The Garden Soaker Hose: Easiest Way to Save Time and Money in Your Garden

If you're looking to replace or add to your gardening equipment, you might want to consider a garden soaker hose as an addition to your regular garden hoses. Depending on your landscape design, a garden soaker hose can make your home gardening chores much easier.

What is a Garden Soaker Hose?

Garden soaker hoses are usually black and have a rough surface because they are often manufactured from recycled car tires. The rough surface of the soaker hose differs from a garden hose because it contains millions of tiny little holes through which water will seep. The seeping water helps avoid evaporation and goes directly into the ground around your plants - slowly - so that the water actually stays where you put and doesn't run off into little streams away from your plants.

Advantages of a Garden Soaker Hose

Garden soaker hoses save you time and money - You don't have to drag a regular garden hose from plant to plant and waste water by trying to water your plants with more water than they can possibly absorb at any one time. You'll use less water using a soaker hose than you will with a sprinkler or watering your garden landscape by hand, too.

Bury your garden soaker hose and the job is complete - Once you've placed your garden soaker hose and buried it in the mulch, your job is finished. With a regular garden hose, you'll have to revisit the same planting beds several times a week.

Garden soaker hoses give you healthier plants - Many plants don't like water on their leaves. If you're watering with a regular hose or a sprinkler instead of a garden soaker hose, that water that is getting on the leaves of your plants could be causing disease.

When to Use a Garden Soaker Hose

To successfully irrigate your garden with soaker hoses, you have to use them in the right spot. That would be garden beds. Lawns need sprinklers, not soaker hoses. Be sure to use your soaker hose where your garden landscape and planting beds are level. Level ground is a must for your garden soaker hose to irrigate efficiently.

Keep in mind that you'll want to bury your garden soaker hoses to protect them from the sun, so you'll want to purchase mulch to complete this task. Be sure that the soaker hose doesn't get kinked when you are laying it throughout your planting bed; soaker hoses can't water efficiently with kinks.

Tips for Selecting and Using a Garden Soaker Hose

Make sure to buy a garden soaker hose made from recycled materials - it's better for the environment.

Choose a good quality hose. Don't skimp here. You will be putting this hose into the ground and you want it to last through more than one season.

Use garden soaker hose in no longer than 100 ft. lengths. If you need more than one it is best to keep the limit to six lengths total. Separate each length with regular hose and connectors.

Be sure your garden soaker hose lays flat on level ground and use a regular garden hose to attach to it. That will save water and ensure that the water is going exactly where you want it.

Make sure the water pressure going through the soaker hose is no more than 10 psi (pounds per square inch). The water pressure for most homes is around 50 psi. You can regulate your water pressure with a pressure reducing attachment sold separately at the store.

Sources:
Soaker Hoses: Good for Your Garden, Your Wallet, and Our Environment, SavingWater.org
Gene and Katie Hamilton, All About Soaker Hoses, Are they your best irrigation tool?, Move.com