These Are the Must-Have Tools for the Ultimate Low-Water Garden

These porous clay pots from Oya deliver the exact right amount of water precisely where it’s needed—at your plant’s roots. An ancient form of irrigation (it’s still up for debate whether pots like this originated in China or North Africa), you bury them in your vegetable garden, then fill the pot with water and cap it with the silicone lid. You save water due to less evaporation, and your plant’s roots will grow towards the pot which ups the efficiency even more.

A porous soaker hose slowly releases water at your plant’s roots and reduces water use and evaporation. They’re perfect for flower beds, vegetable gardens, and landscaping.

The Orbit hose faucet simple set timer turns a soaking hose into a timed system. To use it, you set the timer for when you want to water (every third day for eight minutes, for example) and go. Not only will you save water, you’ll also save yourself from forgetting to do it and ending up with a garden full of dead plants. Have more than one soaker hose? Not to worry, these timers can be purchased with up to four ports.

This is a personal favorite when it comes to my own vegetable garden. The straw insulates the soil and keeps it cool, while also discouraging weeds. One tip: You don’t have to buy straw online—if you have a lot of raised beds, save money and buy a large straw bale from your local feed and tack store.

A slow-release watering bag from Treegator will provide water to a newly planted tree for five to nine hours, and you refill it every five to seven days. The result is very little runoff or evaporation while it saturates your tree’s roots, which reduces transplant shock for your new tree. For established trees, you can still use Treegator—just zip two together, fill it, and go.

Hold the phone—your cellphone, that is. This smart sprinkler controller from Wyze uses an app that syncs with the weather forecast so you’ll never have to wake up at six in the morning and realize you didn’t turn off your garden water timer while it’s raining again. Plus, you can easily control how much you want to water from anywhere, be it the office or, even better, a beach on Maui.

Perfect for indoors and out, this XLUX soil moisture meter has a 40 cm long probe so you can reach deep into the soil and find out if it’s wet or dry. Honestly, it couldn’t be simpler to use, and you’ll never have to play the guessing game again.

Raindrip has everything you need to install drip irrigation in your raised bed, planter boxes, plant rows, and flower beds. By delivering water directly to your plants, as opposed to spraying it from a hose or sprinkler system, this will help you save water and put that H₂O exactly where it’s needed.