead of a flow or a spray. The entirely drip system can be assembled with a pressure regulator and a perforated garden hose. The perfect way for you would be to acquire a pipe especially designed for this purpose. But the use of a garden hose is also very effective and affordable. Besides the pressure regulators are very cheap as well.

If you prefer a more aesthetic solution and don't want a visible irrigation system, then you should decide for an underground irrigation system. But this is a bit more difficult to install and to maintain. Basically it works very similar to the above variant, you just need to dig a little ditch for the pipe or the garden hose before setting out any plants. This enables the water an immediate access to the roots. This is the most efficient way to water your garden in terms of work effort you invest as well as water usage.

When you select between the two drip irrigation systems, you have to consider various things. Do you have the same plant arrangement the following years? If you are constantly changing the lay out of your plants, you certainly should not choose the underground version. You would have to dig it up and to rearrange it with the new plants. Even if you stick with the garden conception, you have to think about how much you actually mind seeing a hose in your garden. If this truly annoys you, you should invest some additional hours of work to remove it and to install it below ground. Otherwise the above ground irrigation system is more convenient in terms of rearranging and fixing.

Efficiency is the most important benefit of the drip irrigation system. It provides your garden with continuous watering instead of spraying big quantities of water with a garden hose. Most of your valuable water is placed precisely where and when it's needed. A drought tolerant drip irrigation system is an affordable, easy, comfortable and efficient technique that keeps your garden healthy and flourishing during the driest time of the year.