Water flow in your garden and related irrigation is a critical aspect of good garden management, probably as critical as having water to sustain your plants in the first place. The concept includes watering, weather understanding, water flow levels, modes of source, soil and landscaping approach, drainage and final disposition of remaining water.
Understanding Your Land
The first step of irrigation planning involves understanding your land area. If you have a flat zone, you will want to design and place drainage points so that unneeded water does not pool in the middle of your lawn and plants. If you have a slope or hill, you will want proper drainage away from structures so that water doesn't flow into your house or patio area.
Weather is included in your garden understanding as well. If you have very dry, arid weather then you will want to plan for artificial water flow with plenty of piping across the garden. If you have a wet season, your planning needs to include heavy rain flow contingencies so the rain has somewhere to go.
Start With the Soil
Your soil is the first step of proper irrigation. Too much hard pan (compacted dirt), clay or stone and run-off water is going to float on top of your garden. Additionally, plants won't grow well having to fight their way into the hard soil. You want soil that absorbs and holds the water like a sponge so that plants can be fed on an ongoing basis, not just when water is immediately present. Choose a thick soil and if you have clay, rototill both with added gypsum to break up the soil. Do this until the garden area is spongy and broken up.
Drainage
The formal part of the irrigation process is called drainage, which involves all of your man-made drains and dips to draw water away from the rest of your garden. Proper landscaping sloping of the land includes forming a gradual slope degree to shed run-off water toward drainage points. You want to run drain piping via ditches from these points to bring the water out of the main garden and to your final drainage destination (property edge, stream, street, etc.). A wonderful method used, especially on hills is a French drain, which involves laying a perforated pipe in the ditch, filling up the space with gravel rather than soil, and flowing the direction away from structures. The loose gravel fills the drainage area and allows quick flow, which draws water faster.
Proper Water Flow Levels
Your level of water flow is just as much a part of irrigation as your drainage pipes. Just arbitrarily watering will quickly result in far too much run-off water and waste. Feed your standing plants with drippers placed right at plant base locations. Use sprinklers in wide enough locations to cover all areas with just enough spray pattern. Install an automatic timer system that can be adjusted seasonally if needed. All of these simple, inexpensive options can quickly reduce your water run-off and save you serious dollars on your water bill.
Final Run-Off
You should determine the final destination of your run-off water ahead of time before beginning your irrigation planning and implementation. If your target is the neighborhood street gutter, make sure all your drainage lines flow safely without causing a slippery mess on your sidewalk. If your run-off is going into a stream, creek, or leech field, you want to make sure any contaminants (i.e. pesticides, chemicals, etc.) have been mitigated or you could get yourself into a legal bind with untreated run-off flow.
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