The Environment contribution

Many homeowners have begun to save water, both for the environment and to lighten the burden of excessively high utility bills each month. Planting a garden while watching your water usage can be a very tricky thing. Luckily, there are plans and designs to meet the needs of those wanting to plant a garden while saving water.

Drip irrigation systems allow you to efficiently water your garden while still reducing your water usage and lowering your monthly utility bill. Efficiently watering your garden consists of using the needed amount of water, exactly where it is needed and without wasting. Drip irrigation meets all these needs, typically exceeding more than ninety percent efficiency. Alternatively hand sprinkling, water hoses and yard sprinkling systems typically only fall between fifty and seventy percent efficient. This makes drip irrigation a much more likely candidate for those looking to conserve water.

There are advantages and disadvantages to virtually everything. The main advantages of drip irrigation include a lower usage of water, a much easier way of watering your garden and less wasting of water. There are two primary disadvantages, although the pros definitely outweigh the cons in this topic. The basic disadvantages of using this system are the required maintenance and the need to pay strict attention to your garden so that you know that the drip is working correctly.

You will need to monitor your garden every day to ensure that your drip irrigation system is working correctly and feeding your plants the exact amount of water that they need to grow and survive. Breaking lines, fittings pulling away from tubes and plugged emitters are the typical problems that you should expect to find. The longer you have your system in use, the more you will become accustomed to this routine maintenance and it will not take you long to get it done every day. Be sure that you also check your plants and ensure that they look healthy and thriving. You want to watch for any leaks in your system and check the soil around the system and your plants for signs of dryness or over-watering.

You may notice after having your system in place for a time that you need to adjust it. If you need to increase the amount of water that your plants are receiving or increase the amount for other plants, you can adjust the system as you need.

The way that drip irrigation works is by allowing water to slowly drip directly into the soil in your garden. This is done by using small water emitters. These emitters are placed at each plant. The water emitters are connected by tubing. Actually, if you already have a pressurized system you can convert this to a drip irrigation system with barely any work or knowledge of irrigation needed. As long as the system is above-ground, you can change is over fairly quickly and easily to an irrigation system and automatically water your garden. When installed correctly, a drip irrigation system can save you valuable time in caring for your garden. It can save you money on your water bill as well and help you to contribute to the environment by conserving the water that you are using.