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The story of modern drip irrigation begins with a man named Simca Blass, an engineer who in 1947 was working on the first modern aqueduct in the Jordan Valley, of Israel. After discovering a large tree that was growing "without water", he dug down to find a leaking pipe coupler that was supplying water to the tree. He bought up the pipes that England had used to extinguish fires during the London Blitz and shipped them home where they were used to construct a water system to supply water to 11 Israeli settlements and the Arab Bedouins in the Negev desert. In the 1950s Blass reopened his engineering office and pursued his idea of commercial drip irrigation.

If you want to start a garden this year, it may not be too late. Look for a sunny spot near your house to start gardening as it will be easy to keep an eye on it. With the right soil and adequate watering, your garden is sure to be a great success.

If this is your first garden, start small. Two or three 3’x 12’ raised beds or a 12’ x 12’ plot is a reasonable size that you could begin to, plant in one weekend, and be successful. A small garden irrigation kit (Small Garden Bed Kit) can have you set up for watering in an hour without having to search for parts. Even a small garden can produce as much or more like a larger one. Extensive gardens often become very time-consuming and overwhelming for the first-time gardener. Keep it simple, and you will enjoy hours of gardening each year.

Easy to install, long lasting, and having the ability to precisely deliver water exactly where you want it are qualities that every busy gardener is looking for. If you have raised beds, an orchard, ornamental trees, row crops, hedges along a fence line, berry crops, containers on a deck, an extensive landscape, a small front yard, or a greenhouse or high tunnel, then ½” Emitter Tubing or ¼” Soaker Dripline are great choices.

Drip irrigation is the most efficient way to irrigate your raised garden beds, orchard, landscape, roses, shrubs, row crops, or even containers on a deck or patio. Setting a system up and putting it on a timer eliminates hours of hand watering and weeding as all the water goes directly to the desired plant's roots. In the end, you'll feel secure knowing that your plants will be watered by a quality drip system that you can easily set up on your own.

Plant your garden with a purpose this year by choosing veggies and berries that can be juiced daily all summer long. To that end, Dripworks demonstration garden will be growing heirloom varieties of carrots, beets, kale, cucumbers, parsley, celery, tomatoes, and melons that will provide the raw ingredients for juicing and smoothies to keep your immune system strong. At the end of this blog, I’ll recommend my favorite powerful juicer.

If you haven’t already started your seeds for this year’s garden, now is the time! With a few basic supplies and careful attention, you can start your entire garden’s worth of plants and save on the expense of buying plant starts. It is not difficult! Sourcing high-quality seeds is the most important step.