Well green trees with GreenWell watersavers

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Greenwell watersavers are ideal for looking after newly planted specimen trees.

As our hunger for ‘instant’, more mature gardens develops, garden architects and landscape designers are including larger, more mature specimen trees within their planting schemes. These larger planted trees give make a new garden design look mature, almost instantly.

Careful planting of a mature tree is essential to its survival. Ensuring the soil conditions are right, its aspect is perfect and providing the correct nutrients to ensure it gets a great start.

Regular watering is really important to provide the stress-free environment for a newly planted specimen tree or shrub to thrive. Buy Irrigation’s GreenWell water reservoir allows you to do this more effectively and efficiently, by providing a quick and inexpensive method to apply concentrated water to trees and shrubs.

Greenwell is a water-retaining reservoir that is easily installed around the base of the tree. When watering the tree, the Greenwell reservoir is filled, so concentrating the water to the all-important plant root zone and preventing water run-off.

Developed in Australia, the Greenwell watersaver has been awarded the Smart Approved Watermark, Australia’s water conservation label for products which help save water: http://www.smartwatermark.info

The Greenwell watersaver is installed simply (and very speedily!). The Greenwell unit holds 26 litres of water, and can be moved from tree to tree by unzipping the watertight seal. Greenwell is ideally suited to trees positioned on sloping sites.

Greenwell watersaver reservoirs are great for:

1. Keeping grass away from tree trunks, preventing damage to the tree from mowers or strimmers.

2. Retaining mulches placed near the base of the specimen tree.

3. Ensuring that applied fertilizer gets directly to the tree root zone, with as little wastage as possible.

Greenwell is also great for commercial landscape schemes and local authority planting.

The Greenwell watersaver can also be used with Buy Irrigation’s Deep Drip watering stakes, further enhancing the efficiency of watering as the water is not only retained around the root zone surface, it is fed directly to the roots via the deep drip stakes.

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Your garden’s IIP (Irrigation Insurance Policy).

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Spring: time for the serious gardener to start thinking about irrigation.

So, it’s February already. Christmas over, the snow’s on it’s way soon (hopefully) and any day now the first signs of Spring will appear. Its time to think about planning your garden irrigation scheme for this year.

“What???” I hear you say.

“Irrigation system… it rained most of last year… what do I need an irrigation system for?… Waste of money… it’s drainage I need!”

Low water levels in reservoirs mean UK gardeners are on drought alert.

It may be true. But 2012 was the first year that many of the water companies issued drought restrictions across the UK. Why? Because it was dry, the reservoirs were empty and ground reserves were low.

Cast your mind back before the floods, and it was in fact a very dry spring. The time when your plants and lawns awake to warmer sunshine and start their growing cycle. With no moisture in the ground they don’t grow as well, and suffer for the rest of the year.

All that effort to grow a vegetable crop, only to be lost to drought.

So, you may need a garden irrigation system after all, and now, when it is still to wet to start your spring garden maintenance, is the time to do a bit of irrigation research. Assess for yourself if an irrigation system could improve your garden and make your life easier.

Springtime planning means your garden’s ready for whatever the weather will bring.

First: don’t be put off because you think it’s too expensive. The images we see on telly of automatic garden and golf course sprinklers in America and warmer climes can be really expensive systems. Here in Blighty, we have a different climate (don’t we know it). UK systems can be specifically targeted to water areas of need (expensive shrubs and trees rather than grass, for example). This reduces the cost making it more realistic. Also, golf course systems use very expensive products.Irrigation products for gardens are inexpensive in comparison. Another thing: forget the irrigation equipment in the fancy packaging at your home or garden centre. Whilst it serves a purpose for some; suprisingly professional irrigation equipment is MUCH cheaper. Some is identical but at fraction of the cost. One example I remember, sold in a well know home and garden store at 5 units for £4.99. Buy Irrigation sells EXACTLY the same product (minus packaging) at just over £1.00 for 5!

Second: don’t think garden irrigation is complicated and technical, it doesn’t need to be. Sure, you should get advice from a seasoned irrigation expert (like us!) to avoid wasting heaps of money. But once you have the facts and knowledge on what products to use, purchase them (from us hopefully) and install them yourself, its not difficult and we’ll ensure you are using the correct items and installing them correctly. After all, we have a reputation to uphold. And, if installing a system is too much for you; employ a specialist contractor for the more technical aspects of the installation (we can often help with this too).

Third: don’t assume an irrigation system uses masses of costly water. If you usually wander around your garden with a hose pipe or portable sprinkler in spring and summer, it’s likely you’ll be using more water than a well-designed irrigation system. Using drip irrigation, or low volume watering products, could actually REDUCE your water bills because it’s much more efficient. Using an automatic controller to water at night minimises any sunshine evaporation losses. Rainwater harvesting, or even your own private water supply, could give you water that will cost virtually nothing apart from set up and running a small pump.

Drip irrigation: an economical part of your garden insurance policy.

Finally: don’t always look at the cheapest price for the system. Remember a proper system will be designed to last for many years. After all, it is only used for a small, but necessary, time every year. Most irrigation companies use the same (or very similar) products. Because buyirrigation.co.uk buy in volume, we are competitively priced, but beware a vastly lower price for a job that should be of the same standard. It almost certainly won’t be and corners will have been cut.

If you love your garden, are planning a horticultural project, or thinking about buying expensive specimen plants, shrubs or trees, talk to us about your irrigation insurance policy.

Follow our blog for more articles in the next few weeks, giving tips and advice on drip irrigation, irrigating specialist trees and shrubs and how to have a healthy, green lawn.

Water water everywhere…and not a drop to irrigate.

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Full to the brim…are rain soaked summers the future?

According to recent news, here in the UK we’ve just had the second wettest year on record. Seems a long time since those water bans were put in place earlier in 2012, doesn’t it?

Rusty barbeques and sodden vegetable patches all over Britain attest what a lousy summer we enjoyed, and the rainfall we endured was exceptionally heavy and prolonged. Now, climate experts tell us that we should expect this type of pattern to continue into the future. Woop.

Lovely weather for ducks (and swans). Not so great for plants and turf though.

Is this the end for the UK irrigation industry? Are the 100 plus (wild guess there) UK irrigation companies ready to shut the doors and move to warmer climes? I think not. I believe that most will see the climate situation as an opportunity for increased business in challenging times. Adapt and survive, as they say.

While we may see heavier, more frequent heavy downpours of rain throughout summer and winter periods, we will still get warm summers when golf courses, sports fields, plants and lawns require water at specific times during dry periods.

Cancelled games, postponed matches. 2012 rainfall played havoc with sports pitches.

You could argue that a heavy deluge of rain (where most of the water runs off the land into ditches and rivers) is not effective at irrigating the ground, as the soil just can’t physically accept the water quick enough for it to do any good. So, we could therefore assume that more irrigation is required…maybe a little simplistic, but I suspect it contains more than a shred of truth.

Whether we get these high volumes of rainfall or not, water is one of the planet’s most valuable commodities, as the drought situation earlier in 2012 testified. It therefore suggests that if we can store rapid-falling rain for use during a drought, or during dry periods, then we can be self-sufficient. This is absolutely true, however the storage of water can be very expensive because of the quantities required for long-term irrigation purposes.

A bowling green, for instance, or any area of fine turf lawn of a similar size could need a very conservative estimate of 20 cubic meters (4400 gallons) of water for just 1 week of watering (and that’s just half the quantity recommended by turf professionals). That’s a tank measuring 5m long x 2m high x 2m wide…just for 1 week’s water at half a full application.

The same scenario applies to planting areas. Just think how long your water butt lasts if you are using it every day to water your plants or vegetables.

Anyone for golf? Don’t forget to bring your snorkel.

Golf courses, especially, need masses of water to irrigate the course. An 18 hole course could require 250 cubic meters (55000 gallons) just to water the greens over a week in the hottest part of the summer. That’s a very large and expensive storage requirement for any period of time in drought, and to maximise the collected rainfall.

Right now, the challenge for professional irrigation advisors and installers is give the client an irrigation system which, contrary to opinion, will still be valid and useful in the future. An irrigation system which makes the best use of natural resources (the free water falling from the sky), while keeping costs at economic levels. More importantly, to design an irrigation system that uses that water as efficiently as possible, without wastage.

Underground water storage tanks could help you deliver water efficiently.

Irrigation equipment manufacturers are currently investing millions in the quest to provide the latest highly efficient controllers, sensors and delivery equipment, proven and tested around the globe, to make the best use of the water available.

In summary, even if we continue to get more rainfall, there will be times of the year when you will need to water your garden…golf course…bowling green. So, if you do decide on a system, think about storage of surplus water and remember you’ll need a large storage capacity for long term use, (usually bigger than you think). Don’t consider this storage without thinking about a highly efficient irrigation system. The more efficient the system the longer this storage will last.

Finally, seek professional advice (mine, preferably!). If you don’t feel as though you are getting the right answers, or your needs are not fully covered, try someone else (like me!).