Georgia had suffered from extreme drought for several years. All our yards and gardens had burned up in the spring before they had a chance. Water restrictions were strict; in some counties, people were not allowed to water outdoors at all.
We needed our garden. We needed food for ourselves and for our son's family who lived next door. But each time we planted, our tender plants would get an inch high and then turn brown. We could not water enough to save them, and our water bill was atrocious.
Finally, a friend took us down to see his garden. He had devised a drip irrigation system, and his vegetables were not only surviving but growing well. We came home all excited at the prospect of being able to save our garden.
We headed to Home Depot where we found a brochure on how to plan and install the system. The drip irrigation system can be as simple or as complicated as you want to make it. You can buy ready-made kits, or you can design your own system. We chose to design our own.
The first thing we did was to plan our garden. How many rows would we have? How long would they be? How far apart would they be? What would we plant?
With all this in mind, we went back to Home Depot and purchased all the parts: funny pipe, fittings, faucets, and connectors. We had everything except the flat hose with holes. We had to go to a landscape supplier for that. A large roll is expensive, but it will last several years. You simply cut off the amount you need.
The next thing was to prepare the garden. We plowed, raked, plowed some more, marked rows, and planted seeds. Then we were ready to assemble our irrigation system.
We laid out the funny pipe across one end of the garden. This is the flexible poly tubing that is connected to the outdoor faucet. At the faucet, Bill installed a y-fitting so we could also attach a regular water hose. He added an anti-siphon valve to prevent back-flow. You don't want dirty water flowing back into your main water line. At the head of each row, Bill cut the funny pipe and installed a faucet. To each faucet we connected a section of the flat drip hose cut the length of the row. We ran the drip hose down the middle of the row and fastened the end in place with a wire stake.
We had ten rows 100 feet long in our garden, and due to low water pressure, we could water only five rows at a time. That was easy-we simply turned on five of the faucets; let the water run for a few hours; turned them off, and then turned on the other five.
It was wonderful. Soon our plants came up and flourished. Since we were watering only our vegetables, the weeds didn't grow. There was no waste of water from evaporation. All the water went directly into the ground to the plants' roots. Our water bill also stayed within reason.
People passing by began to stop to look at our garden. Some asked how we did it since no one else had one. It was certainly a joy to have such a beautiful garden, and we met some of our neighbors we had not known before.
Drip irrigation is certainly the way to go. Its many advantages outweigh the cost and the work installing it. It can also be taken up at the end of the growing season and stored until next spring. In addition, it can be increased or enhanced as the size of your garden changes.
