Thursday, May 31, 2007

A Cool Post

Right now, in our heat, it's so refreshing to enjoy a cool (or is that kewl?) mist from the garden. And I get to show ya'll my kewl new fence sprinklers! They work great in cheapy hoses which I had a few lying around.
I have about 95 percent of the garden covered with four hoses which are semi-permanent until the end of the season... no more moving hoses! Yah! Hubby took boards, cut V's in the bottom and then pounded them into the dirt with a sledgehammer. The hoses are attached with fence staples. These babies are staying put (I hope).
The whole system is hooked into a 4 way brass splitter (see insert) so I can run one hose at a time. There is one screen on the contractors hose leading up to the splitter, I'd much rather clean one screen than a whole bunch of tiny sprinkler heads.
On two of the hoses I run 8 sprinkler heads, then 6 on another hose, and finally 2 on a short hose for a total of 24 heads, some are 90's and most are 180's. Each sprinkler can be reduced or shut right off. There's even "goof plugs" so if you make a mistake (I made two, but I then got to test out the goof plugs and they work quite well) you can take out the sprinkler, insert a plug, and carry on. If a person were to buy timers you would really have a "set it and forget it" garden, well maybe except for the weeds!
I leave you with a photo of a "Canadiana Princess Lilac" or at least that's what I was told when my MIL bought it for me. The first year we planted it the cows had escaped and literally ate everything off of it! I didn't get to see one flower and had no idea what colour it was or what it looked like. The second year, when all the other lilacs were in bloom there was nothing... I thought for sure the cows had killed it the previous year. My fears were put to rest when I realized it takes quite awhile to bloom, long after regular lilacs, but it blooms for a long, long time. The reason I like it so much is it's the only lilac I've ever seen that's pink and the smell is heavenly!

3 comments:

David T. Macknet said...

Timers run between $20 & $40 US, from what I've seen, and we've had one for years. They really make it worthwhile, that's for certain.

With a little bit of extra work, you can run 1/4" lines out to individual plants & put drip emitters on them. Then you won't have so many weeds, and you'll have deeper root systems on the individual plants. Soaker hoses are also just as easy to put in, and come in 1/4" size - same deal with poking them into the main hose.

We hate weeds, can you tell? Plus, we garden away from our house, so the timer is a must.

But ... you can't really take a vacation unless you have one, though, can you?

Anonymous said...

The lilac is beautiful and it's nice to see pink. On the Island here our purple and white lilacs have just finished blooming. They all smell so nice. What a great way to water. It does save time I am sure and the extra time is certainly needed for the never ending weeds. Don't we all just love the weeding. lol

Anonymous said...

I love your watering plan! =) How clever!

I'm working on my container garden - it is actually quite large (lots of containers) and what I truly love most about it is: NO WEEDS! However, because they are in containers, they do require more frequent watering - which can be a pain - but well worth it for those fresh, sunshine-tasting veggies!

The lilac is stunning! I just wrote about my own lilacs - no pictures, though! =)