What kind/type of irrigation do you use and why?

[tomatoguy]

When I built my raised bed, I put in a soaker hose. It is now under 24 inches of a topsoil, compost, coarse sand mixture. Works great. Encourages root growth and discourages weed growth.

mater

[HCWithAltitude]

I am resurrecting this thread to investigate irrigation options for my community garden plot.

I have this 20x20 community garden plot, with 2 raised beds. You can see the plain jane spigot in the lower left corner.



This is my tentative garden plan:



I don't believe we are allowed to use timers any more, so the goal is to go to turn on the spigot & sit/weed/survey my vast estate while it waters in some reasonable period of time after work every day.

Would this drip/micro sprayer kit be a reasonable place to start? http://www.sprinklerwarehouse.com/DI...it-p/ge200.htm

The 15 self-watering containers I made on my deck are much less of a watering challenge - I just fill them up every few days & they are good to go.

Thanks!

HWA

[Cole_Robbie]

It looks challenging to connect so many individual beds to one system. There would be lines running through every walkway. It was obviously not designed with irrigation in mind.

You can make several "zones," and then drag a hose to each zone, connect it and water. But even that sounds like a lot of work and time.

[HCWithAltitude]

Cole -

Good point. I could easily switch things up - the only immovable items are the raised beds & the trellis. The map is from the perspective I look at the garden, but the trellis is to the North and the raised beds to the West.

I don't mind stepping over a few lines. It's a small garden & I could water it by hand, but wouldn't have the time to devote to that endeavor every day. Hence wanting to put in some sort of irrigation. Plus, who doesn't like new toys to play with?

HWA

edited to add the revised plan which is a) oriented properly, and b) has the rows arranged more expediently with regard to irrigation. This does, however, illustrate I can fit more plants in. I'm not sure you've done me a favor there, Cole

[BennB]

I have a 10X10 community garden plot in the community where we have a weekend cabin. We are mostly there.... on the weekends.... Generally other gardeners cover for me as far as watering , but I it can be spotty and yields are, shall we say "variable" at best.

This year I was thinking about getting a 55 gallon plastic barrel, punching a hole in the side near the bottom, and hooking up a battery operated valve and running drippers to the plants. Something like this isn't too much cash - http://www.amazon.com/Orbit-WaterMas.../dp/B004LPBS6K

I'd put a sign on the barrel asking people to fill it up if they noticed it was getting low. But generally I'd just fill it up every Sunday and it would only have to get me to next Saturday. It would be a bit of a crap shoot on the flow rate since that would depend on the water height/head in the barrel, but it would be better than nothing and would probably help get through the dry weeks of mid-summer. I am only installing about 9 plants, so I figure ~9 gallons every day should get me through the week....at least better than currently.

I'd be happy to hear about any fatal flaws anybody sees in in my approach or let me know if you have a similar set up!

[Gardeneer]

I am growing no more than 65 tomato and pepper plants, in raised beds and pots. Sprinkler is out of question for me as I don't want to get my plants wet too much. It invites mold and other diseases. Drip irrigation can be a good thing but it is just too much of a work to put it in place.

What I do is just the old fashion way : Hose with shower head, one plant at a time . It takes me about an hour a week to do a deep soak watering of the raised bed plants and every 4-5 days the pots, IFF it does not rain.

[Leastbay]

I use gilmour flat soaker hose. It stays out year round. It lasts about 2 years before it leaks but has a lifetime warranty. I just cut off the hose ends, mail it in and a new nose comes to my house in a week.

[Worth1]

I water my two raised beds from my underground sprinkler system.
There are two valves and a 200 mesh filter in a valve box flush with the ground right next to the beds.
The pipe comes up at the end of the bed into a 3/4 inch PVC Header.
Out of the header there are 4-1/2 inch drip lines running 12 feet.
Each drip line can be unscrewed from the header or the entire header and lines can be removed because the header is connected with a 3/4 inch PVC pipe union.
It takes less the 5 minutes to remove the system to work in the beds.

I can set the drip to come off and on just about as many times a day as I want.

I'm not rich I installed everything myself.

Why?
Why not.

Worth

[Marcus1]

HWA, I use drip tape to irrigate all of my gardens and think you could easily set up a simple system that will meet your needs. I would install a filter and pressure regulator off the hose bib and feed that into a length of 1 1/2" flat tube across the north line. Off this header line push insert valves in where you want your rows of veggies and run drip tape the length of the rows. This way you can simply turn on the the faucet and water while you're tending to and exploring your garden. I like your program for the garden layout, very professional. Where are you in CO ? I have all the pieces to set up this system here in Windsor that I would sell you for costs and give you direction on installing. Probably about $40.

Good Luck
Marcus

[Mike723]

I use the drip tape system from dripworks myself.. http://www.dripworks.com/category/ro...rrigation-kits - For your application I'd go with the standard kit to be safe. Do yourself a favor and get a decent punch (http://www.dripworks.com/product/Q_PUM) as the one that comes with the kit is garbage. I have mine set up on an automatic timer and worrying about watering is a thing of the past. The only time I need to adjust is if we're expecting rain, although that won't be an issue for me this year with the new high tunnel.

I'm happy with the system, but as many have said, the drip tape is a 2-4 season deal. . Unless buried, but my dog (beagle) just loves digging them up and chewing'em to bits lol. With that being said- they are extremely even in terms of water distribution and very clog resistant. I have mine set up with two pre-filters (one that comes with the kit, and one with my gard'n gro chlorine filter) and haven't had a single issue (3rd season).

I would run the main supply west to east from the spigot and run the tape north to south. You'll probably want two runs of tape for the squash and melon rows (one on each side of the mounds). For ease of the system layout and paths I would consider running the dwarf gray sugars parallel with the haricots. Good Luck!

Mike

[Tracydr]

Originally Posted by HCWithAltitude

Cole -

Good point. I could easily switch things up - the only immovable items are the raised beds & the trellis. The map is from the perspective I look at the garden, but the trellis is to the North and the raised beds to the West.

I don't mind stepping over a few lines. It's a small garden & I could water it by hand, but wouldn't have the time to devote to that endeavor every day. Hence wanting to put in some sort of irrigation. Plus, who doesn't like new toys to play with?

HWA

edited to add the revised plan which is a) oriented properly, and b) has the rows arranged more expediently with regard to irrigation. This does, however, illustrate I can fit more plants in. I'm not sure you've done me a favor there, Cole
What ap are you using to draw your garden plan? I like the way it looks.

[shatbox]

I do two 55 gallon barrels and a hodgepodge of drip tape/emitters from Habitat for Humanity's ReStore.

[Ed of Somis]

Since I just constructed 18' of raised bed this winter...I tried the Gilmour flat soaker hose (that others use). I have only used it a short time now...but I really like it. Most of my containers will have 1/4" drip line to them (with drippers)...coming off of a 1/2" drip main line. It can be a puzzle...

[Tania]

After we mulched everything with 6" of wood chips, we never watered our garden.

We still have the soaker hoses buried in the beds, but do not use them anymore.

I love it, as there is no work involved, and no water wasted. Soil stays moist, even when we had no rain in 2 months in summer. Crops are amazing, so juicy and flavorful. Tomatoes and peppers love it. And root crops too.

Tatiana

[EBCIII]

I plan on running one line to my 2 beds then have a y valve to slipt the two. Put in soaker hoses in both beds. Why for me this is just a cheaper metheod, Beale.