By Mary Lowther
It may still be raining this week, but how long will it last? The wise gardener plans for the entire year and knows that summer usually brings drought, heat and watering restrictions.
The garlic and peas that used to grow nicely without irrigation may require extra watering, especially on my sandy soil. I started using soaker hoses about 20 years ago and haven’t looked back because the benefits make the cost worthwhile. Ten years ago I splurged and bought a water timer, and now I am so dependent on it that I wouldn’t be without one.
Soaker hoses make the difference between having a garden and not having one. Recent summer water shortages require us to use soaker or drip hoses, but I’d use them regardless because they make life so much easier and cheaper because they use less water than overhead sprinklers. Mould can grow on wet plants, but if we only water their roots it doesn’t usually get a foothold. Labour is reduced because weeds aren’t watered, and insect predation declines because the dry soil just doesn’t appeal to them. That’s a threefer already, but there’s more!
I used to water while I gardened during the daytime, but nowadays I use a timer set to water during the cool hours of the night when there’s less community demand and therefore more water pressure. The timer also allows me to go away when I need to because the garden waters itself. Actually, I use three timers for my large garden and do one part at a time, starting at about two in the morning.
If the hoses aren’t long enough I either cannibalize another hose, cutting it to the length needed to reach the end of the bed and using connectors to join them or I bend them around the end of the bed to run back along the other side. This early summer we’ve had fairly cool, rainy weather and I haven’t had to water yet, but I know that won’t last, so I’m getting out my soaker hoses and laying them down before the plants get too large and difficult to work around.
My garden, like bureaucracy, expands to fill the space provided. I plan to buy even more soaker hoses as we head into summer and have my eye out for a good sale.
Please contact mary_lowther@yahoo.ca with questions and suggestions since I need all the help I can get.
