How much is one inch of water from a garden hose

I do not have success with sprinklers -- I've bought expensive ones and they don't oscillate. I think it must be because of low water pressure; I have to run in and out to move the sprinkler and it's exhausting to cover an entire property.

So for my new shrubs I've been watering each shrub with a garden hose. How do I know I'm putting an inch of water into the ground this way? Because I lost some cherry laurels last year, and a couple camellias, I'm thinking I may have overwatered. This was during a 95 degree summer; the shrubs are in a shady back yard.

Also, any ideas on how to get my sprinkler to work better?

Thank you!

If your problem is water pressure, then you're probably not going to be able to get the bigger sprinklers to work well. One thing you might consider is drip irrigation, those systems work off a little lower pressure than a regular sprinkler so you could probably do OK as long as you watch the number of drippers or microsprinklers that you have running at one time (you can set up different zones which turn on one at a time if you have a larger area to cover). With the garden hose it's hard to judge when you've delivered an inch of water because the water comes out quickly so a lot of it probably runs off rather than soaking in where you wanted it.

The longer your garden hose is, the more pressure you're going to lose as it has a longer distance to travel.
Rigid pipe doesn't expand like a flexible garden hose does, so you don't lose as much pressure that way.
Oscillating sprinklers require even more pressure to get them to work properly because of the mechanism.

Do you have old galvanized plumbing ? That may be one part of the problem.

Thank you both for your replies.

iI assume the plumbing is galvanized -- 85 year old house whose last major renovation was in the 1970s. I'm getting ready to have an inspector come in and doing a thorough inspection of all systems. Not to get too off-topic, but what does galvanized plumbing do to water pressure?

The hose is very long because there's only one faucet outdoors and I drag the hose all over the property.

Galvanized pipe starts to corrode on the inside due to minerals over time. The sediment from the water sticks to the inside walls of the pipes and builds up to the point where less and less water can pass through it and thus the pressure is reduced.

It's the same principile as sediment in a metal tea pot or a coffee maker...or fat in your arteries !

If your house is 85 years old and still has it's original plumbing, that's most likely the problem.

SOMETIMES, a plumber can "backflush" the pipes to loosen the sediment and extend the life of the pipes for a while...but it doesn't always work and is a temporary fix, at best.

It's a lot of trouble, but a very effective way to water new shrubs or trees is to put the end of the hose near the root ball and let the water trickle out of your hose where it's not running but almost running continually. The water soaks in and does more good than using a sprinkler. I know from experience how you have to remember to go out and move it, etc. etc. but in your situation it might be the best solution. Deep watering this way would mean watering less often. I sympathize with you. We are having the worst heat wave in 75 years.