I know just how you feel! Before we put in irrigation, my husband swore that his Native American name would be DANCES WITH HOSES. I put in the Drip Works dribbler systems in all my rose beds, so I just had to hook a hose to it and leave it on until the roses got a good deep soak. I found they were much more efficient than the soakers, and last a lot longer. But we did have to move hoses from bed to bed to do that. A good 3-4" of mulch helps hold in the moisture. When we finally put in irrigation (truly the 8th wonder of the world) they just hooked the irrigation system into the dribbler system, so I could keep watering the roses from the bottom instead of overhead. The other pre-irrigation helper was our 'tractor' sprinkler - they really are neat - you just lay out your hose around the garden where you wish to water, hook the traveling unit to the end of the hose and let it water the garden, following the track of the hose. It saved a lot of hose hauling, but I still preferred to water the rose beds at the base instead of overhead. Here is a link that might be useful: JOhn Deere Traveling Sprinkler

On the advice of the people here, I bought the Rose kit from Dripworks. It worked so well that I decided to hook up my whole backyard instead of just the rose border. I've ordered more parts two more times and I need to order more again. I was lazy this summer because we had so much rain here, but I really regretted not getting what I needed for my new garden as it is such a pain now to hand water when I know I don't have to. There's nothing better than watering by turning a switch and then going and doing something else. I recommend starting with a kit and then expanding so you have the basics down before doing anything complicated. That really helped me to understand how it worked and what else I needed.

Well, I just did the official count of roses after doing the annual June death march (to make a final judgment of roses that didn't survive the winter), and the present total came out to 1140 roses. I've officially joined the premium level of rose nut, which apparently hits if you have more than 1000 roses. Now as for time spent, I'm sure you're thinking that I either: a) spend every waking minute in the garden and have no other job, or b) hire out most of the rose care to someone. I don't do any of the above, since I have a more than full-time job and family with kids at home, as well as something vaguely resembling "a life". Also, I'd never trust my roses to any outside person, particularly the usual "mow and blow" services. We do our own lawn too. So what are the tips that keep me mostly sane? Well - as sane as anyone with over 1000 roses can be. 1. I don't spray anything. No spray is lazy gardening, and it makes the roses either shape up or ship out. I used to spray Liquid Fence once a year to discourage the bunnies, but I think they're so bewildered by the vast array of choices in my yard that no one plant suffers too much. Besides, my son complained of the Liquid Fence smell, so I don't even do that. Ditto for insecticidal soap - I've gotten a good balance between good and bad bugs and I don't see any rose slugs or aphids any more. 2. I get reasonably regular rains. As several folks mentioned, that is a key for successful gardens and a real time sink if not there. During our dry seasons in August (and this year, June) when we don't get any appreciable rain, I water all the garden beds for an hour a week each with overhead sprinklers. This involves setting the sprinkler on trips from inside A/C at 5 minutes a bed (maybe 1/2 hour total time). As I said, lazy gardening. I also plant all new roses with the Watersorb water crystals, so they have moisture reserves to protect them against dry temperatures. These crystals die down after a year or so, so they learn to survive on their own once established. 3. I don't weed, I mulch. As halloblondie said, there are few garden things that are more effective labor savers than organic mulch. For me, I can weed anything that pops up in my garden beds with two fingers, except dandelions or bindweed. 4. I make garden efforts do double (or triple) duty. For instance, I winter protect with bagged leaves rolled to the edge of the garden bed or stood around the particularly fussy tea roses in one bed. Those filled bags kill the grass at the edge of the beds, meaning I don't have to edge the beds. Then in spring, I spread the leaves around the base of the roses and other garden plants for mulch, and store extra bags for use later in the season. Leaves then break down lightening the soil and substituting for fertilizer by adding a little nitrogen. 5. Bundle gardening tasks, and make the roses mostly fend for themselves. I admire those of you who use the fish fertilizer sprays and things like that regularly, but I never seem to get around to it. I save milk jugs to fill with water when planting roses, and I have jars of fish fertilizer I always intend to use later in the season to perk up the newer planted roses, but I rarely get around to it. I sometimes add a little alfalfa, Ironite and 10-10-10 fertilizer once a year to the established roses, but I missed last year and haven't done so yet this year. If I successfully do the established fertilizer, it's usually bundled with pruning tasks in March/April so I spread the fertilizers around established roses before layering down the mulch. 6. Don't sweat the small stuff - roses are much tougher than you think. Chewed leaves, bugs, blackspot, wilting, lopsided growth - bah, you can handle it! And if not, you don't belong in my yard. 7. Monitor the important things. Canker needs to be dealt with swiftly and brutally in my yard, and Japanese beetles get no mercy and swift and (hopefully) painful death. 8. Enjoy the time you spend, and share the joy with others. Remember why you do this in the first place. You don't HAVE to work in the garden, you CHOOSE to. If it becomes drudgery, downsize and/or simplify. I agree with all of you that gardening is my #1 favorite activity in spring/summer and it's where I most want to be. 9. Take care of your body and listen to it. I have several herniated disks in my back, a hip replacement, rheumatoid and osteoarthritis, I'm in my 50's, and I'm allergic to everything that grows outside (so why am I a gardener??). I take care of my back by careful positioning and movement, stretching out frequently, and having treatments at home that compensate for full long days pushing my limits. I also make sure to stop and literally smell the roses, or hang out on the swing gazing at and appreciating a good day's work. Oh, and one of the two best activities to counteract arthritis?? You got it - GARDENING. The other is light weightlifting - both involve gentle weight bearing movement - and I get my weightlifting in my 50 pound bags of alfalfa... Movement is medicine, and I put it to its test. So how much time to I spend in the garden to maintain 1140 roses? Depends on the time of year: - Most of the summer into the fall, I spend maybe 3-4 hours a week on the weekend deadheading, cane monitoring/trimming, and taking pictures of roses. The latter occupies most of that time by far. I don't deadhead roses individually with so many blooms (like Darlow's Enigma), but chop off sprays when dead if and when I feel like it. Within this 3-4 hours is usually also monitoring and picking fruits and vegetables. - Spring pruning and rose planting season is more like 20 hours a week in the garden, usually long days both Saturday and Sunday. I also prune around 75 roses for our church, which adds another 20 hours I work in somewhere. The 20 hours in March/early April are pruning, inspecting, pulling off protection/mulching, and (maybe) fertilizing. The 20 hours in late April/May are planting and watering as needed (including the vegetable garden). - Late fall I return to 20 hours/week for a few weekends to plant the 1000's of bulbs I do each year, but the roses by then are on their own. After bulb planting is done in early November, I start collecting and placing leaf bags in my usual 3-4 hours a week max. See, it's doable! Not that I recommend this many roses for people who aren't insane, but I still have time for my family and work and church and cooking most of the meals, though I draw the line at cleaning house (that's why God made teenagers). Cynthia

Take a look at the DIY auto drip system that Walmart sells. They show a schematic that explains how they are set up. All you would have to do is replace the short tubing with longer tubing. Of course you would want the water source (which could be a 5 gallon pail) and the control/pump unit up high so gravity helps get the water to your plants should they be far away. You could also add a water valve, such as used in the older type commodes, to the 5 gal pail. As the pump empties the pail the valve would cause the pail to refill. It would require you to connect to your home water system. The beauty of the DIY system is that it’s not connected directly to your home water system. Thus you get no back flow into the pipes should something break. State codes may require back-flow preventers. This system doesn’t require any of that. I suggest you do not use the tubing that comes with the system if (and only if) the plastic ’Tee’ unit that are sold in the other drip systems will attach to this systems tubing. Why not , you ask. Because you can buy 250 rolls of 1/4” tubing that can withstand Winter weather. Just lay the tubing on top of the surface — right across the lawn if it’s between the control unit and your roses. Us some wire pins (Wire cloth hangers cut in 6” lengths then bent to form a ‘V’) to hold it down about every 18 inches or less. They sell wire pins so if you can’t cut up hangers pick up a few of those. Once you reach the flower beds use mulch to hold the tubing down. The lawn mower can go right over the tubing if you keep the separation distance to 18” or less. Within a few weeks you won’t even see it. Make sure you lay it in straight lines so you know where it is should something go wrong. On to the next one: Here is system that I posted a few years back. I suggested running 1/4” hose to 4x4 posts at various location in your rose garden. Instead of posts you could just put the tees in as you lay the tubing on the ground throughout the garden. Or you could run 1/2” hose to the gardens then use the 1/4” to run to each plant. Given all of that the main thing is what is required to makeup a control unit. I’ve added a few things to the old post to show how you would modify it to run either size of hose. A simple watering system with or without drip units. The diagram shows how to water 8 plants with equal water going to each plant. To accommodate more plants just install more posts around the garden and run 1/4” hoses to them. To keep the water equal install Tees in the Feed hose or another tap in the 1/2 inch poly hose. The timer is optional but will allow you to do something else while the plants are being watered. To determine how long to leave the water on just put a container at the end of a 1/4” hose and time how long it takes to fill the container. Or add drippers at the end of each hose, which would allow you to not worry about equal amounts to each plant. Whatever system you would chose you will need the following (except for the posts): What you will need: 1) A Pressure treated 4x4 post 2 1/2 feet long. 2) Timer (Not needed if you want to turn the water bib on/off to water the plants.) 3) Back flow preventer (See note on diagram) You may want to install a pressure valve after the back flow unit. 4) Connector to attach 12 inches or so of 1/2 inch poly hose to the Back Flow preventer 5) 12 inches or so of 1/2 inch poly hose 6) A unit to close off the end of the poly hose. One such unit looks like a figure 8. You slip it onto the hose, bend the hose back onto itself inserting the end into the open hole of the 8. 7) A 1/4 inch connecter that you insert into the 1/2” hose (they sell a punch for making the hole in the 1/2” tube.) 8) 1/4 inch Tees 9) 1/4 inch hose (sold in 100 and 250 foot rolls) 10) Staples to hold the Tees onto the post 11) Tie Wraps or a small board to hold the hoses in place. 12) Small nails for holding the small board in place 13) Last but not lease would be a nice cap for the post as over time the top of the post will deteriorate If you want to run 1/2” hose to the gardens then you will need connectors; elbows, tees, straight thru, etc. To assemble the units it is best if you wrap Teflon tape around the male threads which will stop leaks. Here are the cost and part numbers of the above components: The prices can vary from vendor to vendor so check around for the best price. I stuck with Rain Bird for most parts but you can use any vendor that sells the part. They may vary in looks but will do the job. Timer: Rain Bird 1ZEHTMR You can get multi zoned units if you need them. $35.00 Brass Shut Off Valve: Twinkle Star TWIS3001 set of 2 $10.00 Back-flow Preventer: Rain Bird HT075BFFS $9.00 Pressure Regulator and Filter: Rain Bird FCKIT-1PK Kit has both regulator, filter, and connector for 1/2” tubing. $16.00 Pressure Regulator: Rain Bird HT0752PSI 25PSI $6.00 Filter: Mister Landscaper MLFF-41. $13.50 1/2” hose/tubing: Rain Bird T63-100S 100’ roll, black. $11.00 1/4” hose/tubing: Rain Bird T22-100S 100’ roll, black. $7.50 1/2” tube end closure: Rain Bird EC50/2KS 2-pack. $2.00 1/4” Hole Punch Tool for punching hole in 1/2” tubing: Rain Bird HPUN1-15 each $6.00 1/4” barbed coupling to 1/2” tube: Rain Bird BC25-30PS 30-pack $7.00 1/4” barbed Tees: Raindrip 307050B 50-pack $8.50 (note: Raindrip not Rain Bird) 1/4” barbed Elbows: Raindrip 314025B 25-pack $6.00 LAST BUT NOT LEASE 1/4” Goof Plugs: Rain Bird TP25-30PK 30-pack $6.50 Plug up goof holes or end of 1/4” hose No question is dumb so fire away...... have fun