Mulching and Installing Irrigation


The garden looks done. There's just one problem though: watering by hand!


After noticing tiny fronds of buttercup (a stubborn and common weed in this location) creeping under the berm despite mulching with newspaper, it was decided to mulch the entire garden with wood chips. This will discourage weeds, hold water, and slowly release nutrients as organic matter breaks down. The mulch received from the campus facilities department was wonderfully full of earthworms, which will digest organic material so that it nourishes plants as well as aerate the soil.


The irrigation system consists of 1/4" drip line coiled around the inner bowl of the garden and held in place by stakes. The berm is irrigated with 1/2" hose punched at proper intervals with a T-shaped barbed coupling that attaches 1/4" hose on two sides. The 1/4" hose is fitted with either a 1 gal/hr emitter or 1/2 gal/hr emitter, depending on how much moisture that plant prefers, and each plant on the berm has one emitter placed close to its roots. The 1/2" hose is attached to a garden hose that runs to the house's hose bib. Between the two hoses is a pressure regulator, an inline filter, a backflow preventer, and a hose adapter. The 1/4" drip hose is connected to the 1/2" hose with a barbed coupling. A timer sits between the hose bib and the garden hose.


Now it's done!



The author is a student at the University of South Florida, studying for a Masters degree in Global Sustainability. In 2019 she graduated with a Bachelors of Applied Science in Sustainable Practices from Cascadia College.

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