Drip irrigation

The sun has been shining so I've been spending much of my time preparing my garden and lawn, planting, stirring compost, raking...

But today I had to share the highlight. Part of the reason our lawn is a mixture of weeds and dead spots is because we don't like using water. Our sprinklers use several gallons to water the lawn or garden. In light of the new vegetable garden, which will require we give in and use water, we've invested in a system that should help limit some of the waste.

In a mastery of physics, we've elevated our rain barrel and hooked up a drip soaker hose, using the pressure of gravity alone to drip rain water into our garden. Since Nate also demands tools in his life run automatically, we also bought a timer which will help to ensure we don't leave the system dripping away precious rain water.

The major environmental impact of drip irrigation is water conservation. This happens for several reasons:

• Only roots are watered, which is where the water needs to go.
• Ground is more evenly watered.
• Water is not lost to evaporation by being sprayed in the air.
• Slower rate of application prevents a build up of water, and therefore reduces evaporation.

Hopefully our vegetables will agree that the new system is a valuable investment!