Use a drip irrigation system to conserve water and improve water absorption in flower beds and gardens. If you watch television advertisements, one would think the best way to water and even fertilizer flowers and other plants is to stand up in your yard with a garden hose and nozzle and spray the plants with water, soaking the foliage and flowers in hopes of some of the water making its way down to the soil where the roots are. It’s the roots that need to get access to the water, not the leaves and certainly not the flowers which in many cases will be damaged by getting water sprayed on them. Wet foliage, particularly going into the night, can also foster disease problems.
When watering a plant, the important thing is to get the water to the roots. If you can do that without spraying it up in the air, that is even better, because you are going to keep the foliage and flowers dry and also greatly reduce the chance of losing a significant amount of the water to evaporation saving money on water costs. Overhead, sprinkler irrigation can lose 40% of the water to evaporation on a sunny, warm day. Plus, if it is windy, the water may not land where you need it to go. Ooze hoses are now readily available and work great for small gardens. Just lay them out along the row of plants in a garden or circle them around and between flowers in a garden to distribute the water right onto the soil. Drip tape and drip tubes can also be found in many garden centers or online. These have small openings, uniformly spaced that allow water to slowly drip out of the tape or tube. These can be set up on a timer to supply water for a specified period of time or you can turn it on and off yourself. I water the garden in the early evening with drip tubing and turn it off the next morning. Just let it on long enough to saturate the root zone, then allow it to dry again before watering again. Water enough to saturate the root zone in the row but keep the space between rows dry, you will have less weeds to pull too.