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Drip Irrigation Systems
If you are tried of watering your garden
by dragging hoses and sprinklers or carrying
heavy watering cans, you should consider
installing a drip irrigation system. These
systems will save you time, effort, and money
by delivering water right to the root zones
of the plants, where they will use only the
water they really need. Less water will be
lost to evaporation, and water will not get
the plants’ foliage wet, which can result
in disease and leaf spotting. Drip systems
are easy and inexpensive to install and maintain.
They use flexible tubing which delivers water
to an emitter that drips it at the plants’
base.
If you are thinking of putting
in a drip
system, consider the following:
- Drip tubing comes in 1/2 inch and 5/8 inch
sizes. Systems that are longer in length
or have more emitters (or where water pressure
is low) will need the larger tubing. If you
have a large garden, you may need to split
it up into separate parts and water them
at different times.
- Look for tubing that is a dark color. This
can be made almost invisible by burying it
just beneath the ground or covering it with
dirt or mulch.
- Using a timer with a drip system will add
to its convenience. The garden can be watered
in the early morning (when water is not needed
for household use) or when you are not home.
- Most drip systems are hooked up to an existing
faucet. If you will have to run the tubing
across a sidewalk, patio or lawn that needs
to be mowed, think about using a quick hose
connection so the tubing can be disconnected
when it is not in use.
Drip irrigation can be used for vegetable
gardens, shrub and flower borders and beds,
foundation plantings, containers and hanging
baskets. They not work well for lawns and
large areas of ground cover, which require
a sprinkler type irrigation system. |
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