August 2024

With so many options out there for watering your gardens, landscape, and yes, even lawns, it can be confusing to make the right choice for your space. Here is what available in the market, and pros and cons for watering a typical PNW Garden.

Sprinkler System

Whether you have an in-ground matrix of sprinkler heads that pop up on a designated schedule, or you are manually moving about sprinklers, these are a popular and much used source of watering gardens.

PROS:

• Can water a large area at once
• Convenience: once set-up, you can virtually forget about it
• Allows you to automate the scheduling, frequency and duration of watering, which is adjustable.
• Great for lawns/turf areas.
• Help in times of drought so you aren’t having to manually water, which is time consuming
• Consistent hydration at optimal times
• May reduce overall water use and utility bills over time.

CONS:

• Cost of Installation
• As plants grow, they can block water from reaching the entire area
• Plants on outer reaches of sprinkler zone won’t get watered as much
• Watering this way wets the entire plant, which can be detrimental for plants that don’t like wet leaves.
• Can cause fungal issues on some plants.
• Evaporation loss means there is waste
• Many moving parts that require regular maintenance, repairs and replacements
• Sprinkler heads can get damaged, buried or stop working
• Pests & Tree roots can wreak havoc on sprinkler system lines
• Require winterization to protect from freezing (if not done properly, underground pipes can freeze and get damaged)

Drip Irrigation

Using lines that can be placed wherever needed, drip irrigation places water right where it’s needed: on the drip line or roots of plants.

PROS:

• Saves water (and $$$) by minimizing evaporation
• Nutrient loss from leaching is reduced
• No need to grade land for placement
• No scalding of foliage from water sitting on leaves.
• Discourages disease: leaves stay dry, and this reduces or eliminates fungus and pathogens entry point (aka wet leaves)
• Watering this way is more efficient.
• Puts water right at the source the plant needs it: at the root zone.
• Prevents erosion
• Can fertilize (fertigate) through drip irrigation
• Reduces weed growth, as you are not watering larger areas that can promote weed growth.
• Saves Time!

CONS:

• Maintenance is required, and it is constant.
• Drip irrigation lines can become clogged if not installed properly, or if water content is too high in iron.
• Rodents like to chew on plastic and can damage lines causing water leaks, which impacts the entire line.
• Equipment, tools and Gardeners can damage, cut/slice irrigation, which requires repairs
• Initial installation cost can be more expensive than overhead systems (though you can do it yourself: (dripworks.com)
• Sun can affect tubes, which shortens the life of the line
• Tubes can get covered by mulch/chips and be hard to find when needing to make repairs, or damages go unnoticed.
• Have to match spacing between emitters to match plantings to ensure watering is efficient.

Watering Hose
Many of the same Pros/Cons as Sprinklers, but we’ll add the following for this method:

PROS:

• Can spot target plants needing water; whether they are not getting enough, or need watering less often, this allows you to give water where and when it is needed.
• Does not require any infrastructure be installed, other than a hose bib, which any American household should have.

CONS:

• Time Consuming: Standing there with a hose is meditative for some, and a nightmare for others.
• Taxing: dragging around and moving unwieldy garden hoses to get to all the spots can be exhausting. Trust me on this.
• You physically have to be there, to hold and/or place the hose, and have to remember to turn off/move and manage the hose.
• Wear & Tear on dragging hoses around, being in the sun, they will need to be replaced, and likely more frequently than irrigation systems if being used often.
• Likely the least efficient, and most costly, watering method of the 3 listed.