5 DIY Gardening Watering Solutions: Simple and Cost-Effective

Over the years I’ve had my fair share of watering woes in the garden.

You get so excited, get everything in the ground and then summer takes off… and the weeds. By the time you’ve dealt with the weeds (or not), who wants to spend all that time watering?

Survival of the fittest it becomes. And sometimes we all lose… but not anymore! There’s no more need for your plants to play Hunger Games for water and nutrients. (Did you know plants need water in order to take up nutrients? Yeah, wildly fun fact!)

I’m going to show you 5 easy ways to set up a garden watering system that will give you more time freedom, and your plants more water. Plus, they’re all pretty simple DIYs that any gardener can implement.

Water Loss

Let’s chat about watering, and saving water first and foremost. We first need to understand what’s being used so we know how best to manage it.

Keeping a garden producing, especially in extreme heat, makes watering a big use.  

Whether you’re on a city line, a country well, or have to haul it, water is a precious resource that should be treated (and revered) with respect.

On average, North Americans use upwards of 50% of their water usage on their lawns and gardens. This amounts to over 9 BILLION (capital everything!) gallons of water PER DAY.

And even more awful is about 25% of it is lost to evaporation. That’s 2.25 BILLION gallons of water lost a day. I don’t even want to know how much money that is on a city line. These numbers also doesn’t include loss from leaks or runoff.

Like, is this for real? That’s a crap ton of unnecessary water loss.

Getting the water where you need it, at the right time is important to the success of a garden, and everyone wants a successful garden, right?

Forget the sprinkler and handwatering (yes, for 10+ years I did both before I took the time to wise up and figure out how to water less, and not let my garden die), how about effective, watering techniques that you can implement and put on autopilot?

Autopilot Your Garden Watering

Now, no one should ever truly autopilot your garden or else it will get out of control (plus the grounding of garden work is so important to your health!), using any one or a combination of these DIY garden watering solutions will simplify your life.

And we all could use a bit more of that!

Choose where you’re at right now and get going! Each option has a linked description with more information on how to implement it for a small cost, but usually just your time.

There’s no more excuses for dead and dying plants! Get out there and get it done!

• Mulch: every garden needs mulch, including container gardens. Mulch helps to retain moisture, provide shade for the soil, and provide composting nutrients to the soil. It also attracts beneficial bacteria and bugs to the area. Mulch comes in various forms from the absolutely-do-not-use-this-kind-in-your-garden to completely-free. Mulch generally consists of wood chips, straw or hay, grass clippings or commercially produced products.

• Drip line irrigation: simple to install (and change) you can set up a custom drip line irrigation system in 20 minutes to a couple of hours, depending on how big your garden is and how many helpful and inquisitive kids you have. A drip line irrigation system reduces water loss through evaporation and waters the plants directly where they need it, at the roots. You can see how we set up our own  drip line (and how easily you can too!) here.

• DIY clay pots/jugs: This method directly waters the roots of your plants instead of watering the soil surface and waiting for the water to soak down. It reduces water evaporation as the water is deposited directly to the roots. A simple DIY that you can easily do. Two choices for supplies: an empty plastic water or pop bottle, or 2 terracotta clay pots. Because plastic leaches toxins into the soil, I would recommend going for the terracotta pots. They are pricer but they will last longer and not leach toxins into your soil and food.

How to set it up: poke holes into the plastic bottles and bury it next to your plant. Leave the top opening of the bottle above the soil line. You will then add water to the bottle and it will directly water the roots.

Join the terracotta pots, top to top. The clay wicks the moisture and leaks it out to the roots slowly. It also will stay cool and doesn’t leech toxins.

Bury your two connected pots with the top pot just above the surface. Add water.

• Hugelkultur: a German word for ‘mound’, a Hugelkultur mimics a forest ground so it’s abundant in moisture and beneficial microbes. By creating Hugelkultur beds (either in-ground or in raised beds), you can reduce your water needs significantly and use the natural composting methods of nature to feed and water your plants. You almost don’t need to water at all with a Hugelkultur! Learn how to make one here.

• Mini sprinklers: this method is similar to a drip line except it uses closed tubing and you attach mini sprinklers that will water a small section of soil. You can adjust the strength as you need and their operate close to the ground so the roots are watered rather than the tops of the plant. They are a little less flexible than a drip line irrigation system but they do give another option you could even add to your drip line set up.

As you can see, there are many different ways to reduce the need to water your garden, and to increase the reach of the water when you do. All without sacrificing a lot of time and money. Even though we’re living (and loving!) The simple life, that doesn’t mean we can’t use modern convienences to our advantage!