After all, unlike a wild landscape, a garden depends upon various human interventions in order to thrive, the most important of which may be watering.

Aside from a couple of relatively high-moisture “riparian zones,” there are no built-in irrigation systems in the LANPS garden. In other words, aside from rainfall, the only water the plants get here is delivered by hand, courtesy of yours truly and a hose. Given that it only rains here during the so-called “rainy season,” that can sometimes mean a lot of hand-watering.

So, you might be wondering, why do I water my native garden manually when I could just as easily automate the whole shebang and save myself a whole lot of time?

I’m so glad you asked.

First off, irrigating by hand saves water by virtue of the fact that you’re the one making the decision to water or not, rather than leaving it to an anonymous network of sprayers or a mechanical timer. As a hand-watering gardener, you determine precisely when supplemental water is needed, exactly how much of it is dispensed and where. You can also monitor the moisture content of the surrounding soil in real time, stopping the flow at just the right moment so that not a drop is wasted where it isn’t needed.

Hand-watering also gives you the ability to customize your garden’s irrigation schedule on a plant-by-plant basis. No one species is quite like another, even within the same biome, and watering by hand gives you the ability to fine-tune each plant’s distinct moisture needs. A chaparral species like Black Sage (Salvia mellifera) will likely appreciate a little extra water in the summer. The rabidly hydrophobic Wooly Bluecurls (Trichostema lanatum) planted nearby? Not so much. And beyond general species characteristics like these, hand watering offers an opportunity to really get to know the actual, individual specimen you’ve planted, with all its distinctive genetic quirks. In other words, hand-watering moves the human/plant relationship in your garden from the impersonal to the personal.

It’s also worth mentioning that a dynamic, ever-evolving creation like a garden will likely include a mix of established and new plantings. A newly planted Ceanothus, for example, is going to have a very different set of watering needs than its surrounding elders.

Finally, being required to actually go outside and spend time in your garden might be the most valuable thing that hand-watering has to offer a world-weary gardener. Soil; plants; air; light; insects; birds: there’s a lot to see when you slow down enough to take it all in, and given the fact that you’re standing there with a hose, you may as well enjoy the show.

So, now that you’re totally convinced that hand-watering is worth both the time and effort, here are a few tips to make the task as efficient and enjoyable as possible.

A Hose is a Hose is a Hose
Perhaps the biggest downside to hand-watering is the potential for serious collateral damage to your plants as you attempt to drag a heavy, clunky and generally unmanageable vinyl hose around your garden. Traditional vinyl hoses also tend to kink repeatedly, cutting off the flow of water and causing an endless series of increasingly infuriating interruptions. That also goes, by the way, for so-called “Professional Grade Kink-Resistant” vinyl hoses, which are more or less the same as “non-professional” vinyl hoses, only more expensive.

Luckily, there’s a simple solution: swap out your crap vinyl hose for a lighter, totally kink-free cloth or steel hose with far less destructive potential. (My thanks to the great Sophie Pennes of Urban Farms LA who first introduced me to these life-changing alternatives.)

Man of the Cloth vs. Man of Steel
Cloth hoses expand when you turn on the spigot, uncoiling like a snake. When you turn the water off, they quickly shrink back to their original size for extremely compact storage. Incredibly light-weight, cloth hoses are the least likely to harm your plants as you move around your garden and, best of all, they will never kink. Never, ever.

So much for the pluses. On the minus side of the ledger, cloth hoses are notoriously prone to puncturing and it usually isn’t long before they encounter a sharp object – even a single thorn –and spring a leak. Unfortunately, cloth hoses are basically impossible to repair and will have to be tossed out and replaced once they’re damaged. Sadly, this can lead to the conclusion that cloth hoses’ convenience and utility do not outweigh their negative impact on the environment.

Steel hoses are not quite as light as cloth, but they’re thinner, far lighter and much easier to wrangle than vinyl. They also never kink. Longer lasting than cloth, a steel hose’s armadillo-like sheathing is virtually puncture-proof. They are, however, susceptible to denting if handled too roughly, which can permanently constrict the flow of water in the hose. Once that happens, it can’t be repaired. They also tend to roll underfoot, so if you step on one unexpectedly, it can really throw off your balance. To avoid any risk of falling, it’s best to roll steel hoses up and store them out of the way after use.

Wands Have More Fun
After the hose, the next most consequential piece of equipment in any hand-watering operation is the nozzle. A stream of water from a typical nozzle, especially when delivered from a distance, will end up compacting the soil and making a muddy mess. If you have to constantly tramp through your planting beds in order to get the nozzle closer to the plant you’re watering, you’ll also end up compacting the surrounding soil. Ideally, your nozzle should allow you to a) minimize foot traffic around your plants and b) mimic the soft fall of a gentle rain. The best way I’ve found to achieve both of these objectives is to use a good watering wand.

Pick the longest wand you can find, preferably telescoping, so that you can adjust the length to gently deliver the water with the nozzle positioned right over the plants’ watering basin, even while you’re standing several feet away. A wand that allows you to change the flow-pattern, including the all-important “Shower” setting, will also come in handy.

An Open and Shut Case
Since hand-watering is by nature a time-consuming task, anything you can do to save time is a good idea. Adding a shut-off valve to the end of your hose gives you the ability to turn the water on and off wherever you happen to be standing, eliminating back-and-forth trips to the hose bib. This is helpful on those occasions when you want to use an oscillating sprinkler to water a broad area (like a big patch of Hummingbird Sage or a sprawling wildflower meadow during a rainless fall).

The Heart of the Meter
Unless you’re just giving your plants a refreshing sprinkle at the end of a hot day (as recommended by Tree of Life’s Mike Evans), no matter how you water your native plants, it’s best to water them deeply. In this case “deeply” means the moisture should penetrate the soil to a depth of around 16 inches. Because you’re hand-watering (i.e., just standing there), you can make yourself useful by monitoring the situation below ground with a simple moisture meter. While the probes of the most readily available meters are 12” long or less, there are longer versions out there. I mostly make do with a shorter meter. Once I get a “moist” reading at around 12” deep, I figure the water will percolate down to roughly 16” if I fill the watering basin one more time. (For a more detailed discussion of moisture meters, see the “Size Matters” sidebar in “Woolyblue Curse.”)

My Heart Belongs to Caddy
While cloth and steel hoses aren’t as bulky as vinyl and don’t take up as much room, it’s still a drag to have a bunch of tangled hoses on the ground constantly getting in the way. The best way to avoid this unsafe and unsightly nuisance is to install a strategically placed hose caddy. You’ll find that being able to more conveniently stow your hoses out of the way will encourage you to roll them up when you’re finished. And, unlike an unwieldy and uncooperative vinyl hose, cloth and steel hoses coil up effortlessly.

First Bibs
The more hose bibs you have, the easier it will be to hand-water and the less likely that you’ll do any serious damage to your plants.  Whether you call in a specialist or make a weekend DIY project of it, adding a few more well-placed hose bibs will make the job of hand-watering so much easier, you’ll wonder why you waited so long.

A final caveat:

No matter how many of the foregoing tips you incorporate into a hand-watering regimen, it’s still going to take a considerable amount of time, especially with newer gardens. Before you commit yourself, then, I recommend taking a moment to realistically assess how much time you have at your disposal. If you don’t happen to have the kind of time it’s going to take, nobody will judge you, and it’s far better to acknowledge the reality up front rather than set yourself up for disappointment.

If you do have the time, however, I hope I have been able to persuade you that hand-watering your garden is a noble calling, and well worth the effort.

– Eric Ameria

© 2024 by LA Native Plant Source