Guest Post By: Walter Bucket
Water irrigation is an essential stage in maintaining your garden, as it gives the appearance of a healthier lawn and can provide the water needed to sustain the vegetation and to prevent the build-up of toxic salts. There are many different forms of irrigation, and each has their benefits, it’s down to assessing the needs and requirements of your garden.
Irrigating your garden manually through the use of watering cans and buckets can give you a great deal of control over how your garden is maintained, however, this isn’t an entirely cost effective or efficient method. Problems may occur when away from home for long periods of time, as you would be unable to tend to the plant’s needs.
Acquiring a water butt to store water that runs from the roof of your house or through nearby gutters is an efficient method of conserving water. Drip irrigation can be applied using hoses that are equipped with a number of small holes, to allow the water to drip from the hose. The amount of water used can be controlled through an irrigation controller that can be modified by the user, once modified the controller will distribute the water automatically.
Sprinklers are another method of administering water, although you should remember to place sprinklers on a platform above the vegetation as leaves from the plants can divert water, preventing an even coverage. Rotating sprinklers can aid in preventing uneven watering, due to the constant moving flow of water.
If you’d rather a creative method of irrigating your garden, it’s possible to buy characters such as gnomes that can be fitted with hoses. Angel and Faerie statues are also widely used as decorative irrigation systems, as often they are already fitted with the purpose of being used as a water features or part of an irrigation system.
Methods of creating your own water features and decorative irrigation systems can be as simple as buying a few buckets, a hose, and drilling a hole in the bottom of one of the buckets, the rest is a matter of arrangement, to create an effective method of watering your plants that isn’t going to detract from the natural beauty of the garden. Large stones can be used in addition to buckets, by placing the head of the hose in the centre and positioning the stones around the hose to keep it in place.
An in-ground irrigation system gives the garden an improved appearance, as all hoses, sprinklers and emitters are out of sight, concealed below the ground, however issues associated with an in-ground irrigation system include silt and soil becoming lodged within the hoses causing blockages, if these are not treated before using the sprinklers, it can lead to burst pipes.
There are many other methods of irrigating your garden, keep your eyes peeled at local garden centres or public parks, as they can provide inspiration or simple tricks to providing your garden with water in elegant yet modern ways.
Author: Walter Bucket is the chief pond-fisher and writer, from UK Water Features; home to a wide variety of indoor and outdoor water features, including lighting, ornaments and more.
