Save time – and water – with the best drip irrigation system

This is a complex bit of watering kit that can cover a large volume of plants and offers three different spray types to suit their needs. This is an ideal option for a greenhouse, but reviewers have reported success using this setup in borders, pots, and for vegetable growing.

This system gives you nearly 70 metres of irrigation tubing that can efficiently water an area of around 15 square metres. The irrigation tubing connects to your garden tap and then you can decide where you want the 16 tributaries to be placed, and what type of sprayer you want on them, with sprinkler, misting, and drip emitters being the included options.

If you're looking to keep your hedgerows healthy in dry weather, Gardena has you covered with this drip irrigation kit designed to do exactly that. It's a relatively simple setup giving you 25 metres of hosing that you lay on the ground where you want to water. As the water passes through the pipe it's slowly emitted through the pre-cut holes.

Reviewers praise this as being a great starter kit ideal for those new to drip irrigation, especially as you can expand it with more Gardena products. As well as being simple to set up this is low maintenance thanks to Gardena's self-cleaning membrane technology within the piping. This comes with 15 pegs to secure the pipe to the ground.

We're fans of Hozelock's "Micro Irrigation Kit" which isn't as tiny as it sounds - it can capably water up to 15 containers. The drippers stake into your plant pot's soil so are suitable for use with all kinds of growth; plant pots and containers, hanging baskets, window boxes, and even borders if they are compact.

Hozelock's easy-to-install 'Push to Fit' design is popular with reviewers for its simplicity. This is modular, so you can expand the system. In addition, this is compatible with any timed water controller so you can enjoy the convenience of automation, something reviewers say is well worth doing.

Gardena's AquaBloom drip irrigation system offers the ultimate in convenience as it does not require power or a hose pipe water source. This is because it's solar-powered and can draw water from a bucket. It can water up to 20 plants and works to a height of up to four metres. This makes this standalone system a fab choice for balconies.

The irrigation control unit has the solar panels integrated into it for a tidy solution. Via the control unit you can set when you want the system to activate, and for how long for. This gets the thumbs up from reviewers who have had success with this when they have gone on holiday for a week and left it to look after their precious plants.

MAMIZO offers a classic 'drip hose' set which gives you a classic 'leaky pipe' setup that is very versatile in how it can be used. It's 50 metres in length so you can run it along beds, borders, and shrubs, or thanks to its flexible nature you can encircle fruit trees or even create lines down rows of vegetable plants.

Making it an even more adaptable watering solution, this hose comes with L- and T-shaped connectors, so it's possible to cut the hose down and have it snaking out on different directions. Reviewers like this versatility but do warn to double-double check your measurements if you are cutting it up.

We're giving this Gardena option the accolade as best for holiday as one reviewer happily states this ensured their plants stayed alive for more than a month while they were away. Thanks to the fully sealed transformer, this can be used in and outdoors, but do bear it mind it needs to be plugged in to the mains, although the water is drawn from a bucket or similar source.

This has an integrated timer that works for one minute each day. There are three water distribution units that can each support 12 water emitter outlets. One users warns that if your plant is large, or particularly thirsty, you may want to consider adding more than one emitter to the container.

This drip watering kit from Hozelock is another strong choice for pots, containers, hanging baskets, and window boxes. However, as the drippers stake into the soil and deliver water to the plants' roots, this is a also great choice for growbags. There are 20 drippers that you can position separately, or if you are using them with growbags, in a row.

The included select controller offers you 16 pre-set programs to supply water from once a week up to four times a day, but also boasts a manual watering function, meaning that during dry spells you can water whenever your plants need it. Reviewers warn the 15 metre hose line doesn't feel like it goes far, so this is best set up in a compact space.