Gardeners spend many hours of hard work cultivating, planting, and maintaining their gardens. The reward is the pride and joy of mouth-watering vegetables/ fruits and the pleasing aesthetics of a beautiful landscape. The work is good for us and the results invigorate us.
I decided to write this article to address an aspect of gardening that is becoming more problematic.
Water Conservation
Water resources in many areas are straining to keep up with increased population and vegetation. Many areas are forced to impose watering restrictions yearly. We as gardeners are being forced to discover new ways to conserve water in our gardens.
Drought cycles will continue to occur. Here are water conservation facts and tips to help you maintain what you have worked so hard to accomplish.
Soil Preparation
- Most water loss is due to evaporation. Add organic material to sandy soils increases the water retention of the soil.
Prepare garden soil with a deep base of organic material. Organic matter increases the water retention of soil. Organic matter includes ground bark, compost, peat moss, leaf mold, and other available prepared compost materials. Increasing the amount of organic matter in your soil by 5% will increase the water holding capability 4 times.
Mulches to Reduce Evaporation
- Use mulches to reduce evaporation. Mulching may reduce evaporation and watering needs by 50%. Any combination of landscape cover materials, straw, or newspaper should do the trick. It also keeps down the weeds that also consume water.
Watering Tips
Make sure that water penetrates the soil and goes deeper where it will not evaporate as fast and gets to the roots.
Plant as close together as possible to provide more cover and reduce evaporation.
Irrigate at night or in the morning to maximize ground penetration.
Water Slowly to maximize deep ground penetration.
Use drip irrigation that wets the soil slowly. A slow drip irrigation system is 60% more efficient than sprinkler irrigation.
What to Do?
There are many systems available to gardeners looking for drip watering. Your local garden center has the drip lines and timers necessary to install a fixed drip line. They also carry mulches and soil mixtures along with great advice and recommendations concerning plant selection, watering needs, and fertilization.
Or try
Watering Rocks Portable Automatic Irrigation Drip System Kits
Conserve Water
We have developed a tool for all the above-mentioned needs. Watering Rocks are a Portable Automatic Irrigation Drip System that is aesthetically appealing, cost-effective, Conserves Water and can even use reclaimed water. They are great for water conservation and an excellent alternative for areas imposing watering restrictions.
It is a proven solution that will water when (because of your busy schedule) you can’t and where you can’t.
Water Rocks can water directly to the roots because they water to the exact area you have placed the hole for deep watering.
The Water Rocks act as a mulch where ever they are placed covering 192 square inches of ground ( 16” x 14”). Looks nice too.
Every Day Watering
Water rocks can make sure your plants are getting enough water by watering every day. They can prevent overwatering by shutting off or adjusting the flow of water with the included adjustable drippers.
This sturdy durable plastic(no BPA) rock comes in decorative White Granite and Sandstone colors. They are lightweight (4lbs empty) and measure 12” high, 14” deep and 16” wide. Believe or not that size holds 5 gallons of water and if you want added nutrients.
That 5 gallons will water for 2-3 days and provide plenty of moisture for your plants as it slowly drips water 24/7, day and night. That saves you 3-4 days of watering.
The system includes 15 feet of 1/4” drip line to carry the water, six -1/4” adjustable drippers to control the amount of drip you want to the area you want, five – 1/4” T-barbs to make branches off the line to the areas you want to water, and one threaded 1/4” barb to screw into the threaded hole on the bottom back of the rock for the main line hook up. Sounds complicated but is not once you see how the components work together to design the watering configuration you desire. Assembly usually takes maybe a half hour and we are always available to assist by email or website.
We like to use our ATV to load rocks either on the ATV when we only have 1 or 2 or in the wagon, we pull behind for multiple rocks. They are durable and handle well as we transport them to the house water hose, fill them up, add any fertilize we want and replace. The rocks fill up quickly with a hose that fits in the 1” hole on the top back side of the rock.
You can also take water to the rock and fill it easily if you have a 2-gallon watering can with the spray nozzle removed, leaving the 1” nozzle head that fits into the watering rock fill hole.
Do you want water for more than 2-3 days?
Use one Watering Rock to fill the other rock and double the watering time. Another to triple watering times. We thought about manufacturing a 25-gallon rock and may someday but felt the 5 gallon was the best size to start with and offers the most flexibility for size and configuration.
These rocks have proven themselves many times and there are some excellent testimonials and reviews out there to confirm that they do work and do work well. The rocks use pressure from the volume in the rock and gravity to facilitate the water flow which makes them completely portable, requiring no electric. Just make sure the drip lines are flat to downward sloping. If you need your water to go vertical see another product Hanging Basket Automatic Portable Irrigation Drip Systems( includes an electric pump).
Watering Rocks are offered by many vendors on Amazon, eBay, Walmart.com and other websites at prices that are much lower than the plants you want to save. You can visit www.watering-rocks.com for a complete list of where to buy, pictures, videos, helpful hints, and reviews. Contact us if you have any questions or concerns about our time-saving Watering Rocks.
With this tool, you now will have the freedom to plant anywhere in your yard. When you are not watering plants you can use a Watering Rock to fill animal water bowls, bird baths, Christmas trees, or anything that needs to have water consistently added.
Maybe, this is what you have been looking for. Get one and try it. We are sure you will be happy you did and so will your plants.