Garden Soaker Hose

Garden soaker hoses have thousands of nearly microscopic pores than allow water to slowly ooze out along their entire length and soak the nearby ground. Slowly they soak the ground underneath them and the water spreads eight to twelve inches. They are often left running for up to 8 hours at a time as the water comes out slowly.

They are not the same as drip irrigation hoses, although the terms are sometimes incorrectly used interchangeably. A drip irrigation hose has a row of bigger holes along one side and water squirts out like tiny fountains or sprinklers (and sometimes they are in fact called "sprinkler hoses").

Garden soaker hoses have two main benefits over drip irrigation hoses.

A soaker hose is easier to snake around plants so you are only watering the plants, not empty ground. For plants that are separated, for example most vegetables, this is great, although where plants are close together, for example in flowerbeds, this isn't important.
A soaker hose doesn't wet a plant's leaves and other foliage, which can increase the possibility of some plant diseases.

Soaker hoses are often placed near each other as they only soak a small area of ground. Remember that soaker hoses can be connected end to end so you have more hose to work with.

The hose near its end will release less water that the hose near it's beginning due to differences in water pressure, so may want to consider this when you lay down your soaker hose. If you want to run more than 100 feet of soaker hose, you may want to buy Y shaped splicers instead known as "Y-connectors." You can run several lengths in parallel, and most Y-connectors let you turn each individual hose separately.

Garden soaker hoses are great for watering plants like flowers, vegetables and shrubs although they aren't the best for watering turf lawn or trees, though the latter isn't impossible.

Soaker and drip irrigation hoses are left outside during winter as the water tends to drain out of them and they are not easily damaged. Of they are damaged by a spade of shovel, easy to do as they are often covered by mulch, you can often repair them with repair kits available at your local hardware or garden supply store.