Kaycie Yeager

Your own garden may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you consider the word “irrigation”. Somehow, the word seems to take on a much grander meaning, and we might think of TV news appeals for famines taking place around the world and how our money will help with providing water for the irrigation in these lands where rain has been so scarce. However, “irrigation” simply means artificially applying water to land in order to help with a crop production. You may not grow crops (in the traditional sense) in your garden but effectively when you set the sprinkler up to water your garden, you are irrigating your land. As well as sprinklers and a good old fashioned hand held hose pipe, there are even more effective ways to ensure that your vegetable patch produces a good harvest or your flower beds are in maximum bloom when the time is right. Drip irrigation is perhaps one of the most commonly used systems in the garden. In its most basic sense, drip irrigation is a length (however long you need it to be) of hose pipe that weaves around your garden to all the areas that need watering. Along the length of the hose, “drippers” are strategically placed and attached. When the water is turned on, the water will escape or “drip” only from these sections of pipe, ensuring that all the nutrients are absorbed in the desired areas of the garden. As well as drip irrigation, you could also use a system known as “leaky pipe”. A porous hose effectively leaks water along its length, producing great coverage.