BAUBLE BUBBLER 
This ingenious accessory allows hose watering without erosion or flooding. Moisture is able to percolate to root zones with long slow waters. This bubbler pairs nicely with a manual timer that can be set for up to a two hour run. For flow control and shut off, add a one-touch valve to keep water from dribbling as you move the bubbler from plant to plant.

Maintenance Tip: Watering devices come with aluminum, brass, or plastic threads. Pairing brass and aluminum fittings will eventually “glue” them together from corrosive build up. Simply take them apart once in a while and use a stiff brush or vinegar soak to avoid this common problem. 

OLLAS 

Ollas have been used to water plants for millennia and when buried in the ground, the porous clay of these vessels allows water to seep out slowly beneath the surface of soil.

Consider them an ancient on-demand watering device. Due to a principle called moisture tension, water remains inside the olla when the surrounding soil is wet so water is only emitted as the soil dries. They’re best for veggies, ground covers, shrubs, containers, and raised beds.

The more loamy your soil texture, the further the water will radiate. In good native soil or a well prepared garden bed, moisture from a 2.5 gallon olla should radiate in a 3’  to 4’ circle. An olla is less efficient in compacted dirt and clay because moisture doesn’t radiate in dense soil structures. Mulching increases effectiveness by reducing evaporation.

Based on the olla principle, this product was developed by a permaculture expert and complete kits can be ordered based on the size of a garden bed. Cotta cups are daisy chained together with micro tubing and fed from a reservoir bucket. It works best in well prepared loamy soil, so it’s well suited for food crops. The reservoir bucket can be manually filled or set up on a charged water line and controlled by a float.

Using this kit in open ground is risky since the tubing can be chewed. Unless you have a very secure grow enclosure, use a slippery-sided raised bed and install a dig proof bottom. Our video showed the cups being used in a 27" high metal raised bed. Having already been outsmarted by every rodent in the desert, we weren’t taking chances. Before we filled it with soil, we lined the bottom with 1/4” hardware cloth, which curved up the sides about 3” and attached it with a generous number of sheet metal screws. So far, no critters have gotten in.

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