One of the most important factors to maintain a healthy garden is to water your plants at proper frequencies. But with our hectic schedule, watering our garden may become an added-on headache for us. Moreover, if planning a trip, planning and calling in help for your garden bores a hole in your pocket. So, would not it be good if we had a garden which watered itself? Here are some ideas which will help you have a self-watering garden.
1. Spikes for a self-watering garden
Spikes work on the principle of capillary action. It behaves as a reservoir for your plants. Spikes are made of porous material with tubes running from the spike to your closest reservoir. So, when the spike tips go dry, it triggers an automatic water flow from your reservoir and waters your plants.
2. Globes
Globes are similar to spikes with slight difference. In case of spikes, we have a disadvantage of tubes running around your garden connecting to the reservoir. In globes, there is a hollow spike tube in the globe. The globes are filled with water and once the spike tube goes dry it draws water from the globe. This reduces any extra tube work around your garden, thus maintaining hygiene in your self-watering garden.
3. Drip Watering systems
Drip watering system is one of the advanced irrigation systems. In this you do not need to worry about refilling your irrigation system or watering your plants. In this system, a set of timers and tubes helps in automatically watering your plants. The whole system of drip watering system is easily available and easy to set up.
When using a drip watering system, as it depends upon the set timer for all plants together. So, in a garden with variety of plants with different water requirement, some plants may be over watered or lead to water wastage. To counter this issue, you can opt for Oasis Plant watering systems to provide customized amount of water to your individual plants.
4. Bucket irrigation system
In case you are not looking for advanced irrigation system as available in market, then you can make your very own crude irrigation system. For this you just need a big bucket to hold enough water for irrigating your garden for a day or two without refilling. Once you have your reservoir ready, you can proceed with the tube channels. Similar to drip irrigation system, you need to position your pipeline into your plant pots, to prevent water losses. There you go, you have your very own irrigation system ready for your self-watering garden.
5. Raised Garden Bed irrigation
Raised garden bed is an efficient technique of gardening these days. It not only helps in reducing labor in maintaining your garden, but also reduces wastage. So, in case you have a raised garden bed system, you can have water channels running along the lines at the base while building your garden bed itself. This is not only self-waters your garden, but also maintains your garden aesthetics.
6. Rainwater harvesting and irrigation
Imagine saving up rain water and developing your own irrigation system. Well this will not only save your pocket but you will be playing an important role in saving our environment. If you have available space, you can opt for sump-based rainwater harvesting. But if you are fighting against space constraint, then roof top or alleviated rain water harvesting is your go to option. You can have high capacity water tanks to collect rain water and from there in you can build your irrigation channel similar to bucket irrigation system. This even reduces manual work required to fill water reservoirs at a fixed frequency.
7. Soaker Hose Channel
Soaker hose channels carry the water directly to your plants root. So, this reduces any chances of water wastage through over-watering or running out onto your garden floor. In this the soaker hoses allows gradual water seepage in to the ground close to your plants’ roots and accordingly sucks water from the reservoir. You can combine this with your rainwater harvesting system to reduce water refilling requirements.
8. Self-Watering setups
Besides the above said self-watering irrigation systems for your garden, you can even set your garden in particular way to keep the plants hydrated. A not-so-traditional vertical set up of plant pots helps in watering your plants automatically over the time with less manual intervention.
You surely out in a lot of hard work and labor to build your garden from scratch. You nourish each and every plant to help them bloom and turn them from just a collection of plants to full flowering garden. Therefore, you can’t let them dry out due to lack of water. So do try out our ideas and enjoy your own self-watering garden.