Watering Practices this Year
Forum Archives
DebbieTT
Location: Washington, Kitsap Peninsula
Posted: Mar-11-2005 at 4:43pm
It is official we are in for restrictions on watering this year with little snow pack in the mountains.
What are some of your ways to help reduce water usage in the garden?
The big one for me is mulch. In addition, grouping plants that are drought tolerant away from the thirsty buggers.
JeanneK
Location: Oregon, Greater Portland Metro
Posted: Mar-11-2005 at 4:48pm
Drip irrigation! And mulch, too. It's definitely a good idea to group plants with like water needs.
Jeanne
bakingbarb
Location: Washington, Western
Posted: Mar-11-2005 at 6:30pm
Mulch is the rule for me. I hopefully can put in drip hoses too.
An older woman told me this happend about 20 years ago and then in early summer it started raining and rained straight through august! Hmmmmmmmmmm
~BakingBarb
Garden Spider
Location: Washington, Puget Sound Corridor
Posted: Mar-11-2005 at 8:22pm
I may have to invest in drip lines this year. I do have soaker hoses, the black rubber tubing that comes in 100 ft rolls. I cut it to the length I want, cap off the end, and put a hose connector on the other end. My other method is bucket and dipper (labor intensive and inefficient). And mulch.
Barb
Susie
Location: Washington, Southwestern
Posted: Mar-11-2005 at 9:06pm
I'm wondering how the soaker hoses compare to drip irregation with regards to saving water. I have some soaker hoses already and will need more to keep the new garden watered this year, or maybe I should change over to drip? I've already prepared the family for the possiblity of showering with 5 gallon buckets. They're not thrilled!
What's your favorite mulch for water retention? (In the garden )
bakingbarb
Location: Washington, Western
Posted: Mar-12-2005 at 9:15am
Susie I think that drip is better then soaker but I will probably go with soaker hoses just the same. They are cheaper and as Barb said you can cut them and cut them. Drip has a lot of possiblities but it is in my mind higher tech and I don't want to deal with it. Soaker hoses can be difficult to control as far as bending them to where you want them. I like to keep the chopped up leaves from fall and use them for mulch, I put it over the soaker hoses. Our yard does not get much leaves but my son does landscaping for both a company and on his own so he brings me leaves. Otherwise I would be sneaking around stealing bags of it (not really).
~BakingBarb
gary
Location: Washington, Puget Sound Corridor
Posted: Mar-12-2005 at 10:21am
Our hosts have archived the "Watering Your Garden" Topic of the Week that I did last summer. You can view the whole thing at:
Watering Your Garden
The archived text doesn't have live links any more but my DOC file still does, so if there references you can not find on google, ask and I'll forward them (after I post my new TOTW on Corn tomorrow morning.)
I don't seem to find the one item on soaker hoses that I thought I had included in my writing then. That is the following excerpt from Lee Reich's Weedless Gardening:
Reich put soaker hoses in his vegetable garden one spring. Then he decided to check things out at the end of the season.
"Based on the manufacturers's rating of a constant output of 1.5 gallons per hour per foot, I calculated that 1 hour and 20 minutes of watering per week would keep my silty loil moist. As spring rains gave way to a drier than usual summer, my plants showed no signs of wilting. Then again, they didn't have the vibrancy I had expected. By season's end, I was pronted to do some testing on sections of the hose.
"The ooze rate of the rubber soaker hose proved to be quite variable. Hose buried in the ground for a single season oozed less than a gallon per hour from each 1-foot section. The initial output of hose that had been in the ground but allowed to dry out was as low as 1 quart per hour. And when I tested unused sections of hose that I had left over from spring, the rate was almost 300% too high!
"My testing was with a bucket and 1-foot sections of hose; the potential for variable output is even greater 'in the field.' My site is relatively flat, but if a garden has any changes in elevation, lower beds are going to get more water than upper beds. Even on flat ground, plants near the begining of the line are going to get more water than plants near the end of the line. I say nix to soaker hoses."
Gary
DebbieTT
Location: Washington, Kitsap Peninsula
Posted: Mar-12-2005 at 10:42am
Thanks Gary for providing the link to the Topic of the Week. Who knew how important that would be this year! This year we are going to really need to be careful of our water consumption.
Lisa A
Location: Oregon, Greater Portland Metro
Posted: Mar-12-2005 at 10:43am
besides mulch and drip irrigation, here's what i'm going to do.
i'm not moving any plants until fall.
i'm not buying any new plantsa. okay, noyt quite true but my purchases are greatly reduced and i'm investing in drought tolerant plants, instead of thirsty ones.
i'm cutting down on patio containers this year.
i'm going to let the lawn go brown. i've been wanting to replace parts of it anyway [need to regrade several areas] so this will work in my favor.
gary, i didn't realize when we archive, we lose links. that's not good. can we fix that, debbie? when i'm able-fingered, i'll help.
bakingbarb, my hubby, born and bred oregonian, is predicting a rainy summer, too, as payback for this glorious spring. reminds me of those 70's/80's jokes that oregonians don't tan, they rust.
tommyb
Location: Oregon, Willamette Valley
Posted: Mar-12-2005 at 1:20pm
According to the Water Department guy eating a donut outside my house (a joke, it was a bagel), we face no limits on watering this year---the Willamette River would have to get real low to cause problems. A small payback for the years and years of restrictions as the wells ran down, we had limits when nobody else did.
As we resodded the lawn last fall to match the new patio, I am planning to ship buckets of money to the city, but I suspect that for this year I should water the new sod to establish root structure. I have completed the irrigation system to the lawns and I have had to irrigate a couple times already. With actual rain gauges inside the pattern of the sprinklers the required time to achieve the 3/4 inch I'm going to supply every four days got done in less than half the time hose end sprinkers needed, and at a lower pressure. Some time on my knees in one area didn't even dampen my pants, man it is dry out here!!
I'm sticking with the soaker hoses for the large areas. I found that John Deere stocks the Aqua Pore commercial style for about thirty percent more than the Homeless Despot generic type, plus the fittings are an added expense, but the hoses seem to be significantly more effective than the retail variety. I'd measure for gallons per minute, but I don't want to know. My north yard and "that dratted corner" are candidates for the irrigation system, when the ditches appear...
My sacrifice shall be annuals. Not planting any. Two raised beds will sit fallow, well, except for the Clematis which is in one corner of a raised bed. The perennials will have to be good enough for cuttings and stinkin' up the house.
Read the fine print on your restrictions! The last year we had limits home irrigation systems had time\day numbers, hand watering did not. And "new plantings" were exempt also. City developements---as in median strips---got water every other day until it ran down the storm drains. Not that I would encourage cheating, but get every gallon you are entitled to.
gary
Location: Washington, Puget Sound Corridor
Posted: Mar-12-2005 at 4:53pm
Tommy,
FIRST, never trust those bagel eating liberals. A guy with a couple of sugar donuts this morning (me) will give you the strait stuff.
"Some" of those bagel folks tell you one thing and will then get ready to condemn your compost pile because whatever year the rain does come, it will leach too much N and pollute your aquifer.
{Well, maybe not quite yet but maybe they are not ready until after they classify your lower soaker irrigated flower beds a "wetland" and stop you from weeding, etc.}
Jokes yes, but ask some of the folks in east King County.
Gary
Lisa A
Location: Oregon, Greater Portland Metro
Posted: Mar-12-2005 at 6:04pm
tommy, i remember wilsonville water woes when other parts of portland metro were fine. things may be different than those of us who get water from bull run though. i'll wait to hear what our city officials come thru with.
Susie
Location: Washington, Southwestern
Posted: Mar-12-2005 at 10:35pm
Baking Barb, I bought more soaker hoses today at Costco. They were selling them in 100' lengths for $10.00. What a bargain for recycled tires, or whatever they're made out of. At least this is a much less expensive way to go than drip. So I just chop them up as needed and add regular hose fittings to them?
I wonder if your son would mind dumping some leaves at my place, near Battle Ground? My trees are all so new they don't do me any good yet for shade or for mulch.
Lisa, I'm not buying any new plants anymore this year either. AFTER today! Costco also had clematis plants/roots 4 for $9.00, and I couldn't resist.
I'll let our lawn go, though. As I recall, you should water an inch every three weeks to keep the lawn from dying out completely. Is that right? DH always mows high, so that will help. Brown grass is OK with me as long as we get green when the rains start again. (Aren't I optomistic?)
gary
Location: Washington, Puget Sound Corridor
Posted: Mar-13-2005 at 4:48am
The Yakima paper has a short article on watering this summer with a quick review of tips from their MG's. It is a good primer. You can read it at:
Yakima Valley Watering
Gary
Garden Spider
Location: Washington, Puget Sound Corridor
Posted: Mar-13-2005 at 6:43am
Susie, I don't know if regular hose fittings will work with the black soaker hose, because of the diamether of the tubing. It's a smaller diamether than regualr hose. I can't remember now if I bought the fittings at Lowes or Home Depot--they are not expensive, though.
Barb
tommyb
Location: Oregon, Willamette Valley
Posted: Mar-13-2005 at 7:30am
Was it Gary's turn to bring the donuts? I like buttermilk bars!
Susie, about the black soaker hoses: the darn things are curly!! By rolling them out in the sun and uncurling the beast, I avoid the worst of the "set in" circles. Also, some are UV sensitive and decay rapidly if exposed to the sun, read your packaging carefully. The best method I have found to use these involves special connectors called barbed fittings. Searching the big box stores may locate these, but the best source I have found is irrigation stores---in my area I use John Deere Landscape Supplies. These folks also carry an upgraded quality of hose, and have the Israeli made fittings which are less expensive. These fittings allow for a pattern of installation which matches your plants and planting beds, a rectangular pattern of hoses rather than the circular mess the hoses want to form on their own. I use "smooth wire" found at farm supply stores (about $10 for 300 feet---works great for clematis vines and other garden stuff) cut into 12 inch lengths with electrical diagonal cutters, and form "hairpin" style clips. I use these to hold the hose in place until it relaxes.
The main challenge is to match the fittings to the hose. Some are metric, some are inches; the fitting should go into the hose very tightly and not pull out. Until I found a good match between hose and fittings, I used bailing wire to seal the connection. Biggest pain: I cut my hands a bunch on the cut ends of the wire. Finding the right combination is wonderful! I use the 3/4 inch size hose. I started with the 1/2 inch hose, but the fittings (I found mine at WalMart) cost four times what the barbed fittings cost. Plus, the 3/4 inch passes a bunch more water (less time watering) and cover a larger area (better distribution of water) than the 1/2 inch.
Connecting to your watering system can be tricky also. I'm still trying different methods, especially hooking up to my automated irrigation system. These hoses want 10 to 15 psi (pounds per square inch) of water pressure, and some have little pressure reducing washers in the female end of the hose. Typical city water pressure is 60 psi. El Crappola, IMHO. I use a valve to control each area of hose---the plastic hose valves from the big box stores work fine. I set the pressure to see an even "leakage" along the hose.
Whew, I'm just full of information today. Anyhow, one last item of "hose-ology": if your bed is sloping or varies in altitude (?), feed the hose from the bottom and you'll get a little more even supply of water over the length of the hose.
I need a donut. I believe a chocolate covered chocolate cake type...
Tom
mdvaden
Location: Oregon, Western
Posted: Mar-13-2005 at 8:18am
The biggest is mulch. I already started bark dusting this week. Usually, the excess from work comes here too.
Not fertilizing is a significant one. Usually that means bigger leaves and higher demand for water.
I am going to verticle mulch more areas of my yard with a small auger as shown in my Tree Care and Practice albums where the soil is drilled to permeated bad layers or improve soil and aeration.
So the arborist folks call it vertical mulching. I don't know why, becasue I often just put soil back in the hole - just lest compact.
I will be watering the soil sooner. Instead of it starting dry and facing restrictions, I plan to slowly boost the water content. Because the restrictions should be fairly minimal until the heat comes, so I'm going to get a moisture reservoir going ahead of time.
M.D. Vaden
bakingbarb
Location: Washington, Western
Posted: Mar-13-2005 at 5:57pm
Whew this is a ton of info. Thanks for the info on where to buy soaker hoses, I will have to keep that in mind as I have not bought any yet. I will not be buying many new plants. I am starting seeds to many perennials and a few annuals (ok just 1, the toothache plant)
Bad for me though I want to put in a huge flower bed running the lenght of the fence in front of the house. Hmmmm, I thought last summer was dry really and watered quite a bit. Sadly I am a person that loves to stand with the hose and water! I know all the reasons not to but I enjoy it, so now I save that for new plantings and the bird bath.
I might order a rambler rose and some lily bulbs. Things I have wanted for years and the situation just never allowed me to do so. Oh and I need some iris. I miss those so much and I don't care I NEED THEM! sigh So far I am only watering what is new or been moved. Nothing new except there are four pots of plants I bought last fall and they never made it into the ground. Oh and get this the fushias I left (for dead) in their baskets all winter are spourting growth so I guess I have to water them!
Have any of you tried those gel things to retain water in pots? The exact same stuff is sold as an alternative kitty litter. It looks like a dry gel pellet that soaks up the fluid. What do ya think of that!
~BakingBarb
gary
Location: Washington, Puget Sound Corridor
Posted: Mar-14-2005 at 6:48am
Tom has some good points on the cost of the fittings for soaker hose. And a low cost, $10, prv as he suggests will give you easier adjustment of the flow. An inline or Y filter is also a good idea.
As to the comparison to drip systems, we can buy a 100' section of 0.600" ID mainline tubing from Dripworks or Tom's local irrigation suppliers.
Most "punch in" emitters start at less than $0.25 and even pressure compesated ones are under $0.40 in per 10 quantities. A female hose end is only $1 and an inline valve $1.94.
Then you've got tubing that will last 8 years exposed to the sun (much longer under mulch) with reliable "known flow rates" that you can set timers for.
If you do use soaker, consider purchasing one/some of the low cost meters like the ones featured in last week's Sea PI. You can see them at:
Water Watch
Before I put my T-tape system in my vegetable beds four year ago, I used 3/4 soaker but had no idea how much water was being applied especially under plastic mulched tomatoes and melons. That was the main reason that I went to drip so I could time the amount of water I wanted to apply. By luck of components, I get 0.01" of water into a 55 sq ft for each minute of drip irrigation.
I can water my beds based on the crop, its stage of growth, and the weather conditions to determine the amount I need to apply. My local golf course ass't supt took over as the head guy at an Oroville, CA course so I don't have a local source for Evapotranspiration (ET) but I did get enough data from him over last year to conclude that the Agrimet site at Aurora, OR gives me just 10% higher numbers (verified that with WSU Puyallup data also).
I just acquired a new lawn sprinkler that I saw in the Peaceful Valley Farm Supply catalog. It is a Gardena Aquazoom 350. It is available at Ace and Amazon also. This overhead/oscillating unit has adjustible jets besides the normal overhead pattern. At 56 psi, its width can vary from 13 to 56 feet and the length can be adjusted from 23 to 69 feet.
I used it last week in two patterns with tuna cans to see how good it spreads the water. In a 40'x35' box, I didn't have a 10% variation in seven cans. When I set up a 50'x25' box, the middle cans near the sprinkler were lighter than the rest of the box. That lawn is too big to done in one setting anyway so I'll just set two 30x25 boxes and use the even distribution.
Gardena Aquazoom 350
Gary
JeanneK
Location: Oregon, Greater Portland Metro
Posted: Mar-14-2005 at 9:00am
I have both drip irrigation and soaker hoses and I agree, the water output of the soaker hoses is much more variable. One hose puts out a lot of water, the other practically nothing. I put drip on the beds with plants that need a regular but not a lot of water. These beds are more "permanent". I put soakers on the new native plants. Drip is much more maintenance free as Gary mentioned. Once the system is in with a timer, you just set it for how much water and when. There is some time involved in setting up the system and of course fixing any holes you create when accidently cutting the tube with a shovel but I never worry about the plants getting enough water and I can go on vacation without coming home to dead plants.
Jeanne
Salvia Guy
Location: Oregon, Western
Posted: Mar-14-2005 at 9:37am
It will be a nice wamr and wet summer, but just in case plant drought resistant plants...ah...like Salvias.
(hint, hint,, )
Lisa A
Location: Oregon, Greater Portland Metro
Posted: Mar-14-2005 at 10:00am
lol, sg. yes, we take your subtle, er, uh, not so subtle hint.
sg lives and breathes salvias. be sure to check out his webpage for delightful salvias to puchase and grow.
Salvia Guy
Location: Oregon, Western
Posted: Mar-14-2005 at 2:11pm
It was too easy...
VBG
Garden Spider
Location: Washington, Puget Sound Corridor
Posted: Mar-14-2005 at 7:42pm
Salvia Guy, I am postponing my dreams of putting in an elaborate sonbird garden this year, in case water restrictions continue . . . but I AM buying some new Salvias! Hardy, drought resistant, great flowers, nice scented foliage, hummingbird magnets, bees like 'em, too! I'm converted to the Salvia Garden!
Barb
gary
Location: Washington, Puget Sound Corridor
Posted: Mar-15-2005 at 7:38am
More dry weather ideas come to mind:
1. Control/eleminate your Weeds
Think of everything growing as a mini maple tree. Remember how you shelter under on hot days to enjoy the shade a cool from the transpiration? Every weed is continously wicking water out of your soil so control them early and often.
2. Consider using Free Mulch, DUST
Mulch bare dry ground with a dust layer (using a hula hoe?). This will stop almost all capilary action that moves water to the surface where it can evaporate. This is especially easy to do with drip-type point source irrigation instead of overhead watering. "Dust-Mulch" was a common agricultural practice in the early 20th century. Farms stopped using it because of the wind/water erosion potential, remember "Dust Bowl" from your hisotry class? That is not much of a problem in the homoe garden.
3. Increase Plant Spacing
Giving your vegetables more spacing gives each plant that much more soil volume to pull water from. Indeterminate tomatoes on
4 foot centers have 60% percent more volume than those on 30" centers. In Waterwise Gardening Steve Solomon said, A indeterminate tomato "roots can occupy as much space as the vines will cover and then some."
4. Use some Heirloom varieties
These can be considered to be better for dry conditions than most of the newer "high touch" hybrids. But consider where the heirloom came from. Those from wet summer eastern gardens may not qualify.
That's enough for now though I probably should post a list vegetables and their water demands later on the "Edibles" Forum.
Gary
Lisa A
Location: Oregon, Greater Portland Metro
Posted: Mar-15-2005 at 9:29am
great tips, gary. your first one came to ming yesterday as i weeded m garden [i'm becoming an ace at one-handed weeding].
i'm not quite sure what you mean by number 2. do you mean this in place of mulch? i was intending to mulch - i wasn't able to do it last fall as intended - but i'm waiting for some spring rains and more soil warmth.
gary
Location: Washington, Puget Sound Corridor
Posted: Mar-15-2005 at 4:35pm
Lisa,
I mean that you 'could' use a dust mulch in lieu of buying something with as good success assuming we do not have a wet summer (which I doubt). Don't forget (for all those that say we "pay" in the summer for the winter weather that last August/Sept. was the wettest late summeer in the last 10 years.
Gary
gary
Location: Washington, Puget Sound Corridor
Posted: Apr-01-2005 at 6:11am
In my Corn TOTW on the edible site, I posted some mewsletter comments on 'drought gardening' by Gary Kline of Black Lake Organic. Some of the research he quoted was based on corn. He did give one technique using mulch that has application in all plant beds.
Gary gives a brief description of his 'fertile mulching' technique.
Of course you want to use an organic fertilizer, or fertilizer blend, and preferably work it into the soil. Apply the mulch after one of those good rains, or else wet the ground well first, then check under the mulch about monthly to see if re-wetting is needed. If so, rake back a “trench” in the mulch down to the soil, fill the trench with water, then replace the mulch and forget watering for a few weeks, then check again. This should be S.O.P. every year.
Using a trench in the mulch like this creates a low cost 'temporary' drip system in your beds. It also highlights the need to place your drip or soaker hoses below your mulch layer.
Gary
Lisa A
Location: Oregon, Greater Portland Metro
Posted: Apr-15-2005 at 10:19am
With our recent rain and mountain snowfall, the Portland Metro region may just escape drought conditions this summer. But that doesn't mean we won't experience drought in summers to come. With that in mind, it does pay for gardeners to invest in drought-tolerant plants for their gardens.
Courtesy of The Oregonian's Homes and Gardens of the Northwest comes this great list of 25 Picks for Water-efficient gardens.
For more advice, Portlanders can visit a demonstration garden at Clackamas Community College to learn more ways to tap into conservation.
Wanda
Location: Puget Sound corridor
Posted: Apr-15-2005 at 6:24pm
If you are wondering where to buy drought-resistant plants, you might try High Country Gardens mail order catalog. They are located in New Mexico and I've had great luck with all the plants I've ordered from them. I especially like their selection of Agastaches and so do my hummingbirds. Here's the link:
High Country Gardens
Of course, any new plant is going to need some water it's first year to get settled in. Happy conserving!
-Wanda
Salvia Guy
Location: Oregon, Western
Posted: Apr-16-2005 at 8:11am
Its still raining!
I read a few weeks ago in a local paper that the water supply for my area is OK.
Let's go plant plants!!!
SG
Gardening for the Homebrewer: Grow and Process Plants for Making Beer, Wine, Gruit, Cider, Perry, and More
By co-authors Debbie Teashon (Rainy Side Gardeners) and Wendy Tweton