Irrigation is Irregular
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By Antonia Hieronymus
We just experienced the driest summer ever. The weather shows no signs of abating. Grass is brown, streams are just piles of rock and the reservoir has retreated, uncovering piles of dank stinking mud. Gardens are suffering, plants are struggling to survive.
Irrigation systems protect the garden from the effects of drought. They are relatively affordable and dependable, offering stressed gardeners peace of mind that their hard work will not shrivel up and die, and offering them the chance to get on with other tasks.
So why don’t I have an irrigation system?
I spend hours watering by hand, in this time of drought an average of two hours a day.
It feels like I don’t have the time for so much labor, and yet still I resist an irrigation system.
The truth is that watering by hand is one of the most effective things I do in the garden. Not because I’m better with a hose than an inground system could be, but because it gives me time with my plants.
When I am watering I go around each bed, each tree and shrub. I’m keenly aware of how much water each item needs and exactly how much it has received in recent days. I look at every plant individually, to see how it is faring. If it needs staking, or is getting diseased, I will notice. If its flowers are particularly splendid, I will rejoice, and equally if it is languishing, I will figure out why. The beds which don’t quite work from a design standpoint I will transform. I get all my best ideas when I am watering.
I give a shout of joy when it rains, as gardeners I’m sure we all do. But if it rains for days I am already disconnected.
The reason I garden in the first place is that I love the connection to the earth, feeling the soil between my fingers. I make this huge investment of time, money and soul because it is my self-expression, my art.
Giving up the watering feels like being a parent and having someone else raise your kids—sure someone could do it, even raise them well, but the parent is the one missing out. Missing out on the highs and lows, the victories and disappointments.
For my garden I want to be that parent who never misses a parent- teacher conference and who chaperones every field trip. I don’t want to miss a single minute of the growing up.
I’ll keep my hose.
Antonia gardens in Wayland, Mass.
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