Dear Jim: I enjoy gardening and landscaping my yard, but I would like to save time and reduce my water bills by installing an automatic watering kit myself. Will I actually save water and what system is best? – Carol F.

Dear Carol: You should be able to save a substantial amount of water by installing an automatic watering kit. In addition to the lower water bills and time savings, your plants will likely be healthier from regular watering. When you water manually, it is difficult to control the amount of water each plant receives.

If you want to install an automatic watering system yourself, a drip system is your best option. The water savings can be as high as 70 percent when compared to aboveground sprinklers. During hot dry weather, much of the water from sprinklers evaporates in the air before reaching the ground. Also, many plants prefer to be watered from below and not on the foliage.

Many companies offer complete drip watering kits for home use. These are usually starter kits and then you can add inexpensive components to customize it to your gardens and landscaping. Other companies strictly sell the drip watering components and you design your own system.

Drip watering systems are simple to design and set up in your yard. There generally is a main feeder hose with tiny emitters which drip the water into the ground by the plants. The main feeder can be buried just below the ground surface or just placed on top of the ground. To water a large or complex area, the main feeder splits off to secondary feeders.

The amount of water each plant or area gets can be controlled by the length of time the system is running and the quantity and size of emitters used. Emitters are often color-coded by their flow rate.

For example, a tree may need a 2-gallons-per-hour emitter whereas a small shrub may need just a 0.5-gph emitter by it. Since trees have a large root area, you may choose to use several smaller emitters positioned in a large circle under the leave drip line where the rain normally falls.

Sophisticated automatic controllers which measure the ground moisture level are available. For most home garden and landscaping applications, a simple timer control should be adequate. Depending upon how much rain your area has had and the temperature, you can set the appropriate on-time for the system.

Most people also have some hanging or potted plants on decks or patios. For these, add some weighted emitters, micro-sprinklers and foggers to your system. For hanging plants, the weighted emitter hangs down from a small tube into the pot. The microsprinklers and foggers are ideal for plants which prefer cool, moist foliage.

The following companies offer drip irrigation components and kits: Drip Store, (866) 682-1580, www.dripirrigation.com; International Irrigation Sys., (877) 477-4476, www.irrigro.com; Netafim Irrigation, (888) 638-2346, www.netafim-usa.com; Raindrip, (888) 417-3747, www.raindrip.com; and Toro Company, (800) 367-8676, www.toro.com.

Dear Jim: I have a small workshop in my backyard. It has 2×4 framed walls not finished on the inside. I think I should insulate the walls. What type of insulation will have more R-value than standard fiberglass? – Bob S.

Dear Bob: If you do not use the workshop often, it probably will not make economic sense to invest in any type of insulation. It may be cheaper to wear a heavier jacket and use a small, but focused electric heater.

Two of the most common types of more effective wall insulation are foam or high-density fiberglass batts. The foam is more expensive, but provides the highest R-value. The high-density batts will be about R-2, better than standard.

Send inquiries to James Dulley, Bangor Daily News, 6906 Royalgreen Dr., Cincinnati, OH 45244 or visit www.dulley.com