How to spruce up your landscape, even if your budget is tight
Container gardening has many benefits, not the least of which are their impactful beauty, great versatility, and easy care. Whether your garden pots are used to grow impressive annuals or healthy vegetables and herbs, watering them is a key part of their upkeep and health. If you have a lot, watering multiple times a day, especially in hotter and dryer months, can become an arduous task. So, is there an easier way?
Of course, the answer is yes, and that answer is to use an irrigation system. While many folks think of an irrigation system as a series of sprinklers that pop up and spray our lawns down each morning, the truth is that irrigation actually comes in a number of forms suited to water landscapes of all sizes, from expansive lawns all the way down to potted plants.
In the case of container gardens, the best method is drip irrigation which is designed specifically for smaller plants that are well served to be watered right at the root zone. Drip lines are simply flexible tubing—often called microtubing—that is perforated to let water pumped via a mainline out into the soil. The bendability of the tubing makes it so that the system can be laid right where the plants’ roots are. Thus, it is a simple procedure to lay loops of tubing, sized just less than the diameter of the container’s top opening, across the surface of the soil where the plants will grow.
FRONT YARD LANDSCAPING – SANTA BARBARA
A home’s front yard gardens is the first impression it gives to the rest of the world passing by. Attractive landscaping can improve property values and enhance its residents’ pride of ownership. However, taking care of even simple front yard landscaping can be laborious for the do-it-yourselfer and may end up detracting from the look of the home.
Whereas in a garden bed the tubing will usually snake through rather inconspicuously, a looping line in a container or pot requires a little extra setup. First, if you’re designing a larger irrigation system or determining where your containers will go, it’s best if the containers are close to the system’s mainline so that pressure is maintained as water is delivered into the container. Where the first length of solid tubing connects from the mainline to the pot, an elbow fitting will be the trick to circling a second piece of perforated tubing (tubing with emitters) around the rim of the pot and connecting it back to the solid tubing.
You’ll want to test your system to make sure the emitters flow as they should and to see how long you’ll need to run it before a little water begins to seep out the bottom of the pot. This is generally when the potted plant has been watered sufficiently. Then figure out how often it’ll need to be watered. In periods of drought, you may need to run your system multiple times a day to keep the soil moist and your plants happy.
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