[jyl]

It must be time to talk about gardening.

I'm such a fan of drip irrigation. It gets hot and dry here in the summer. Used to be, I'd spend hours every week standing with a hose and sprayer, watering and watering. I'd always forget some pot or corner until the plants there were wilting. When we left on trips, my neighbor had to come over and water for me.

A couple years ago, I spent $150 on a simple hose bib timer and a sack of drip bits, and ran drip to almost all of the back yard planters and containers. Also ran lines to the hanging plants on the back patio and front porch. Like magic, I got several hours a week back for more productive uses like napping. The plants were much happier. I saved water.

But there were still areas in the back yard and most of the front yard planters that are too big to cover with emitters. So there was still time wasted dragging hoses around.

Today I bought a bunch of micro spray heads and set up spray watering for some of those areas. I've always thought those cute little micro sprayers were silly. Turns out I was the silly one. They cover a radius of 5-7 feet and it took all of an hour to cover 50 feet of planters with them. And they work!

A couple more sessions with the bag of drip bits, and I'm going to have as close to an effort-free yard as I could possibly want. Once the spring weeding and planting is done, I'll spend maybe an hour a week maintaining the landscaping.

I like interesting landscaping, but don't want to devote too much time to it.