This page describes the irrigation and watering of the garden, and some other information about the outside areas.
Automatic irrigation
(FYI only—no action needed.)
Most of the garden is irrigated by the lawn sprinklers or by drip irrigation timers. These run in the early morning; the drip systems also run around 5 or 6 pm.
Manual watering
There are a number of potted plants that need to be watered by hand:
Small pots outside — every other day at least- Three big pots outside — every day if it’s hot
- House plants — every couple of days
Watering for each of these is described below.
Note: Water outdoors in the mornings and/or evenings, not in the hot part of the day.
Activating the hose
You’ll use the hose for the outside plants—so you need to turn it on first. You do this using the irrigation timer on the tap in back the house, as shown below:
Press the manual and plus buttons (🚰 then ➕) — shown as 1 and 2 in the picture above. After a few seconds, the hose should turn on for 30 minutes.
Troubleshooting: It’s possible to get this wrong by going too slowly. In that case, turn the dial to OFF and back to RUN. When you’ve done it right, the display should say MANUAL RIGHT in the top-right corner and the hose flows.
What needs watering: Small pots
DON’T NEED TO DO THIS!
How much: a good drenching soak every second day (more during hot times).
All the small potted plants that need watering are gathered together between the back door and the back deck. Whatever’s in this area, or on the deck, water it!
What needs watering: Large pots
There are also three large pots that you need to soak every day, shown in the picture below:
What needs watering: indoors
There are some houseplants around the kitchen sink, and a palm next to the TV. Please water these every couple of days (use the blue watering can) and take care not to overwater and cause spillage.
Gates
Don’t open the side gates of the yard; they can be tricky to latch shut again.
Lawn people
Folks come around every second week, usually around Wednesday, to mow and trim the front lawns. No action needed.