Water-Wise Gardening

Soakers Save Water

Skip the sprinkler. "Shooting water all over the place instead of hitting the spot is a common mistake," says Gayla Trail, founder of You Grow Girl. Water that could be used to nourish the soil instead just ends up on the leaves. This leads to dry soil, which can encourage plant diseases, such as powdery mildew and, as she says, "a variety of other nasties." Misting sprinklers are particularly inefficient at getting water in the soil. Put water where it's needed and curtail evaporation with a soaker hose. Once you've placed the hose, watering is as simple as turning on the spigot.

Soaker Tips
If you aren't moving your soaker hose, bury it under mulch to speed water to root areas.

The Uniform Plumbing code states that soaker hoses cannot be connected to hose bibs for more that 12 hours. An inexpensive quick-disconnect makes it easy to release soaker hoses after watering.