Need a soakin'

It has been dry here in central VA. Here is the pattern: we get a prediction for a good chance of rain and...as I watch the radar online, the rain clouds skirt my town.  Time to drag out the soaker hoses!
I hope you already know that overhead watering is very inefficient, for this reason: most of the water is lost to evaporation.  Very little of it actually goes into the ground.  In addition, when you use a sprinkler in your garden, much of the water goes onto the paths.  Soaker hoses, which emit drops of water across their length, are far more precise and are better at getting the water where you want it to go.  My mistake this season was I did not lay the hoses when I was doing the initial planting:  this would have saved me a lot of grief. Laying hose while planting is easy, but laying it around large existing plants is tedious.  When you do use a soaker, leave it on for two or more hours.  You will use less water, use it more efficiently and your plants will reward you!  Soaker hoses are not expensive, last for seasons and are a good investment.