Garden without hassle: how to set up watering in your country house

The importance of watering

It is very important to water the garden and other areas with vegetation in the garden in a timely manner. When watering, water should be supplied in the optimal amount for each of the plant species to its root zone, this is especially important during flowering and fruit formation.

Simultaneously with moistening, irrigation increases the efficiency of fertilizers applied to the soil for feeding plants and improves the microclimate for microorganisms that live in the soil, useful for the life of plants.

Of no small importance is the choice of exactly the method of watering that the plant prefers. So zucchini, peas or potatoes feel great when sprinkled. But tomatoes and other delicate vegetables with such moisture become susceptible to various diseases. For them, bottom irrigation using a drip system will be optimal.

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Proper irrigation rules

Good high-quality watering of the garden should ensure the saturation of the near-surface soil layer with a thickness of about 50-60 cm. In this case, not only the area directly at the root should be moistened, but the area at some distance around, the size of which depends on the species and variety of plants.

The most in need of moisture are those areas in the country where light soils, sandy loam or sandy soil predominate, since they dry out rather quickly. For example, tomatoes, if watered after rain, will become more watery and lose their sugar content. Also, at the same time, frequent infection of plants with various fungal diseases will add to the hassle. Optimal irrigation can be determined by removing the soil from a depth of 5-10 cm and squeezing it into a ball. At normal humidity, a lump will both easily form and easily disintegrate when pressed lightly.

In no case should you irrigate a vegetable garden, lawn, flower beds or garden with cold water from a well, a well or a water supply system. If its temperature is below 18-20 ° C, this will lead to cooling of the soil, disruption of the acid balance and cause irreparable harm to the root system of plants.

It is best to water green spaces in the evening, after the heat of the day subsides and with the arrival of a cooler night, evaporation of moisture will be reduced to a minimum. You can also irrigate in the early morning, before the onset of the heat of the day and the sun.

The quality of the water used for irrigation plays an important role. The concentration of minerals in it should not exceed 1.2 g / l.

Simple and practical systems

In order not to waste time and effort on rainwater irrigation with a hose with a nozzle, not to mention a watering can, you can organize autonomous irrigation using portable sprinklers (sprinklers).These devices are made of plastic or metal and are connected to the water supply through a hose. They do not require your direct presence during work. Sprinklers are available in different types and capacities, which allows you to choose the optimal combination for a specific vegetation.

Stationary pivots irrigate the soil in a circle with a radius of 1.5 to 10 meters. The distance of their irrigation is regulated by the pressure of the supplied water.

Water can be supplied to the sprinklers in the garden using garden hoses located on the surface. 

The system with the use of hoses is quite mobile and, if necessary, it can be reformatted, moved to another place or dismantled without unnecessary hassle. But it is often quite inconvenient to conduct them directly from a water source. In this case, you can lay underground the main water supply system from plastic pipes, and bring L-shaped adapters for taps to the surface in certain places or install special water sockets to connect the hoses leading to the sprinklers.

When arranging such a system, it will be necessary to dig trenches for laying pipes, and pre-calculate the water consumption. However, low pressure polypropylene pipes won't be a hassle for decades. The only thing that is required from the owner is to attach the sprinklers and open or close the water supply valve to the main line.

Drip irrigation is ideal for installation in greenhouses and is especially loved by vegetables such as tomatoes and cucumbers. To organize it, special oozing hoses are used that moisten a certain strip of soil, or supply a certain portion of water of a certain type of dropper directly to the roots of plants. In this case, you can water each plant individually.

There are ready-made sets of droppers, supply hoses, splitters and adapters on sale, which allow you to quickly and without hassle organize irrigation of a certain number of plants. At the same time, such kits from many manufacturers can be expanded by installing additional devices. All connections in them are universal and allow you to design a system for your garden, greenhouse or flower bed like Lego. A similar system can be connected to a water supply in the same way as the sprinklers discussed above.

How to make an automatic system

If, in addition to autonomy, it is also necessary to fully automate the system, which will make it possible to properly irrigate the vegetation on the site in the absence of owners for a long time, then it will be necessary to install control devices of various complexity.

Drip irrigation systems operate at low pressure, so their automation without much hassle is achieved by installing an automatically opening tap or a controller that turns on a pump with a timer that allows you to set the time and duration of water supply to the main.

If a garden or lawn is irrigated with a rainwater irrigation system based on portable sprinklers, then its automation can also be achieved by using a controller that controls the supply of water from a source to the mainline.

However, with sufficient financial resources and large areas requiring humidification, it is possible to install a system specially designed for automatic irrigation, in which powerful sprinklers developed for such an application are used.

Such a system is a serious technical device and its installation will require digging trenches for laying pipes, laying control cables and organizing engineering wells for maintenance after installation.

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