Welcome to The Cherry On Top, Happy Gardeners.
Let me tell ya. I was not at all happy that there were zero paper instructions on how to put together the Gardena AquaBloom L together. I watched several videos, but none got into any kind of detail. I thought I'd throw this one together fast for ya.
For some reason, I just couldn't figure out what tube went where and some other details I'll get into, quickly. It really does go together super fast and easily.
First, here's the link with a lovely, illustrated, manual. That's what got me going. It's not even the right machine, but it works. I scoured to find the schematics like this. I guess it's just how my brain works or doesn't. No matter that it isn't in English. You're only using the images. In my opinion, it still could be more clear. I must be get'n old! I think my biggest issue was I thought that there was just one tube. I didn't realize for awhile that ya actually need one piece of tube for the filter and another piece for your plants.
I need to keep my lovelies alive for weeks and sometimes months when I'm gone. We already have this system installed in our greenhouse. The hubs put it together, over there. I was left on my own, here in Germany, to figure it out, as usual.
My system is a little larger.
I put the plants fairly close together so I didn't have to use too much of the tubing. I may have to change it up later. I'm guessing my husband bought the big system because we may need it to water the garden out back at one point. Not a bad idea. The big one will work on a big project, but not the smaller one. So go big if you think you may use it for a larger project or garden.
Above, are the pieces, minus the filter and the machine. We don't need those just yet. Not clear in most of the materials and videos is the difference between the big, orange thingamajigs and the blue ones is how much water they pump out for your chosen time. Blue is 0.5 liters an hour and the orange is 2 liters an hour. (Took me awhile to figure out that one.)
I've got that smaller, ornamental grass that won't need as much water as my larger plants. So I took the blue head and inserted it in one of the grey thingies, you can see it below. I couldn't find where to do that anywhere. It just took some simple deduction.
First, I put just the large heads in my large plants and just the small, blue head in the smaller plant.
The filter attached to the end of the hose.
Then, put one end of the long hose over the filter and dropped it in my water reservoir. I gave myself a little extra length and cut the tube at my desired spot and stuck the other end in the "IN" outlet on the machine. It's not super easy when you have arthritic thumbs. Ya have to push pretty hard.
Above, you can see the machine with the tube from the filter in the bottom slot and the tube from the plants in the top spot. That's your next step.
My heads were waiting in the pot. I figured how much tube I needed, cut the tube straight and simply put the tube opening over the peg on the water head. Grabbed my excess tubing and put it over the other peg and fastened the head down with the handy anchor that you can see below.
Repeat until you get to the end.
When you've got all of your heads in place and anchored down, you'll have an open end. That's where ya put in one of the two little grey thingies. They are the smallest ones in the pack and it kind of looks like a screw. It's pictured way up, above with the materials from the set. You can see it in this pic.
There you can clearly see the two tubes. One leading to the filter and reservoir and the other going to my plant setup.
Choose the setting you want. The dial is pretty clear. The little faucet is a great way to test your system. It runs for a few minutes when you choose that one. The green light will flash to indicate your choice has been saved. Turn it "off" if you want to change or reset it. I'm going to put the system to run every 48 hours for 30 minutes. I'm hoping my water supply will last if I'm gone a long time. We'll see!
According to the manual in the link provided, there are green, orange and red lights respectively for charge status. I never noticed on ours.
Also if it's 3:00 pm when you set the time for 24 hours, it'll start at 3:00 pm, the next day. Keep that in mind when setting the time.
If y'all figure out what the hell the plus is for, let me know. I don't know if you can add time or delay or what with that. I looked all over the place and can't find out what the button does.
Don't forget to put the machine in the sunniest spot possible. I kept my hose a little longer so that I could put the machine in the sun and my water in the shade.
We've had this system for 2 years and it works without fault. All of the time. We absolutely love it which is why we bought it again. I may even try it on indoor plants in the winter if I can get enough sunlight. I've tried other systems and nothing works for the long periods I'm away. The whole string thing, terra cotta pots planted next to big plants, the other system with tubes and terra cotta that connect in a water container and none work well enough.
I would totally recommend this system. For this first time, I have no complaints. The only thing that could happen is there is no sun and that is no fault of the system. It has worked flawless for us for 2 years. It goes together really easily once ya figure it out. I might say it is a touch pricey, but it kills me to lose a plant! My babies are worth it.
I hope this helped ya out if you were in a fix or if you're looking for a nifty system like this one. Let me know in the comments and share how you water when you're away or if ya just don't feel like watering all of the darn time.
Happy gardening!
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