If you’re like us here at Home And Garden Guide Online…

…we’re always looking for a way to save money and at the same time reduce our carbon footprint as much as possible.

I personally went on a quest to locate information for my very own garden in conjunction to drip watering systems and irrigation systems.

As usual I went on one of my loooong research projects and even though I got into some really neat, old, and some what elaborate systems…

…Here’s one of several ideas I came across for review and referral.  Hope you like it and get some good tips from it and other suggested links below.

How to Set up an Inexpensive Irrigation System

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

Are you looking to maintain a lovely garden, but you're not sure when, or how much to water? Or perhaps you just forget to water, and all your hard work wilts or dies? Here is a simple and relatively inexpensive way to solve your watering dilemma.

Steps

1. Purchase a faucet hose timer. These items can be bought for as little as USD $15.
2. Put in fresh batteries at the beginning of each growing season.
3. Attach the timer to an outdoor spigot.
4. Attach your feeder hose to the timer.
5. At the end of your feeder hose, attach a hose manifold or multiple line splitters to accommodate the number of soaker hoses or sprinkler heads you need.
6. Test your set up by turning the faucet on, turning the timer on, and checking to be sure water is coming out where you need it to.
7. Adjust the stop valves as necessary to regulate the flow of water.
8. Set the timer. The inexpensive ones give you several options such as half an hour twice a day, or an hour once a day, etc. The expensive ones allow you to be much more precise in when and how long you are watering.
9. Observe the next few days of watering cycles to be certain everything is working as planned.
   • Note:If using sprinkler heads, you can use the method described in How to Calibrate Your Sprinklers to make sure your plants are getting the right amount of water.
10. Relax, knowing you can leave for extended periods of time without worrying about whether your plants will be alive when you return.

Tips

• Some people use "regular" garden hose with nail holes at intervals in lieu of a soaker hose. This works fairly well for a long row of bushes, for example, with holes poked in the hose only at the base of each successive bush.
• A soaker hose can be placed under mulch for even better water utilization and savings.

Related wikiHows

• How to Fix a Garden Hose
• How to Use a Tire Rim to Organize Your Garden Hose
• How to Keep Garden Tools in Great Shape
• How to Rescue Dying Plants
• How to Replace a Lawn Sprinkler Timer

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Set up an Inexpensive Irrigation System. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

Related Home And Garden Guide Online Articles:

• Native Plants in conjunction to water conservation gardening
• Build a Drip Watering System For Water Conservation

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Welcome back to Home and Garden Guide Online. In a recent essay we talked about Native Plants in conjunction to water conservation gardening.

Here’s an excerpt: “Water shortages are common and in some regions, your water usage may even be restricted.” Read the complete article here.

The following essay was found by our editor in Wikihow and was a great adddition to our previous post so we bring it to you in hope that you receive value in it and your visit again and again with us here at www.homeandgardenguideomnline.com

Thank you for being here, please feel free to let us know how we are doing and if we should continue our efforts or make any changes that would make your visit even better.

Admin

 

 

How to Build a Drip Watering System for Outside Plants

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

If you want to save water, time, or labor, a drip watering system can do all three. Setting up one of these systems can be done by several simple methods.

Steps

Container Method

1. Buy a sturdy plastic container, such as a milk jug.
2. Punch several holes into the container using a nail. Make sure the holes are clear and fairly small (about 1-2mm across).
3. Bury the container in your garden with the top sticking out. If you like, you can pile some rocks around it for aesthetic appeal.
4. Use a hose and funnel to fill your container. Refill as needed.

Hose Method

1. Buy a length of sturdy hose. This is available at most garden stores. Be sure to buy a cap for the end, or your system will not work.
2. Using a nail, punch a series of holes about 4 cm (2 inches) apart along the length.
3. Attach one end of this hose to a spigot.
4. Lay the hose among the plants you intend to water. If you like, you can bury the hose in the ground.
5. Turn the spigot on to medium flow.
6. When you're done watering, turn the spigot off.

Things You'll Need

• Nail
• Plastic bottle
• Hose with cap
• Spigot
• Garden to water
• Trowel or other digging tool (optional)
• Rocks (optional)
• Other hose

Related wikiHows

• How to Xeriscape
• How to Create a Patio Garden
• How to Repair a Sinking Stone Patio
• How to Landscape With Solar Lighting
• How to Grow a Container Garden

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Build a Drip Watering System for Outside Plants. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

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Tips and tricks for a virtually weed free garden

“If you’ll learn and practice a consistent, organic garden weed control program you can enjoy a virtually weed free garden!”

Weeding is NOT one of my favorite gardening chores, but it is a neccesity. In this essay learn some tips and tricks to make this chore a little easier on you, your time and your back.

First and foremost…before you consider using herbicides, try these natural approaches to garden weed control.

Weeding a garden…no matter how you approach it does require persistence on your part, but if you consistently nip those weeds as soon as they crop up, over time you’ll find that fewer and fewer of these peskyinvaders will be found. 

The first tip of  organic weed control, refrain from ever tossing pulled weeds into your compost pile.  Bag up those weeds up and get rid of them! Never ever mix them or use them as mulch.

The next tip… as soon as spring is coming on strong, take advantage of mild cool mornings and go out in the garden and start plucking the weeds from every area of the garden.

Create a plan of action and tackle one area at a time. Use one bucket to sit on and another bucket with a handle to carry to the trash. 

Your garden weed control program must be repeated at least once a week in most gardens.

The faster you get them out, the quicker you’ll reach the virtually weed free goal. Some weeds put out long tap roots quickly and you know what happens then don’t you?  Well, the root breaks off and will comes back stronger than ever!

If you get a jump on weeding early then just a few weeks after the arrival of hot summer days, you’ll notice a definite decrease in the number of weeds.

You’ll notice this decrease of weeds and areas that were the worst will take less time to weed. Your garden weed control program is starting topay off– your starting to save time for other gardening projects!

Mulching as a weed preventer.  In these water conscious times, more gardeners are seeing the value of mulching. Yes, a layer of mulch helps the soil to retain water, but it also doubles as a weed interupter. If you’ll spread mulch about 2-3 inches thick, it tends to block out the needed sunlight weeds need and it helps suffocate any would be weed.  You may still see one pop up, but it will be much easier to pull – root and all!

Consider installing an automatic watering system.  Most gardeners prefer using drip feeders or flat strips of finely perforated hosing.  This allows you to water right at the base of the plants you want to grow and will help starve and depleat the areas of soil where weeds tend to take over.  

Also,  slow, deep watering makes your plants more vigorous and helps save water.

Note:  In a recent article we talked about Native plants used to conserve water…you may want to check it out here.

When to water?  The best time to water is early in the morning. Watering in the middle of the day can shock your plants, flowers and vegetables, while wasting water that evaporates quickly. Watering too late in the day is an invitation to molds.

Raised beds usually mean that you’ll naturally enter into the organic garden weed control objective.

Because garden soil always contains weed seeds, you always deal with more potential for weeds.  In raised beds you probably will use nursery soil and composted amendments plus fertilizers to fill them.  This will mean that you’ll be starting from a baseline soil that will produce a lot less weeds.

Raised beds are also easier to care for, as you can sit comfortably on the edge of the bed, instead of crouching for hours.

In conclusion, keep in mind that  the real secret to the whole garden weed control strategy is that you must remain unrelenting in your weekly weeding and remember to apply fresh mulch as soon as the weather warms.

If you follow these tips, by mid-summer, you will have control over the weeds and a virtually weed free garden will leave you with more time to enjoy other home and garden activities.

Related products and information:

Grow an organic garden.
Grow five-ten times the yields Use less space and water.

Get great products on organic and green house gardening
for $39.99 only.

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Tips, tricks and ideas to help make your Flower Garden a delightful reality.

It’s never to soon to start thinking about your flower garden plans. In most areas it’s not even to late.

Flower garden ideas can be a real balancing act. On the one hand, you want your flower garden to be bright and colorful. You don’t want the same bed of flowers, trees, and small fountain that your neighbor has.

If you’re like us, you want something different that will show that you are unique, creative and quite the home gardener. Something that expresses your individuality. After all, why else would you be here looking for ideas. Why would you spend so much time thinking about and figuring out ways to really enjoy your garden areas?

You know you think big…we all do but you and I both know that your flower garden ideas can’t become too outlandish. It’s a known fact with us gardeners– the most innovative, adventurous flower garden ideas tend to never get realized.

They are either way too expensive or too much work to finish in one planting season. Or they end up being way too exotic to meet the approval of every one involved with the decision.

It’s o.k. to dream, but once you start up on a project you should be reasonably certain that you can actually follow through with it successfully.

That is why, when it comes to flower garden design ideas, less is more. Don’t get me wrong – after you have been doing it for a few years, you will have a better grasp of what you can and can’t accomplish in the planting season.

Still, when you’re first starting off, you should keep your flower garden idea pretty small and compact.

Here’s a tip… try using a sparse design. Don’t plant huge banks of flowers – plant a few flowers here and there, combined with some ornamental pieces. This way you’ll create small easy to care for eye catching areas of elegance that can always be added too.

Most professional gardeners will agree that new gardeners should consider a simple rule of thumb for flower planting ideas:

“figure out how much time you have, then, come up with a plan that should take about half that long.”

Everything always takes longer than you think it would – particularly if you are new to something.

Once you have accomplished small garden areas you can add on some more flower garden ideas along the way.

Keep in mind, you don’t have to plan it all out at once. You will find that what you do even as simple as two or three small flower garden beds will be very appealing, soothing to the eye and inspiring to you and all who see what you’ve done through proper planning.

For more garden planning information check out our related posts:

The Gardeners Handbook
Gardening Secrets For Spring Garden Preparation

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