Programmable Timers Take the Work Out of Watering

Reader Contribution by Douglas Stevenson
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One of the big challenges in gardening is keeping all the plants watered, especially if you are trying to fit in this chore around things like a job, family demands, and all the other time-consuming complexities of modern life. The solution for me has been a computerized watering system, a product typically used for watering lawns.

You begin by setting the time and the day of the week on the timer’s internal clock. The next step is to program the watering schedule. The unit I purchased has 4 outputs. Each output or hose is controlled individually, so I can water up to 4 different parts of my garden. Each can be set up with its own variables, such as when to begin watering and the duration or amount of time I want to water a specific crop.

Ideally plants in the garden will receive 1-2 inches of rain per week. That’s about 1-2 hours of watering. On some rows I used soaker hoses so that I only water the plants and not the weeds between rows. For my bean and corn crops, I often use rotating sprinklers which allow me to cover a wider area.

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