‘Automated Garden’: The Stress-Free, Effort-Free Way To Water And Fertilize

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‘Automated Garden’: The Stress-Free, Effort-Free Way To Water And Fertilize

We’ve had gardening as part of our emergency preparedness plans for years, but it wasn’t until a couple of years ago that I decided to start gardening ahead of time, before a disaster struck. To be honest with you, I’m not a natural gardener. In fact, where some people are known for having a green thumb, I’m known for having a brown one. Nevertheless, we decided to garden.
One of the problems I have with gardening is that I’m not good at the mundane tasks of watering and weeding. I’ve got too many other things on my plate, so I try to avoid doing anything extra. Coupled to that is my background as a manufacturing engineer.

I just plain like things that work by themselves, rather than things that I have to constantly take care of. So, that’s what I wanted for my garden, as well.

While it may not be possible to fully automate a home garden, there are a number of things which can be done to make it at least somewhat self-sufficient. I’m not talking about hydroponics or aquaponics or any other exotic system here, I’m talking about regular gardening. You’ll see.
Automated Watering
To me, there’s no real reason to have a vegetable garden that doesn’t include automated watering. So, the first thing to automate in any garden is the watering. There are three basic types of systems to choose from, one which I feel is wasteful, but either one of which will provide adequate water, efficiently.
Soaker Hoses – Soaker hoses are underground watering systems which use a porous hose to bring water directly to the roots of the plants. This is excellent in hot climates, as less of the water ends up evaporating and more of it ends up being used by the plants. A soaker hose system can run as much as 100 feet at one time. We run two lengths of hose down each raised bed, so we can only put 50 feet of soaker hoses or 50 feet of planters on each valve.
Drippers – Drippers allow you to give the water to each individual plant, right at the base of the plant. This prevents waste by making sure the water only goes where it is needed. The problem with soakers, as far as I’m concerned, is that they have to be set up again, every time you change your garden. If you rotate your garden, this means a lot of set-up time.

However, I have to say that drippers are excellent for potted plants, such as plants on your patio or the pots you may have for a vertical garden. In fact, drippers are the only system I would use with a vertical garden system.
Sprinklers – The more traditional means of providing automated watering is with sprinklers. I don’t recommend these, simply because sprinklers will waste a lot more water than any other system. Not only do you waste water that is sprayed outside of the garden’s perimeter, but you also lose a fair amount of water to evaporation, before it can even get into the ground. On the other hand, sprinklers are much easier to set up than drippers, but not easier than soaker hoses.
Automating the System
Turning these watering systems into an automated watering system requires adding in a timer. The typical timer is capable of operating up to four valves, allowing you four separate watering zones. That way, you can water more area than the limits posed by the watering system you choose. In other words, you could have several zones of soaker hoses, each of which has 100 feet of hose.
By the way, you only use the soaker hose in the garden or around trees. The space between planter beds or getting to the garden is done with a solid hose that doesn’t leak water. That helps add to the efficiency of the system…..More Here

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‘Automated Garden’: The Stress-Free, Effort-Free Way To Water And Fertilize