Watering is my Job
Watering the plants here is constant work but so much easier than it was in my former New England garden.
My courtyards here are small and a coil hose reaches everything easily. Our water pressure is adequate but it's much lower than we had in Connecticut. I used to despair over connected lengths of hoses that always leaked at the junctions, and faucets that spewed, and needing pliers to get hose fittings on and off.
Here it's so easy. Hoses connect with no problem by hand, nothing leaks, nothing shoots water sprays in all directions. When an open hose end drops on the pavers or gravel it stays clean, and I don't have to struggle with getting mud off the hose end to get it to connect tightly. I miss having pressure for a strong spray at the kitchen sink, but the dishes still get clean enough.
Most Santa Fe gardeners have an underground drip system, which is supposed to be the most efficient and most consistent way to get water where it's needed with no waste.
But I agree with the speaker at a class I took at the botanical garden: he maintains that hand watering is best because it forces the gardener to go out and spend time looking at each and every garden plant. You notice things when you are standing there for many minutes at a time holding a hose directed at the ground.
We don't have a drip system here. I hand water, aiming the hose at the drip line of the trees, making sure to stand with the sun at my back to warm me on cold days.
I have a cheap plastic flow meter attached to the hose. It's probably not that accurate, but I do get an idea of how many gallons each tree or each garden space gets.
Rain harvesting is important here -- when it ever rains -- and I am going to get a 50 gallon barrel installed to collect rainwater from one of the roof canales this summer, so that I'm not so dependent on using city water (and paying the high rates for it). My new copper rain chain is decorative and it should slow the flow coming from the canale above, but it doesn't store rain for use later.
Sprinklers are something that are simply not used in Santa Fe. There is no point. Spraying water overhead to land on the plants is inefficient, with much of the spray evaporating in the dry air. No one irrigates using sprinklers.
It's been so dry for so long and although I don't have my new garden spaces planted yet, I've had to hand water the trees and shrubs all winter. We had a tenth of an inch of sleet one evening at the end of March -- it arrived just as our neighbors were walking over to join us for dinner. After an entire long winter of sun and endless dry weather, they caught the single 20 minute window when it was wet and icy and icky and a mess to walk in.
Despite wet shoes and bulky umbrellas, we all smiled and marveled at the brief minutes of delight of ice and sleety slush.
My courtyards here are small and a coil hose reaches everything easily. Our water pressure is adequate but it's much lower than we had in Connecticut. I used to despair over connected lengths of hoses that always leaked at the junctions, and faucets that spewed, and needing pliers to get hose fittings on and off.
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| An iron stake at the corner of the house stores a coil hose upright. The gravel strip it's standing in is going to have some lovely plants this spring, and then the hose won't be the only thing you see. |
Here it's so easy. Hoses connect with no problem by hand, nothing leaks, nothing shoots water sprays in all directions. When an open hose end drops on the pavers or gravel it stays clean, and I don't have to struggle with getting mud off the hose end to get it to connect tightly. I miss having pressure for a strong spray at the kitchen sink, but the dishes still get clean enough.
Most Santa Fe gardeners have an underground drip system, which is supposed to be the most efficient and most consistent way to get water where it's needed with no waste.
But I agree with the speaker at a class I took at the botanical garden: he maintains that hand watering is best because it forces the gardener to go out and spend time looking at each and every garden plant. You notice things when you are standing there for many minutes at a time holding a hose directed at the ground.
We don't have a drip system here. I hand water, aiming the hose at the drip line of the trees, making sure to stand with the sun at my back to warm me on cold days.
 |
| A flow meter tells me how much water I'm using as I use it. Every gallon counts here. |
I have a cheap plastic flow meter attached to the hose. It's probably not that accurate, but I do get an idea of how many gallons each tree or each garden space gets.
Rain harvesting is important here -- when it ever rains -- and I am going to get a 50 gallon barrel installed to collect rainwater from one of the roof canales this summer, so that I'm not so dependent on using city water (and paying the high rates for it). My new copper rain chain is decorative and it should slow the flow coming from the canale above, but it doesn't store rain for use later.
 |
| I like this red barrel. It will be installed on the "Employees Only" side of the house, but I still want it to look good. |
Sprinklers are something that are simply not used in Santa Fe. There is no point. Spraying water overhead to land on the plants is inefficient, with much of the spray evaporating in the dry air. No one irrigates using sprinklers.
It's been so dry for so long and although I don't have my new garden spaces planted yet, I've had to hand water the trees and shrubs all winter. We had a tenth of an inch of sleet one evening at the end of March -- it arrived just as our neighbors were walking over to join us for dinner. After an entire long winter of sun and endless dry weather, they caught the single 20 minute window when it was wet and icy and icky and a mess to walk in.
Despite wet shoes and bulky umbrellas, we all smiled and marveled at the brief minutes of delight of ice and sleety slush.
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