Watering is one of the core skills that you need to develop as a gardener in order for your patch to thrive. As obvious as that may sound, watering can be a fine art and striking the balance between too much and too little can be what makes the difference between your patch struggling and your patch thriving!
Now in a perfect world, we would have the time to use a watering can and to walk around our gardens doling out the perfect amount of water for each plant. The problem is that watering a garden, especially a bigger garden can take time that we don’t have, then our plants get stressed, which in turn stresses us and then before you know it this whole gardening thing is feeling like too much work! And what do you do if you want to go on holidays, especially during summer? Leave your plants to wither while you’re relaxing on the beach?
A great way to make sure that your garden is getting the water that it needs on a regular basis is to use a tap timer like the Digi Set Tap Timer from Pope.
Here’s how to set one up!
- Install 2x AA batteries
- Connect the timer to your tap
- Attach a hose that’s connected to a sprinkler or irrigation system to the timer
- Set the Frequency - The Digi Set Tap Timer can be set anywhere from every 2 minutes to every 7 days
- Set the Run time - The Digi Set Tap Timer can be set anywhere from 1 minute to 720 minutes. Obviously what you set your frequency to will have a bearing on what run time you can select, for example you can’t select a frequency of every 5 minutes with a run time of 4 hours!
How do I like to set mine?
Sprinkler
If I’m using a sprinkler, I want to make sure that my watering happens in the morning so that the water has a chance to dry off my plant leaves over the course of the day, reducing the risk of fungal diseases like powdery mildew taking hold. I’ll also make sure that I adjust the frequency and run time depending on the season and what the weather is looking like. Here’s a rough guide of how I set my timer when using a sprinkler throughout the course of the year
Summer: Frequency: Every Day/24hours. Run Time: 10mins-30mins depending on the weather
Autumn: Frequency: Every 2 days/48 hours. Run time: 10-20 minutes
Winter: Frequency: Every 5-7 days. Run Time: 20- 30 minutes
Spring: Frequency: Every 2 days/48 hours. Run time: 10-20 minutes
Drip Irrigation
When using a timer on my drip irrigation setup, I can run the timer more frequently, especially in summer without the same risk of fungal diseases in my patch. Here’s an example of how I program the timer throughout the year for drip irrigation:
Summer: Frequency: Every 12 hours. Run Time: 10mins-15mins depending on the weather
Autumn: Frequency: Every 2 days/48 hours. Run time: 10-20 minutes
Winter: Frequency: Every 5-7 days. Run Time: 20- 30 minutes
Spring: Frequency: Every 2 days/48 hours. Run time: 10-20 minutes
Other factors to consider
What plants I’m watering will also have a bearing on how I set my timer. If I’m watering fruit trees, I’ll reduce the frequency, but increase the runtime to make sure that they are getting an amazing deep water right down into their root system. For annual vegetables on the other hand, I’ll increase the frequency of waterings, but decrease the runtime to make sure that there is always sufficient water at the surface level of the soil where annual veggies need it most.