Yellow plastic watering pipes in a polytunnel at The Organic Centre, Co. Leitrim.
In my own garden, I have a collection of up turned mineral bottles stuck in the soil near plants which need frequent watering. These bottomless bottles act like funnels which are filled with water and left to allow the soil soak up the water underground where the roots can benefit from the moisture. Other benefits of this watering technique is that the soil surface stays drier, thus impeding the movement of slugs and snails. This drier soil also makes hoeing of weeds easier.
A variation on this theme was spotted on a recent visit to The Organic Centre in Co. Leitrim. The lengths of pipe were procured and buries like periscopes sticking out of the soil near the plants needing irrigation. This is certainly a more cost effective way of doing the same thing – if old plastic mineral bottles are in short supply.
Source: Trevor’s Kitchen Garden – Lenghts of Piping Help Direct Watering to Roots – Trevor Sargent
