It seems like it has been a long winter, colder and drearier than usual. If you are dreaming about when it will be warm enough to get outside and garden, maybe this is the time to start thinking about installing a drip irrigation system to make gardening easier and more productive.
Sheri Hanson of Hillspeak, who has been installing drip irrigation systems for gardens and yards since 1992, says now is the time to install a system to make your garden thrive with minimal attention to watering.
Why now? You have bare land and can see everything.
“My theory is that you can water in the summer or you can garden, but you can’t do both,” Hanson said. “Right now, we aren’t doing much gardening. So, it is the perfect time to set up a drip irrigation system. You can see everything and not destroy your plants. Then you can test the system and see where you might need to make adjustments. Afterwards, when you can give plants just the amount of water they need during the growing season without a lot of work, life is beautiful.”
This past year parts of Northwest Arkansas saw almost no rain for 45 days. Watering through droughts can take a lot of time. And if you use sprinklers, water can be lost to evaporation. If you live in town and don’t have an irrigation meter, meaning that you have to pay for both water and sewer even though the water won’t be going through the sewer, watering can be expensive.
Hanson said drip irrigation systems conserve water, energy and money.
“Automatic drip irrigation also keeps you from being tied down in the summer,” she said. “I love drip water. It’s very fun to install and then it’s like having someone work for you. It’s a system that takes care of you all the time. When it is 100 degrees outside and everything is withering, your water turns on automatically. It waters for however long it needs to.
“You, meanwhile, are living your life working or at home. In the end, it saves water, it saves money, it gives you time and is the most ecologically sound thing to do rather than have water running in unneeded places, wasting a precious resource. We have plentiful water here now, but that doesn’t mean we always will.”
Hanson dripped the yard of University of Arkansas Fayetteville professor Geshe Dorjee. She used about 1,000 feet of water line in a normal-sized yard. His water bill was $40 per month this past summer. As he adds plants, he can add more water lines, as the system very flexible.
“He waters his garden, greenhouse, front yard and side yard,” Hanson said. “His garden is exquisite, lush and amazing.”
At her home, Hanson has about a mile of water lines in her fenced one-acre native plant garden. Her system is broken down into different sections so there is enough water pressure through all the lines.
“We have no storage tanks,” she said. “We have one pipe that comes out of the ground in the middle of the garden. I have four main lines attached that water the entire garden.”
You can use electric timers, but Hanson prefers battery timers. The batteries usually last through the end of the season. The systems are designed so that grass or other vegetation grows over the anchored plastic tubing so you can mow over them and the lines become invisible. But since the lines are on the surface, if there is a problem like a leak, you don’t have to dig down to find it.
While she uses well water, it is also possible to have low pressure drip irrigation with rainwater storage tanks.
Hanson is also local columnist for the Eureka Springs Independent who writes primarily about how she sees the political landscape.
“I think we are at a critical junction in our history and I feel compelled to write about it,” Hanson said. “I garden because the connection to the Earth reminds me that there is much more to this world than just petty human affairs.”
Hanson, whose business is called Tara’s Gardens, is available for drip irrigation consultations by calling (479) 253-7141 or sending an email to sherihanson@yahoo.com.