The 13 Best Hands-Off Ways To Water The Plants In Your Garden

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Hand watering is fine for a few seed trays or patio containers. But it's an impossible chore when you're lugging watering cans across your whole garden. I'm a master gardener, and I love being out in the garden, but I still like to make watering as hands-off as possible. I use a mix of methods like burying ollas, recycling items to make my own watering systems from old hoses and plastic bottles, and installing semi-automated systems. The less your garden relies on you remembering to water, the better.  Some of my favorite methods that I use in my own garden don't require any input after the initial setup and the occasional top up.

Even with a hose, watering is a time-consuming chore nobody does well or consistently. Plus, the more you end up relying on your busy brain to remember you need to get outside with the hose, the more you run the risk of forgetting all about it or only remembering at the wrong time of day. To get your watering as hands-off as possible, you just need to set up a few systems that take water from the tap to the delivery point at the right time with minimal input from you. For any automated system, make sure you set up zones so you're not over-watering some plants while underwatering others. For some setups, you don't even need actual automation.

One of the simplest automated systems has to be to put a basic battery timer on your outdoor tap. It's budget-friendly and really simple to set up. You can set the days, the start time and the run time. Then the timer lets the water flow at the appropriate time for the preset period, and then switches it off again. Choosing the right time is important when watering your plants.

You can connect the timer to a soaker hose, a drip irrigation setup, or a splitter that feeds multiple water lines. But you do have to remember to adjust it when the weather is extra dry or when it rains. So this is set-it-and-forget-it but only to a point. You can, however, get smart models like the Orbit Smart Hose Watering Timer. These fancy timers adjust their own systems based on current conditions and some do it by receiving and acting on local weather forecasts. They cost a little more but are much more convenient and even more hands-off than standard timers.

I love soaker hoses. Although I must admit I often cheat and make my own version out of old hoses. But, essentially, soaker hoses very slowly leak water along their whole length. Yes, it means watering takes more time, but you don't care because you're going for a hands-off method — you don't have to stand out there and adjust a regular hose because it's splashing or the water is pooling in a specific area. Instead of a single point of exit, soaker hoses have water outlets along their whole length, so they water a wider area and, because they release water slowly, they water deeply and thoroughly, too, as water has time to soak into the ground rather than pool, evaporate, or run off.

I have soaker hoses buried all over my garden as they can really help save money. They especially help where I've got mature plants or fairly consistent planting setups that I know I won't be rearranging too often. Basically, you snake the soaker hoses through the bed between plants, especially around trees and perennials that need their whole root zone watered. Then, when you're happy with the layout, pin them down with garden staples, and simply cover the hoses with a good layer of mulch, like wood chips. Covering with mulch isn't strictly necessary, but it hides the hose and reduces evaporation. All that's left is to hook the hose up to a timer and tap.

Drip lines with emitters are useful, especially in the veggie garden, where you tend to plant in rows or grids. You don't strictly need emitters, but I find they are very helpful. Instead of random tiny holes that act like a soaker hose, emitters let you deliver water precisely to a specific area or plant. I have drip lines set up in a few of my beds where I tend to grow crops like tomatoes and peppers, root crops, and beans. These grow in rows, like regular, precise watering, and don't like to get their tops wet. And it gives me the best chance of growing healthy crops with fewer split fruits and far less risk of fungal pathogens.

Setup involves digging shallow trenches where you want to run the lines. Then you place the lines and install the little emitters where they'll be close to a plant. You can then cover the lines up with soil or mulch to reduce evaporation, but leave the top of the emitters at the soil level. Just remember to mark roughly where the drip lines are so you don't accidentally plant on top of them or dig them up. And, obviously, you'll need to connect them to a timer or main hose line. You can also get drip lines with emitter holes already in place, like One Stop Outdoor ¼-inch drip line. You can add emitters to these or just let the water slowly drip from the holes.

This is something I've done for years, and it's one of my favorite ways to recycle large plastic bottles. I hate waste and I love making gardening easier without compromising my permaculture principles, so this method is one of my favorites. Get some screw-on or threaded watering spikes and attach one to the end of a large plastic soda bottle. I like these BeadNova watering spikes as they've got an adjustable flow rate.

Cut the base off the soda bottle. Push the spike into the ground or dig a hole to bury the spike and bottle so it's less obtrusive. If your spike has an adjustable flow rate valve, don't bury it, or at least be aware that you'll need to dig it up again if you ever want to adjust the flow rate. Fill the bottle with water. The soil slowly draws water from the bottle as it dries out. You just need to top it up occasionally. This is a great one for tomatoes and peppers that need consistent moisture. It's not the prettiest or tidiest setup, but you can pretty much bury the bottle if necessary. Alternatively, paint or decorate the bottles to make them part of your garden design. The decorating part can be a fun kid-friendly project, too. Remember to use non-toxic and outdoor-safe paint, or, once painted, seal them before you use them. 

If you're short on growing space or you like your patio filled with plenty of color and foliage, container plants are a great option. But they usually need more attention and watering than plants in the ground. Containers are also notorious for drying out much faster than anything else in the garden during hot or windy spells, as there's a finite amount of soil to hold water, and the sides are also exposed.

Self-watering containers can help combat this, though. They have built-in reservoirs that hold extra water below the soil without touching it, utilizing some kind of wicking system that draws water into the pot when the soil starts to dry out. You usually have a little spout through which you add water around once a week. And, generally, they have a fill line or an overflow outlet to stop you adding too much water and drowning the plant roots.

You may already have containers that you love and don't want to change. Or perhaps you've got big, heavy containers with huge plants and changing them just isn't practical. If that's the case, you can still reduce their dependency on your remembering to water them. First, you can use my idea above with watering spikes and plastic bottles. That gives you an immediate, cheap fix. You can also rig up a drip line with a series of emitters which attach to each of your containers.

Your other option is to create a reservoir and a wick for each container. The reservoir can be close to or attached to the pot. Technically, you could create a double-pot system where you place the pot with the plant inside a larger planter. You place large pebbles or a plant riser in the bottom, then add water. Then you run absorbent material from the water reservoir into the soil. You can either run the wick up through the drainage holes or up the side and into the top of the pot. If your plant is already well settled in its container, it's easier to put the wick in the top. I would do this until the plant needs repotting, then pass the wick through the drainage holes instead. As the soil dries out, the wick draws water up into the pot. If you do the double pot method, you just need to be careful that the bottom of your inner pot doesn't sit in the water or you risk waterlogging the roots.

For smaller pots and seed trays, I like to use capillary mats. It makes watering much more efficient and hands-off. I've seen them used with great success for houseplants. I personally use this setup in my greenhouse when I'm babysitting seeds and seedlings, as it helps prevent overwatering, getting a crust on the top, and the dreaded damping off fungus.

You need a shallow tray, some capillary matting, a wick, and a reservoir. Omeric offers a mat and wick set to get you started. You soak both mat and wick thoroughly before you start. Then lay the wet capillary matting in the tray and run the rope, which serves as the wick, around the edge. One end of the rope should sit in the reservoir which you fill with water. You put your plant pots on top of the mat. As the mat dries out, the wick draws water to replenish it, and the plants take up the water they need through the drainage holes in their base.

Ollas are a very old, traditional way to deliver water to plants without constant manual labor. They are essentially large, unglazed clay pots, often terracotta. You bury them up to their necks between plants or between rows of plants. It's best to do this before you plant to avoid damaging roots when you dig to place the olla. I love using ollas. It feels like a real connection to the past, as they have been in use for literally thousands of years as a method of irrigation. And the fact that they've been in use for so very long tells you how well they work.

Once buried, you fill the olla with water. Because the clay is unglazed, the water seeps through the vessel slowly into the surrounding soil, as the soil dries out. These are brilliant in areas with hot summers, as they can keep plants alive for many days before you need to refill them. Just make sure you keep the top of the olla covered so no wildlife accidentally falls in and drowns. You'll need to top them up every week or two. How often you need to refill them depends on how hot it is, how many ollas compared to plants you've got in the bed, whether you've got a covering of mulch, and the type of soil you have.

Freshly planted trees and shrubs need some help with water because they're not established yet. While their tops might look pretty large, their root balls are comparatively small, stressed from being potted or bare-rooted and planted. And, because they're freshly planted, for the first year or so, they haven't developed a stable network of feeder roots to take up water from deep in the ground.

That's where tree bags come in. Tree bags are bags that zip around the tree and hold quite a few gallons of water. You wrap and zip up the bag, use your hose to fill it, then just leave it alone. The bag is large enough that it covers the root zone of young trees, and slowly drip feeds water over that whole critical zone. You can get different types, but I prefer the donut-style bags, like these 20-gallon, slow-release, low-profile tree bags, as they cover a broader area.

I have rain barrels connected to every gutter on my property. I even have successional rain barrels set up, so one connects to the guttering, and then I have another connected to that barrel, and two more barrels, too. Rain water costs nothing and with as much as possible stored in my barrels, there's less running over my property. My barrels are raised a few inches off the ground and have taps at the front so I can fill up a watering can from them. 

For a more hands-off rain barrel approach, you can also connect a soaker hose or a drip line. Then, whenever you open the tap, the water will slowly soak into the soil. Now, obviously it's very low pressure, so it's best for short runs, small lines, or when watering on an incline. Because it's low pressure and a drip or soaker setup, this method is actually very helpful for watering a sloping garden, because the water is fed slowly, so soaks in rather than running down hill. However, if you do want to try this method on longer runs or up hill, you can also install a rain barrel pump. You could even connect a timer to the pump to make it more hands-off.

A small drip manifold setup is useful for a hands-off watering approach when you have collections of containers, such as on the patio. You can set this up so that a single water line feeds multiple plant pots simultaneously. And if you also attach a timer to that single water line, you can have an automated way of watering as many containers as possible. You can get irrigation manifolds in different port numbers, but I recommend choosing more lines than you need, like this Orbit 8-port irrigation manifold, so you can just cap off ones you don't need and have room to add more containers to the system when you want to.

This arrangement takes a single line and splits it into multiple smaller tubes. Each tube ends in a drip spike that you push into the container. If you need to remove a container from the display, you simply cap the line that ran to that pot so you don't waste water.

Lots of people make the mistake of watering with a watering can or with a hose overhead in the greenhouse or polytunnel. The problem with that approach is that, because of the increased heat and humidity, you encourage fungal pathogens, powdery mildew, and damping off. The result is seedlings that never germinate, that pop up and immediately die off, or they grow a little bit but end up diseased. Or you end up with green algae or moss growing all over the surface of your seed trays.

For things growing directly in the soil of your green house, lay porous hoses, drip lines, or soaker hoses between rows and connect them to a timer. This way, you can avoid overhead watering while maintaining consistent moisture. For seed trays and potted plants where you don't have a capillary mat, use micro-drippers as I suggested with outdoor containers. If you're on a budget, you can also set up a reservoir with wicks running into the top of each cell or tray. For large trays, you'll need multiple wicks for even watering. Don't run wicks up through the bottom, as the seedling roots will wrap around them and be difficult to remove when you pot on. Remember that for greenhouses, polytunnels, and seeds and seedlings, you'll need a different watering schedule. Because it's hotter but more humid, and because seeds and seedlings have different needs than established plants, you need a dedicated zoned timer just for your greenhouses and poly tunnels. The frequency with which you'll water depends on what you're growing and how hot the space gets.

There are so many benefits to mulching your garden beds and there are many different types of mulch. One of the most overlooked benefits is that when you apply a deep layer of mulch, you need to water less frequently. Bare soil bakes hard in the summer heat, so water often doesn't penetrate properly, making watering in hot weather far less effective. Mulch keeps the soil sheltered from the sun, stopping it from crusting over.

Apply a 3 to 4-inch layer of wood chips, compost, or straw mulch. A deep layer like this reduces evaporation and therefore conserves water. You can lay drip lines or soaker hoses underneath, as I mentioned earlier, to maximize water penetration and conservation. But do remember to adjust your timer and watering frequency to account for how moist the soil stays beneath the mulch so you don't risk overwatering.