Before I start sharing about hand watering your garden I need to make this disclaimer: my garden is almost full reticulated. And, I’m certainly glad that it is. It frees me up from a garden chore that can be quite laborious and very time consuming.

Having said that, last night – one of those balmy summer evenings when it feels like the sun is never going to fully set – I picked up the hose and began watering my garden. I could have easily chosen to flick the switch and allow the automatic reticulation do its thing, but it was one of those “rose-smelling” moments. Time was on my side and no deadlines were invading my headspace.

This is when watering your garden by hand is a pleasure.

It allows you to see your garden from angles that you normally wouldn’t experience. You begin to find plants that have been languishing beneath their water-hogging neighbours: summer growth being the culprit. Plants that are busy preparing their blooms suddenly grab your attention demanding a response of awe.

Then there are the plants that have self-seeded popping their first few leaves above the soil’s surface. Others have grown from roots that were left in the ground and conquered the environment to survive and stand on their own. Not to mention the new buds that are forming on old stock where aphids have ravaged and you were sure that plant was destined for the compost heap.

Thirty minutes later I was recharged and energised purely from the fact that I forced myself to slow down. Hand watering is not a task that you undertake if you’re on a tight time schedule. It’s a slow gardening method that I have somehow forgotten and regrettably shown disdain for.

Fortunately, it re-educated me.