Steve Aitken, Fine Gardening’s editor at large, explains the components and shows you how to assemble them into a custom system you can deploy to bring water directly to your plants. You can even route the tubing unobtrusively into container plantings and eliminate the tedious chore of watering by hand.

Here are the supplies you’ll need to install your own system:

• Faucet filter
• Pressure regulator
• Timer

This three-part assembly connects to a female hose end.

• ½-inch tubing
• Hot water (to soften tubing)
• Hold-downs (landscape staples)
• Elbow and T-fittings
• Emitters
• Hole punch
• Goof plugs
• Optional: small tubing with prepunched emitter holes/barbed emitters

Drip irrigation can be used in the garden or for containers.