Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Farm and Home News with Rex Dollar

Gardening is a popular activity across our state during this time of the year. Many individuals put in a garden for the self-satisfaction and enjoyment of raising and eating their own fresh fruit and vegetables.

Many people throughout the county have already or are in the process of putting out their gardens for this year.

Although water in the garden is not yet a problem, we should be thinking about how we plan to provide water to our garden throughout the summer months. It can be very frustrating to invest money, time and effort into a garden only to see it wither away under hot, dry conditions.

Watering a garden does not necessarily require an involved irrigation system or plan, but there are some points to consider.

Mulching can be a very effective method for conserving moisture and reducing the need for irrigation, as well as aiding in weed control. Leaves, straw and plastic covers are possible mulching options. If plastic is used, then an irrigation method that applies the water under the plastic is required.

The common methods that satisfy this need are usually called drip, or trickle, irrigation. This includes soaker hoses, tubing with drip emitters and drip tape. These hoses, tubing and tapes also irrigate very effectively when placed on top of the soil or just underneath organic mulches.

This type of equipment carries water through small diameter lines and delivers the water to the crop through small openings at low pressures and flow rates. This results in efficiently putting the water right at the plant roots without requiring a large volume of water.

However, these types of irrigation hoses, tubes and tapes require a clean irrigation water source or the small water openings will become plugged. A fine mesh screen type filter is recommended for protection against system plugging.

Fittings for these hoses, tubes and tapes make it possible to connect them to garden hoses, flexible polyethylene pipe and rigid PVC pipe. A pressure regulator is often required in order to provide the desired operating pressure for the system. Small control valves can be used to allow independent watering of different crops and also limit the irrigated area to what the water source is capable of providing at one time.

An outside faucet will provide adequate water for several hundred feet of row to be drip irrigated all at the same time.

Many home and garden stores have started carrying drip irrigation equipment and some irrigation companies have packaged drip irrigation kits for home and garden use.

The initial cost for a drip irrigation system might seem a little high for a garden spot, but if the equipment is treated properly, it can be used for several gardening seasons. The savings in water use with drip irrigation can also offset the initial cost of the equipment, especially when city water is being used.

Sprinkler irrigation is a common method of garden irrigation. It can be quite effective, but it does have some disadvantages. Water is applied to the entire area covered by the sprinkler, which can promote both disease and weed pressure and complicate crop spraying or dusting operations. Wind can distort the sprinkler pattern and cause uneven watering of an area. This is not an effort to discourage the use of sprinklers, but it is meant only to point out a couple of differences between sprinklers and drip irrigation.

Regardless of how the garden is watered, the goal is to wet the soil to a depth of approximately four inches with an irrigation once the crop is up and growing.

Over-watering can be very damaging to a fruit or vegetable plant, so care has to be used in order to avoid saturation of the soil. Most garden plants can use approximately two inches of water per week when bearing fruit, so frequent irrigation may be required if rainfall is limited during this critical production time. Sprinkler irrigation during bright sunshine periods should be avoided and is best done during early morning hours.