[GMIJFI]

My husband and I are planning to move to the villages within the next year. I am an avid gardener here in the Northwest (Seattle). We are hoping to purchase a house with a large birdcage in which I intend to pursue extensive container gardening.

We have not yet settled on exactly which villages we would like to move to. However, we are currently reviewing the declaration of restrictions (Covenants, restrictions and reservations - CCRs) for Village of Lake Sumter (which we are assuming are representative of the CCR’s of most of the villages). In reading these restrictions, specifically about the scheduled irrigation watering system, I am concerned about how much water would be available to operate a drip irrigation system for container plants.

Questions:
1. How do people typically water their container plants? Our set of CCR’s indicate that two water systems exist within at each home site – one for drinking water and one for irrigation. Are there hose bibs available on the exterior of the houses (or anywhere else) to allow for access to the irrigation water system or is the irrigation system basically a closed system with no owner access to it through hose bibs or other access means.

2. On the scheduled irrigation days, do you feel that the home owner has access to adequate water or is the metered amount very small? (I realize this is a very subjective question but I would value all opinions on whether or not you have felt limited in your ability to obtain adequate irrigation water to do whatever level of gardening or lawn watering that you do).

Thanks, in advance, for you input!