How do you water your plants?

I put in a Rain---? sprinkler system that has a 6 zone timer last year. Since I travel far more than I want too, it guarantees my gardens will get watered. When I plant a new bed it can come on every 3 hours to get plants started.
It also can have sprinklers in one area and drip in another.
The best garden investment ever.
sidney

I put 'Other,' simply because there wasn't an 'all of the above' category! lol I'm in TX, so I have a sprinkler system, a rain-collecting barrel, and self-watering devices to help. I have to supplement handwater w/jugs, watering cans, hose, etc. for baskets, pots and super-slogging brugs and cannas. But, it pays off--just won 'Yard of the Month' for my town!!!! Yippee........I'm so psyched......=)

Congrats, mkjones!!!

Portable "lawn sprinkler", soaker hoses, wand with a water breaker, and watering cans, as necessary.

Someone said of southern California - "instant paradise, just add water".

We use several methods, so I couldn't really vote. The grass, vegetable garden, and some of the flower/shrub beds use overhead sprinklers (not really overhead, but a couple inches to about two feet, depending on the location). Some of the flower beds use soaker hoses. I use a "Noodlhead" on the end of a hose for a couple small areas. Plants in pots and select plants on the steep side slope get watered with a watering can. We also have some areas that seem to fend for themselves. I guess they "steal" water from the neighbors' yards or from part of our yard that we do water. I think we're too high up on the hill to have an accessible water table. If it's a good winter and spring, nature takes care of the watering except for what is under the porch roof. I save rain water to use on those plants so they can get some good (non-hard, non-alkaline) water at least part of the year. We also catch the condensate from the air conditioner.

I was torn on this one. My beds are carefully prepared and well mulched -- I usually leave it up to nature. When establishing a new bed or plant or in periods of severe drought, I drag around the hoses.

I usually use the hose, but have been known to use the sprinkler - I also have soaker hoses and occasionally will use a watering can. Really needed an all-of-the-above category!

I voted for "let nature do it" but I use at least four of the methods mentioned. Can I vote again? This summer has been way too hot and dry to let nature be in charge of the watering.

Ann

I answered "other". I use most of the methods listed in different parts of my garden. Depends on the location and depends on the plant I'm dealing with.

all of the above. depends on when and where.

I have a shallow well with an electric pump, timer and zone switching system. This comes on every 2 days automatically. In the dead heat of summer, I see my plants are a bit depressed so I get the garden hose out and give them that extra drink they need to cool down a bit.

Right now we are not in a drought situation so I have no guilt.

Molly
:^)))

We call it a hose pipe here too. Anyway, we water mainly with a hose pipe but some pots are dunked in water trays and some like the hanging baskets at the front are occasionally water canned.

I voted 'Other' as I do have container plants and perennials outdoors that are watered with the hose, but also have a large collection of indoor plants that need to be watered by hand with a watering can.

"Other", I use a soaker hose in one bed, the garden hose on others and I use watering cans for the one that's too far for the garden hose to reach. I really prefer to let nature do her thing but she's not doing much this year!

I voted for "hose" but usually let Nature take it 's course.

I had soaker hoses once, but discovered after work one day that the birds were pecking big giant holes in them. My water bill was horrendous! Now no more soaker hoses.

Dave missed all of above so it had to be other

"other" here, too. Hoses, sprinklers, watering can, and soakers, etc. I always some water going. Luckily, we pay a flat monthly rate for the water bill!

Everything here but the drip system. Mostly, I rely on nature and plants that can thrive without much more than she gives them. I'm surprised there are so many doing it the same way. I must watch too many gardening shows or read too many gardening articles, so I'm left thinking I'm out in left field with my mish-mash of methods!

Congrats mkjones!

I voted hose, but really am in the "all of the above" group too.

Should add "kids pouring water on plants from the wading pool" as an option too!

1.99 inches of rain in 24 hours last week. Most rain we have had all summer. Drought? You betcha. Not watering grass yet, we have had just enough rain to keep it from compleatly dying.

mg

Although I do the majority of watering by hand, sometimes when the weather is too darn hot and I am tired of hauling water, I do use the hose on a "shower" setting.

Hose-
I love to go out there and walk around spraying water all over the place. Its very relaxing.

I also do my best thinking while i am watering the gardens.

I selected drip irrigation since the majority of our watering involves the veggie garden, though nature was kind and brought lovely rains in the spring and early summer.

Also I use somtime on by hand watering cans, too...

I moved here this year and the first thing I did was begin designing and laying out a drip system. However - caveat, most of my drip system is 1/4" soaker hose. It is just too simple to combine drip, spray and soaker on one system. I'm finally done... a system in the front and one in the back. As I add new plants or beds I add the appropriate drip, spray or soaker. Oh yes, I still have to put mulch back. Covers up the soaker circles and no unsightly hoses laying all over!

This summer here in central WI, if I would let nature take care of it,,,,half of my babies would be thirsting to death. I water just to keep them alive until the rain finally comes and really gives them a boost. Love that rain,,,not only is it better for plants it saves me about 2 1/2 hours of watering,,,not to mention my water bill UGH.

I have the RainBird automatic sprinkler system with multiples zones, etc. However, since rainfall is fairly plentiful here, I only use it as a backup during lengthy dry periods. From most of what I've read a heavy soaking (1") once or twice a week is preferable to lots of smaller showers in that the former helps to encourage deeper roots and more drought resistant plants. If it rains, I leave it alone.

I voted other too because there wasn't an all the above. I've got 6 beds, a natural area and 30+ containers. I also have 2 rainbarrels just for my Epis and holiday cacti

Almost all of the ones mentioned, soaker hose, old hose with holes punched with an ice pick to wind around a big flower bed, sprinklers, hose nozzle for the hanging baskets and pots, and an occasional rain dance when I'm desperate. Bad summer in Wisconsin, in fact, the entire midwest is drought suffering. Glad we have a well, city water would send us to the poor house.

I don't care that it takes forever, but I water almost everything by hand. I have an idea of just how much water my plants want, and I like to give it to them by hand, and watch the water soak in around them until I'm satisfied. Sometimes when it is really dry, that takes over an hour and a half, but it is how I like to do it. I have two large watering cans, one with a pour spout, the other with a sprinkle spout. I also am constantly tinkering with the drainage in the soil around various different plants, so I need to be up close to them to see what is going on. I am also a fern addict, and I like to take the time while watering them by hand to look at their fronds.

-Greg

I said water by hand w/a can since that's the thing that takes the most time! I get worse every year with the
containers. I'm up to 4-5 3gal. watering canfuls each day for the pots, baskets and other assorted containers.
I also have carried many canfuls out to the new rhodies & other shrubs I put in last year in the outlying areas.
Too far for a hose & too hot & dry to just let 'em on their own this first summer (and has it ever been HOT).

We use the sprinkler and hose for the vegatable garden. I use the soaker hose in extreme circumstances for
trees - a few years ago my 20 yr old dogwoods were looking terrible, leaves all drying up after a very very very
dry spring & summer. The soaker let me water them slowly & thoroughly.

All of the above would have been appropriate for me (except no drip irrigation system).

Tam

I'm with sugarweed and Ann. We have an underground irrigation sprinkler system but it's been to hot to rely on that alone so I do get the hose out for the Japanese irises and for transplants as well as the watering can or another hose for pots, hanging baskets, etc.

I had to put other since there weren't multiple choices. We have a 6 zone irrigation system, but it includes underground heads for the roses. I also use a soaker hose and hand water the newly planted things. The afternoon rains supplement.

This message was edited Aug 16, 2005 7:13 AM

I have a sump pump secured in our creek for watering. (Missouri is a riparian water rights state, so we are able to do this. Some places do not allow you to pump water from creeks, lakes, etc.) DH thinks I will run the well dry if I use it. Probably would...it takes me 3 solid days to water all the landscaping (not lawn). Then I rest a couple of days, and start all over again. I just throw the hose down in a spot and every 15 to 60 minutes, I move it. Very time consuming. I would like to run some soaker hoses from that creek pump, but it does not have enough pressure. The plants love the warm water (compared to well water), and it has a pH of about 7, which is great.
I also use a watering can, sprinkler attachments, and some well water to supplement the creek watering system. I use well water for the veggies.

One problem I created using creek water: I used it to fill the goldfish pond and birdbath and now both are growing that long, stringy algae.

I have to say 'Other' since in one part of my garden or another, I use all the above methods! Some beds have soaker hoses, some pots have drip emitters, and some still get watered with a can, and some have milkjugs sitting in them that I fill with the hose. Sometimes I stand out there holding the hose, sometimes I use a sprinkler. Some areas, I never water and leave up to the powers that be to provide moisture. Would like a fancy automated drip irrigation system in the entire garden, beds, and containers. Just having to work on it an emitter at a time. -mich

I trench my beds, filling trenches with leaves, well stamped down till they are level with top of the soil. Then I cover with dug soil. Plant veggies here and mulch well a la Ruth Stout. Do this for a few years and then plant perennials or whatever. Don't need too much watering except when first planted.

Siberian iris get a bucket of water now and then, when I remember.

Inanda

The drip is actually for all the pots, and the others are on a sprinkler system with a variety of spray options on the heads. I never knew I could grow things until I went automatic! What a difference watering makes - who knew? haha

Like another voter, I too enjoy watering by hand with a hose, even though it takes me 2 hours to water everything. This year it has also been a necessity. Not only are we on every other day watering restrictions, but the restrictions also limit us to 2 hours per day at either 7:30 am to 9:30 am OR 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm, but not both. Must admit it's a little tiresome to be tied to someone else's idea of a schedule, since Monday to Friday I'm gone from 5:30 am to 5:30 pm and it's getting quite dark now by 9:00 pm. Oh well. I'm just counting my lucky stars that we aren't actually prohibited from all outdoor watering uses.

I choose 'other' because I also do a little of everything. The vast majority is under a drip system. I also use a hose for plants that need extra water. When it rains, I shut off the drip system and collect excess water from the run off. Then I would use a watering can to water potted plants from the collected rain water. Before I installed my drip system, I use gallon-size plastic milk cartons as watering devices. I would fill them with water, poke a pin-size hole on the bottom, and put them near any plants that need water when I'm out of town.

How would I have an ounce of sanity if I didn't spend the morning with a garden hose and a little sun?