To have a beautiful garden and enjoy its harvests throughout the year or to be able to admire its flowering plants in abundance, it is essential to carry out regular watering, more or less copious depending on the season. Except that if we want to act for the sustainable development it is obviously essential to save water without ruining the efforts made to sow, plant, layering… In short, here are the best solutions for watering all plants while reducing water consumption.
Tips and tricks for saving water in the garden
Here are the solutions that any gardener can adopt without difficulty to avoid wasting water while meeting the needs of its plantations.
Using rainwater to water your plants
What a great idea to make the most of rainwater! It is enough just to install in the garden a rainwater collector. There are different models, of varying capacities so that each gardener can afford the tank that meets his own needs.
Rainwater has exceptional qualities so that it is the better water for plants. It does not contain limestone or chlorine. In addition, it is temperate, which the plants appreciate. They also draw a little sulfur dioxide and ammonia from it when watering with rainwater collected during a big storm. They are essential components for the fertilization of the earth.
Growing Drought Resistant Plants
Many low water consumption plants do not need to be watered much. With global warming, we have to start turning to these plants because water will end up sorely lacking. In this category, there is a wide choice whether for the vegetable garden or the pleasure garden.
The products of vegetable garden which are resistant to drought once they have started their development are for example shallot, garlic, onion, parsnip, Jerusalem artichoke, beetroot, carrot, thyme, rosemary… Au pleasure garden, we can opt for plants of stony soil and Mediterranean plants. We find in these categories many species such as Verbena, Eschscholzia or California Poppy, Broom, Houseleek, Purslane, Odorous Woodruff, Sedum, Ornamental Garlic, Laurel- rose, Gaillarde, cacti, succulents and other succulents …
Evening is the best time to water in summer
The plants must be allowed to enjoy the freshness as long as possible by watering them in the evening. This way, the water will not evaporate for several hours. Note that the water distributed between 12 and 2 p.m. in summer evaporates at 60% in a minimum of time. So much more is needed to sufficiently water the plants and in this way it requires watering every day. However, if we water in the evening between June and the end of August, we can be content to take out the hose or the watering can only once every 2 or 3 days.
On the other hand, if watering is necessary during the night cooling periods (in spring and autumn), it should be done in the morning and not in the evening.
Hoe to better drain water
It is often said that a good hoeing is worth two waterings and it is logical since the penetration of water to the roots of the plants is thus improved, the soil being decompacted. It is therefore possible to reduce your water consumption in the garden of the order of 50% by playing the hoe. At the price of a cubic meter of water, this represents several tens of euros of savings in one year for a vegetable garden. Best of all, hoeing also helps eliminate unwanted herbs. We thus obtain abundant harvests and the garden is perfectly maintained.
Install a mulch at the foot of the plants
Mulch acts as a screen, protecting the earth from direct sunlight. This greatly reduces the evaporation process, especially during hot weather. By maintaining soil moisture, mulching therefore allows less watering. In addition to saving water, we can at the same time slow down the development of weeds. It remains to choose one organic mulch rather than plastic mulch, because it brings nutrients to the soil that will benefit the plants.
Water copiously but less often
It is illusory to take care of your vegetables and ornamental plants by simply wetting the soil lightly every day. This method ends up being time consuming, especially if you have to unwind and rewind the hose at each session, but worse still, it is not enough to meet the water needs of the plants. In this way, we water almost for nothing and the waste is therefore enormous!
To save water while having healthy plants, it is highly preferable to water well so that they receive a good amount of water but only every 4 or 5 days, and without wetting the foliage in order to limit the risk of fungal diseases. The ideal is to wet only at the foot of the plants.
Watch the weather report every day
Why water your garden when good rain is forecast? It is totally unnecessary and it represents an expense that could have been avoided. In addition, when the watering is combined with the rain, it comes down to water your garden too much. This is obviously a bad idea. Plants will not grow better, on the contrary: they risk suffering because excess humidity rots the roots, promotes the invasion of certain pests and countless diseases.
Drip and micro-sprinkling for reasoned irrigation
Regardless of the size of your garden, you must always remember to waste as little water as possible without harming the health of the crops. To do this, we avoid launching the first sprinkler system that comes without having taken the time to study the specificities of each one. Some are very sophisticated, expensive but do not allow the use of reasoned watering. Without necessarily spending a fortune, you can have the best watering system without seeing your plants die of thirst.
All categories combined, two watering systems share the best places in the ranking, namely: the drip and the micro-sprinkler system.
The drip irrigation system
This is a drilled pipe or water-saving microporous pipe. It regulates the flow of water and distributes this precious liquid constantly, which limit water stress to which many plants are sensitive. All plants can thus benefit from the quantity of water which is absolutely necessary for them, without more. The roots absorb it directly, so there is less loss through evaporation.
The drip has other advantages: it distributes water at low pressure, which does not risk damaging the plantations. It does not wet the leaves, an essential condition for preventing many diseases. It allows you to target plants and areas that you want to water. Thus it is perfectly possible to avoid watering the weeds, soaking the paths or even flooding the terrace since the drip irrigation is localized.
Today, brands specializing in gardening equipment offer different drip models, namely:
- The expandable drip kits for watering plants in pots and planters as well as balconies and pots,
- The garden hoses with integrated drip, perfect for watering plants planted in rows such as hedges and flower beds. You can choose from four models: up to 25, 50, 75 and 100 meters.
If a well is used, it is useful to opt for a model with a filter in order to limit the risk of clogging. A filter is not necessary if the drip system is connected to the water distribution network.
The micro-sprinkler system to water your plants
Micro-sprinkler systems are available in different models, for small, medium or large areas. They are sometimes classified in the same category as the drip device. However, it is advisable to distinguish between the two since the first sprinkles the plants by distributing fine droplets of water as does an extremely fine rain while the second sprinkles at the base and does not wet the foliage.
The similarity between these two sprinkler systems is the water saving they allow, both, which is why they are on the rise. However, the micro-sprinkler device can only be suitable for plants which are not susceptible to fungal diseases and are not afraid of wetting their foliage, which could lead to burns in strong sunlight. It is therefore rather suited to flowering plants in shaded beds and shrubs. For the vegetable garden, it is better to choose a drip. The ideal is to afford the two systems, drip and micro-sprinkling.
Water your plants with a watering can: it’s economical
The watering can is finally the cheapest gardening accessories for watering and yet it is absolutely essential. You can even have only that and have a beautiful garden (vegetable garden and / or pleasure garden).
With the watering can, we achieve significant water savings because we only water what needs to be watered. No drop is wasted. Without the apple, we water at the foot of the plants, and we use the watering can with its apple to distribute the water in fine rain when the situation lends itself to it, as is the case with seedlings for example. With a capacity of a dozen liters in general, the garden watering can is sold with its apple and can even be accessorized with a watering ramp.
If you have a large enough garden where there are many plantings but you do not have a tap available, you can save your efforts and save time by buying several watering cans. Once all have been filled with water, just transport them in the wheelbarrow to water the different areas of the garden.
All responsible gardener should resort to these different solutions in a systematic way to limit its water consumption and not to irrigate unnecessarily. Of course, you should stop irrigating about four weeks before harvesting many winter vegetables such as squash, beets, potatoes and carrots which will keep much better and longer as well. Finally, as an indication, except during periods of long-lasting heat wave or severe drought, 35 to 40 liters of water per square meter per week are sufficient to meet the needs of most plants.