The thing that I love most about gardening is getting my hands in the soil, well almost. Actually I do love abundant beauty that flowers produce, but you know it’s that in between stuff that often gets in the way for a lot of us. Watering for instance. Keeping the soil consistently moist in containers is the key to success, which is why a use a drip irrigation kit. The one I like to use is from Proven Winners and it is so easy to assemble. It takes the work out of watering. With a single kit I can water up to ten potted plants.
Here is how easy it is to set up the Proven Winners WaterWise Container Irrigation Kit.
Attach the backflow prevent valve to your outdoor water faucet. Screw the faucet adapter onto the end of the valve.
Push the end of the ¼-inch tubing onto the nozzle of the faucet adapter. This will go on easier if you wet the nozzle first.
Run the tubing from the spigot to the base of your first container.
Cut the tubing and insert a barbed-tee, which is a little t-shaped piece. Insert the tubing onto the branch of the barbed-tee the points upward. Run the tubing up into the middle of the container and cut to size. Cap off the end of the tubing with a dripper.
Next insert the tubing onto the horizontal branch of the barbed-tee and extend it over to your next container. Repeat the process until you have all of your containers outfitted with drippers.
10 – 12-inch container = 1 dripper
14 – 20-inch container = 2 drippers
24-inch containers and larger = 3 drippers
The tubing is a neutral tan color that disappears among the plants, but you can further camouflage it by inserting it through the drain hole of an empty container before adding soil.
Depending on the weather and the size of the container you will probably water for one hour each day. Is it is really hot and dry or the container is extra larger you will need to increase the amount of time you water.
You can take all the work out of watering by purchasing a battery-operated water timer to add to the faucet. Now you won’t even have to think about watering.
Each Proven Winners WaterWise kit contains:
- A 30-foot coil of high-quality tan-colored vinyl tubing
- Ten 1/2 GPH pressure compensating drippers
- Ten Barbed Tees (for use in attaching and extending vinyl tubing)
- Three Barbed Crosses (for use in attaching and extending vinyl tubing)
- Ten Nail Clamps (for positioning and holding vinyl tubing in place on wood decks or other wooden applications)
- One Faucet Adapter
- One Back Flow Prevention Valve
- Ten Support Stakes (to attach and hold drippers or to train the tubing in place in landscape beds)
