(Music: RAIN, Lennon-McCartney) (info./disclaimers) (glossary) (index) (gardening guide)
When the rainbird comes on, they run
and hide their heads
And leave the garden beds
When the rainbird comes on
When the rainbird comes on
In the summer, about an inch of
water a week
Keeps most vegetables at their peak
Since the rain's gone
Since the rain's gone
Rainbird
You're mighty fine
Rainbird
You keep plants from dying
People tell me that for watering
efficiency
Driptape surpasses you greatly
But it's plastic
And it wears out
Rainbird
I don't mind
Rainbird
You're doing fine
When I use you, I water overnight
Not when the sun's real bright
I hand-water seeds
And plants with special needs
Heads they hide and run they on
(Rainbird)
Comes the Rainbird when and leave
(Rainbird) (etc., and fade)
Comments:
This atypically shallow treatment of a complex subject does manage to justify
the Beetless' continuing use of an overhead impact sprinkler (brand name
Rainbird), whose advantages also include easier irrigation of seedbeds,
volunteers, cover crops, and weeds; "instant-on" frost protection;
and midday showers for the gardeners. In the Pacific Northwest low summertime rainfall
necessitates regular irrigation. Overnight watering conserves water, though use
of driptape (drip irrigation) would conserve even more.
Excerpted from The Beetless' Gardening Book: An Organic Gardening Songbook/Guidebook, copyright 1997 by Chris Roth (info./disclaimers) (glossary) (index) (gardening guide)