When I tell people that my garden is over 8000 square feet, most of them gasp, and ask, “How do you take care of that big of a garden?” It is a big garden. It takes a focused effort and some good planning to make it work, but there are a few trick to make it much easier than you would think. These methods are not secrets, but how I’ve implemented them into my own garden make them seem like unique solutions that few others have dared venture into. Just remember, not only do these practices save time, but they will also save water and money on your water bill – a worth endeavor.
Growing up as a youth, I used to help my father water the garden each week. It’s the same garden I am using right now, just so you know. It would take us days to furrow each row and then run water down each one. If the furrow broke or disintegrated, then we would have water all over the garden, so it had to be tended consistently. It seemed like a lot of work, but that’s what I grew up doing, and thought that was the best way possible. I still don’t know how he was able to do it all, and still have time for anything else.
Now, I have decided that I just don’t have time to do it that way, and my new method is unbeatable. Instead of hours and hours watering multiple times a week, I put in about 15-20 minutes once or twice a week. My secret is soaker and drip hoses and weed barrier. With a timer, a few hose splitters and a little ingenuity, you can do it too.
I have two sections in my garden – one with rows 50 feet long and one with rows 75 feet long. Each row has either a soaker hose running its entire length (corn, carrots, onions, potatoes, beans, etc.) or a drip hose for individual plants (tomatoes, peppers, squash, melons, cucumbers). Since I have secondary irrigation and our pressure is limited, I can only do 3-4 rows at a time without losing all our pressure. That being the case, I have a 4-way hose splitter for each section with two 4’ and two 8’ hose sections attached to each valve, and a brass quick connector on each end. With the quick connectors, I can hook up to each row in seconds.
When it’s time to water the garden, I hook up my 4 hoses to 4 rows in the garden in each section. I turn on the water, set the timer for 6 hours, and go to work. When I get home from work, I unhook the 4 hoses, move them to 4 new rows, turn on the water, set the timer, then go do something else until I go to bed. The next morning, I move the hoses to the last 4 rows, turn on the water set timer, then go back to work. As you can see, I can water that same garden my father did over multiple days and hours, in as little as 15 minutes total. The hoses and timers to all the work for me!
I add weed barrier to the areas around my tomatoes, peppers, squashes and melons to cut down the weeds. The drippers deliver just the right amount of water to saturate the root systems of the plants, but rarely end up watering too much, or the weeds in between the plants. Same with the soakers, they saturate the root zone of my plants, but not the rows in between. My corn for example, needs to be weeded in the rows because of the water saturation, but not in between the rows. I can even set my rows far enough apart so I can run the tiller up and down the rows for most of the season to control the weeds. It saves so much time!
With a little time, some planning, a few parts, and some new soaker hoses & drip hoses, you can do this too. Just remember, soakers use 70% less water than a sprinkler, and drip hoses use 90% less water than a sprinkler. Just by adjusting your watering habits and method, you can also save yourself 90% of your water bill AND 95% of your time. It’s worth it. Give it a try.