Tell me what you know. Think on a budget. Pictures would be nice. Also specific name brands.
Remember who you are dealing with, too.
by John Cole| 69 Comments
This post is in: Garden Chats
Tell me what you know. Think on a budget. Pictures would be nice. Also specific name brands.
Remember who you are dealing with, too.
Comments are closed.
Martin
If you dance naked in your back yard holding a mop in one hand and a jar of mustard in the other, it’ll rain, guaranteed. Cheap, and no need for irrigation.
cckids
Well, speaking for myself and the spouse, we put in drip irrigation back in 2004. Spent the next 5 years wishing we had just hired someone to do it. The learning curve was steep, and the repairs were continual.
That being said, there is so much more info available via YouTube, etc. now than there was then. Might be better.
Still . . .
mmolleur
Not raised beds but had Rainbird in my perennial and shrub beds. We had landscaper install but the lines and controllers can be purchased at Home Depot/Amazon. We had for 20 years plus and only had a couple leaks where a repair had to be made and that we could do ourselves.
Gin & Tonic
Low tech – I’ve used a soaker hose (attach to a regular hose to get from the faucet to the bed) and a $15 battery-operated water timer.
It won’t wow the squirrel video guy, but it will water your vegetables.
namekarB
The biggest problem with drip irrigation is that every variety of vegetable has different watering requirements. Yes some of this can be adjusted by the size of the drip emitters but some crops love wet soil and other crops hate it and no drip system is going to work for both. Especially do not put your garden drip system on a system that is also watering trees or lawn. Keep it on its own timer.
Martin
Oh, O-Cedar EasyWring Microfiber Spin Mop, and Maille Dijon work best, but any mop and mustard should work.
TaMara (HFG)
When I moved into this house, it had an above-ground drip irrigation system. Bixby promptly ate it.
I prefer a soaker hose.
That’s all I got,
NotMax
Low tech, #1 – #2.
R
Use 1/2 inch PVC pipes and drill holes with a 1/16 bit. Use ball valves to regulate flow.
TD
What Gin and Tonic said. I’ve put in both by myself and the soaker hose is easier and cheaper. You can put in loops for areas that need more water
Omnes Omnibus
Rain is cheap.
Callisto
I use the standard brand at the hardware store, Rain Bird. Works fine and is cheap. Soaker hoses are also nice. buy more hose, staples, fittings, and emitters than you think you’ll need cause you’ll use them all.
raven
We ran water down to the garden with two spigots spread out and use drip for the raised beds where the roses featured here the Sunday before last. The boss lady says it was like putting tinker toys together and she loves it. Bohdi liked it when we ran the water line.
jharp
@NotMax:
Thank you.
I had no idea and definitely will try this.
WhatsMyNym
@Gin & Tonic:
Yep, drip is hard to get right ,and in raised beds your plants requirements are always changing.
ETA: make sure you have outside faucets that are easy to access around your house.
raven
@WhatsMyNym: I guess the fact that my bride spends a good part of each day working in her garden makes it easy for her to keep up.
Scout211
@Callisto:
We use the same brand name (rain bird) and most of the supplies can be found at the big box stores. Ace and Lowe’s seem to have more supplies than Home Depot, at least around here
The main line from the water source (on a timer) is 1/2 inch line and each raised bed has 1/4 inch lines to either an emitter for individual plants or a 1/4 inch soaker line (with on/off valve) to rows of plants.
mvr
Why drip as opposed to soaker hoses? For mold and such it is better to keep the water off the leaves of various plants. And drip is hard because pressure really matters to how much comes out where and that means that when lines sag more comes out the bottom as the pressure goes up with depth. I once worked on a research experiment that was *supposed* to deliver the same amount of water to a couple of thousand mosquitofish. Let’s just say every solution for the last problems created a new one.
Since I was the only one who knew how the system worked it got me a raise in a work-study job which was essentially perpetual plumbing.
raven
I got halfway done with the deer protection for the butterbeans,
Odie Hugh Manatee
I’m the drip that irrigates our raised beds. :)
Spanky
Another vote for soaker hoses. Way more flexibility in putting water where you want it. Connecting with tees and ball valves increases flexibility even more.
Beware that animals may bite into it to get a drink. Squirrels, likely.
middlelee
I installed drip system for the acre I lived on in Nevada, near Carson City. It is time consuming and not rocket science. Do use different tubing for flowers and vegetables. Trees and large shrubs should be on a different set-up. I used the old-fashioned tubing and had to punch my own holes and put in the smaller tubing and emitters. Different emitters allow more or less water to go to the plant.
I don’t recommend using Home Depot or Lowes. They have systems but I don’t think they are as good as what you get if you go to the shop where plumbers and contractors buy stuff and talk to them and buy from them. They talked me through my whole system. I had more than 100 trees and shrubs, flower beds on three sides of the house and a vegetable patch in raised beds along the 120 yard path from parking area to house. A professional installed the two set-ups with filters (down in the ground) from which all the big tubing flowed. She got me started with the 1/2 inch stuff that went all over the property and I was able to do the rest myself. It’s been 20 years since I did all that and I don’t remember what everything is called but the guys at the wholesale place can tell you.
There is also a system that was originally from Israel (those folks know about watering systems) that a landscaper friend can tell me about. I’ll email her and get the info for you. It’s a little bit easier and works with regular garden hoses.
Kent
I’ve done this two different ways in two different houses.
First time I used the Home Depot kits with the little 1/4″ branch lines with emitters running to each plant held in place by landscape staples. Running off a battery-powered timer from the faucet where I had 4-way splitter installed. GIANT PITA. The little emitters would pop off and I’d get flooding and dry spots. Had to always keep an eye on it.
Second and current house. The back yard had in-ground rotary sprinklers installed. I tore out the entire yard and replaced it with a combo of landscaping and garden but kept the four rotary sprinkler heads which I converted to low pressure drip outlets using the rainbird conversion kits. I didn’t use any of the little 1/4″ tubing. I bought a couple hundred feet of 1/2″ plastic drip line pre-drilled at 12″ intervals and a bunch more of undrilled pipe and laid everything out that way underground (well, under the mulch in the landscaped area and down the beds in the raised bed area. It all runs off the timer in my garage and is all automatic. Joy. Here in the Pacific Northwest we don’t need much water at all this time of year but by mid-late summer it is essential. I probably water more than I need to. The key for landscaping is to only plant stuff with similar water requirements. So don’t xeroscape part of the area and and then put in thirsty tropicals.
Frank The Tank
John, take a look at Rain Bird drip irrigation supplies at Home Depot. You can get a battery operated timer that hooks to spigot to control watering. Half inch drip irrigation tubing and fittings connect to timer along with an antisiphon fitting. You can get 1/2″ tubing with built in emitters or just black tubing. It’s cheap…100′ for less than $10. HD sells a drip irrigation starter kits with some basic fittings or you can buy them ad hoc. They make 1/4 tubing and various emitters and misting nozzles to spray water. I would suggest taking a look at some youtube videos.
hells littlest angel
To do it well will cost money. To do it poorly wastes water. How much time does it take to do it manually?
jeffreyw
So rain barrels are out. Too easy to fall into.
Benw
We got a Veg Trug and it’s awesome. It’s a raised bed that came with its own drip hose, stakes and hook up to our regular hose. Soil not included :) Ours is probably 6 x 1.5 ft and every spring we full that sucker with herbs and tomatoes. Hook up your garden hose twice a week and soak the soil. The bottom is slatted so the excess water drips out so roots don’t rot.
Another Scott
@Gin & Tonic: +1. I’d go this route too, at least at first, to try to get a feeling for what might work. My bias – I’m a fan of simple plumbing solution because I hate plumbing in general. Too many fittings of too many types, too many chances for leaks, too many opportunities for small tubes and orifices to clog up with minerals in the water, etc., etc.
https://learn.eartheasy.com/articles/drip-irrigation-vs-soaker-hoses-which-is-better-for-your-garden/
Good luck, JC.
Cheers,
Scott.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Omnes Omnibus: That depends on where you are.
Currants
Bookmarking and looking forward to reading this thread later—this is something I’ve always had trouble with, no matter how many solutions I’ve tried.
NotMax
Brrr. Flashing back to installing hundreds of yards of Orangeburg sewer pipe to and related drainage piping in a tile field (including multiple trips to a nearby quarry to truck loads of 2B stone) on a major project many moons ago.
Guy who owned the property (and the dump truck) got impatient and started driving himself, carrying loads in excess of the weight the truck could handle, which resulted in the breaking off of several of the lug bolts on the rear wheels.
artem1s
another vote for soaker hose here. cheap and almost no labor involved. easy to move around if you need to address areas that are generally dryer and/or tend not to drain so well. Buy several and use two/four way splitters to manage water flow to different branches. Doesn’t have to be one loooooooooong hose.
. I like the more flexible brands. Buy an extra hose roller with wheels and you easily move them around and then store them away and not leave them on the ground to trip over if you prefer.
Betsy
@Gin & Tonic: This is the best. A soaker hose at the end of a regular hose. Snake it around your beds and plants. And put it all on a timer. Best $50 investment for any garden. ‘
I really like this timer: https://www.lowes.com/pd/Orbit-1-Output-Port-Digital-Hose-End-Timer/50329571?cm_mmc=shp-_-c-_-prd-_-sol-_-google-_-lia-_–_-watering-_-50329571-_-0
I rigged up a plastic hood (made out of a clear plastic “salad mix” box from the produce section) to protect the timer from colossal rain. The timer is meant to be used outdoors, so it must be water-resistant, but I am not a very trusting person.
If you want to keep the spigot and hose usable for other things as well as the irrigation rig, just get a “Y” spigot accessory, or a hose-splitter connector — that way you can leave the “irrigation hoses” hooked up all the time and still access the spigot or another hose for watering cans and stuff.
Betsy
@hells littlest angel: An hour of your life every day in the hottest humid hell while the mosquitoes have their way with you standing there unable to swat because you’re directing the stupid hose nozzle. That’s how much.
And you always remember you have to water or the plants will die right before it’s time to be somewhere
Also, unlike standing there in the searing 94-degree sun on an August morning with a sprayer nozzle, a soaker hose doesn’t get the foliage of your vegetables wet, which is key to preventing diseases in humid southern gardens.
GeriUpNorth
I put in a Rainbird drip irrigation system with a timer for the 20 or so flower pots and hanging baskets I have on my front porch and back deck plus the flower bed on the side of the house last year. It was a bit of hassle to put in, partly because it was still cool and I had to heat the ends of the hose with a lighter to get them soft enough to push onto the fittings, but I didn’t have any trouble with leaks.
It worked great for me. I go out of town for the weekend fairly often in the summer and my pots and baskets would dry out so much over the weekend in hot weather that they looked terrible by the end of the summer.
You need to adjust the timing of the water as the weather changes, and keep an eye on the emitters and change sizes if some pots are not getting the right amount of water.
Betsy
Irrigation systems, they die easily. For example, I moved into a house with one. The first week, the cable guys came to lay the internet line to the house. They got out their soil-slitters, and started plunging the blade into the ground where the cable was to be inserted. In one spot, the ground quickly became moist. I intervened to point that out. Yep, they had just severed the little tiny plastic hose that served most of the irrigated flower beds in the yard.
The soaker hose on the other hand — she is easy to pick up and move when the growing season is over, or if you need to Do Something To The Yard that would destroy an irrigation system. And cheap to replace.
Quaker in a Basement
@Callisto:
Take heed!
Mary G
O/T – Big BLM protest in LA spilled onto the 101 Freeway, and a guy got on the cop car, they moved forward and he rolled off and lay still, hopefully not too badly hurt, but it looks bad from some angles. Here’s a closer up one:
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a protest on the freeway in LA. These people mean business, and I hope the LAPD can keep it in their pants
ETA: there was a suspect beat up on tape last week, I seem to remember – not killed, but bad.
Anne Laurie
I personally (a lazy, not-that-invested-in-hardware person) have always had better luck with Gardeners Supply products than those sold at Lowes or HD. For several years, I had good luck with an early home-brewed version of their Raised Bed Soaker System; they also have useful articles on Choosing A Watering System and Snip & Drip Systems.
Argument against timers, though: Given your Germanic proclivities, you’re gonna want to spend time checking over your plants & seeing what’s ready to harvest almost every day anyways. Since you’ll also distrust any timing systems to the point of checking it over daily… except, inevitably, the *one* crucial time it’ll catastrophically fail… I’d just plan a system I could turn on & let run while you checked over your plants.
Achrachno
It’s hard to know what to suggest because I don’t know the size of your beds, what you’re planning on growing, or what equipment is available in your area. Personally I’ve always used 1/2 inch poly tube and an assortment of emitters (1-5 gph) and spaghetti tubes. But, I’m in hot interior southern CA where it seldom rains so my needs are different from yours. I only use soaker lines in places where I’m growing small densely planted things that are in rows (carrots, radishes, etc.). For larger things that are more widely spaced — hills of squash, tomatoes, etc., I prefer the emitters.
Betsy
One more thought. For your soaker hose, get a flat “sprinkler/soaker” hose (instead of the round, “sponge” hose). A flat sprinkler/soaker hose has little holes at intervals. They sprinkle water if you lay the hose holes-up. For a soaker effect, you lay the hole side down.
The hose is green on one side and marked with white on the other side so you know which is which.
If you snake it around in curves here and there, some of the holes will be up and some will be down, but it doesn’t really matter too much — the water still reaches the ground approximately along the hose’s whole length.
Sometimes birds will come to the water when it’s spraying upward. They love a small, gentle spray of water for bathing.
Gvg
I have found soaker hoses to be useless. Florida’s heat means we need a lot of water and we normally have hard water that apparently clogs up soakers. At any rate, they don’t work, I.e. don’t emit enough water to do the job. Drip also is pretty useless, except for hanging baskets. Those are hard to water, easy to forget, and birds always nest in them so you have to stop watering them unless you already have drip systems.
i use drip systems for small areas to mist propagate roses. I always have some fittings to do small areas for various reasons, but they aren’t for doing anything significant or large.
For a vegetable area, i’d Stick in 4×4 cedar posts where you want a sprinkler, high enough to not be blocked by full grown vegetable plants. Tomatoes can be 5 feet high for example. Then run 1/2 inch flexible pipe under ground to the post and then up to top of the post where you fix a regular impact sprinkler. You can connect the pipe to a hose or the hose bib, you can do a timer. The post solidly in the ground, keep the sprinklers from falling over, or getting knocked over. You attach the pipes with little metal c shaped clamps from plumbing supply.
Quaker in a Basement
I put in a drip system last summer when I went on vacation and left my brother-in-law in charge of the house. Came back to the biggest damn zuchinnis ever grown.
I totally violated local building code. To do it properly, you need to have a plumber tie a backflow preventer into your water line and feed your drip system off of that. But screw it, I put a little backflow inhibitor on my garden spigot and put a hose splitter on it.
So my system looks like this: spigot -> backflow inhibitor -> hose splitter (one side for as-needed water source, other side for the drip) -> battery powered timer. I bought a Melnor brand timer with just one outlet and it worked fine, but they have others with multiple outlets that can be set to water at different times and durations). Then I ran an ordinary garden hose to the point where I wanted to connect to the drip system. I used 1/2″ polyvinyl tube for the main feed and used a compression fitting to attach it to the hose.
After that, you need enough 1/4″ distribution tubing to get from the main tube to all your plants. You can use solid tubing to move the water over some distance or tubing with built in emitters if you want to drip water all along the path of the distribution tube.
Then you’ll need emitters–there are dozens of kinds. drippers, sprayers, all with different ratings for how much water they deliver per hour.
You’ll need barbs. These are little plastic spikes you poke into your 1/2″ main tube to connect to the distribution tubing. These are cheap. BuyThey also come in a few varieties. I used plain old single outlet barbs and also tees. With a tee, you can connect two separate distribution tubes to a single barb or create a loop of tubing with built in emitters.
You’ll only need a couple of tools. One is a punch you use to poke holes in your 1/2″ tube and install the barbs. The other is a pair of clamp pliers for attaching fittings to your 1/2″ tube.
Draw your system. Be sure to count up all the places you want to put elbows or tees in the main water line and don’t forget to buy some terminators for each place your main line ends.
It’s not hard. Unless you’re trying to get it done when you’re about to leave for vacation the next day and it’s 95 fucking degrees and your wife is freaking out that all her plants are going to die while you’re gone. Then it is hard
Home Depot or Lowes will have all this. In Colorado, every Ace Hardware also keeps a nice stock as well. Thanks, legal weed!
Mary G
With any system, you get massive growth where the water first comes out and bare spots where it doesn’t reach. When I was younger I used soaker hoses that could be moved to even it out, but that’s not going to make your shoulder happy. They do need replacing after a while here because they clog up with clay particles.
Now that I’m older I use drip from Lowe’s that has been Frankensteined for 20 years. I had a pro put it in initially, because it’s a lot of fiddling and figuring, but my housemate is crazy handy and doesn’t mind making the small repairs that are needed maybe every other month.
Kirk Spencer
40 comments, and nobody’s mentioned the willow?
I agree with the soaker hose, by the way. Not least, because when I had a house with a yard that helped me figure out where I really needed the irrigation.
brettvk
@Gin & Tonic: Me too. I endorse this approach.
Ruckus
Don’t have a garden or yard currently but have worked on Rainbird agricultural drip irrigation production tooling. If the effort they put into that is any indication, I’d say they know what they are doing and I imagine that the home drip product is probably pretty good as well.
piratedan
Az is not wva but one or two tips…
1) plan and draw up your layout
2) plan not just for today but tomorrow
3) get your sewer, gas, electric mapped/staked out
4) use pvc for your big lengths and then use them as your pathways
5) if plans looks too ambitious for you, then hire a professional
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Mary G: After Trump was sworn in there were a couple of protests that closed down freeways here in LA. I believe it was the 101 through “The Slot”.
ETA: I was of the opinion at the time that shutting down freeways wasn’t an effective protest against Trump, shut down his shitty golf course, that’s an effective protest against Trump.
ziggy
Caveat, I haven’t read through all the replies. But I do TONS of drip irrigation, and this is the best way to do it.
Get a Dripworks catalogue (800-522-3747). The best product they carry is the 1/2″ black poly line with built-in 1/2 GPH emitters spaced every foot (page 5 in current catalogue). This product is WAY better than a soaker hose. It will last forever, and is pressure compensating which means that every emitter puts out exactly the same amount of water, no matter if there is an elevation change, or where it is on the line. Fasten this using either compression fittings or their twist-lock fittings (I prefer compression, which are available from them, but not in the catalogue).
Ideally you would have an electronic timer hooked to your main line, but a faucet-end timer can work quite well. Orbit makes one that is quite easy to use. You will also need a filter and a pressure reducer (to about 25 to 35 PSI–very important! so you don’t blow things apart!).
No need to use any PVC piping, 1/2″ black poly will go a supply plenty of water and is much easier to work with. A 1/2″ line supplies 250 GPH, or 500′ of the built-in emitter tubing.
It’s a bit more awkward watering vegetables with drip, you have to really think things through, but it totally can be done. Works very well with a mulch like straw. Some plants may need an extra 1/2 GPH emitter added to the line. You may need to hand water a bit until things have rooted in and “found” the water source.
Yutsano
@piratedan: Step 5 should really be Step 1. We are talking about Cole here.
Jackie
Mary G
Twitter claps back at Twitler:
NotMax
@Mary G
Some related goings on noted in my comment on the new thread upstairs.
ziggy
If you can send me a schematic, I can tell you what you need to get and where it goes. If you are able to can vegetables, this is totally something you can do.
StringOnAStick
I was going to post exactly what Ziggy said: get a Dripworks catalog and it will cover any system choice you make plus they are helpful. The guy I did xeriscape landscape work for in 1992-3 introduced me to them and how to do drip systems. They sell higher quality every thing, including much better soaker hose, much, much better drip tubing and fittings (I prefer the woodpecker mini emitters, and they are pressure compensated so there’s no variability in amount of water emitted anywhere, even on a slope). I converted our entire suburban yard to drip 15years ago, got rid of the grass and xeriscaped the front and back; uses little water but looks lush thanks to good plants.
Marmot
If you’re running it off a rain barrel, get a ZERO-PRESSURE timer valve. Find em online. Get dripper stuff at the big hardware store.
Run that 1/2” black flexible hose to each main area, then use barbed connectors to connect 1/4” black flexible hoses running along your lines of plants. Keep it at like six plants on each 1/4” branch; pressure drop is dramatic with more.
Use in-line drippers to save work—it’s easier to add or subtract one. Use the standard drippers for the terminals. Try getting almost all in-line drippers of the same gph drip rate, then add or subtract them to fix how much water each plant gets. Can also use tiny in-line “shutoff” valves on 1/4” hose to control the flow rate.
Can also use the valve on “misters” to control drip rates at termini.
Marmot
@ziggy: Or this sounds promising!
al
Soaker hose or drip line or emitters be sure to use an inline filter or two and remember to clean the screen regularly. You also might (will) need a pressure regulator or so and don’t skimp on valves – create as many zones as the plants’ needs require.
OtPR
I live in a very hot, dry climate, so you may have a different experience (maybe mold problems, because of humidity?). Every year, I put down 4-6inches of straw, covering all visible dirt. With that in place, I can get away with watering once per week, even for extremely hot weeks. The soil only loses water through plant transpiration; there’s no soil surface evaporation. Also, it keeps the soil much cooler.
I hand water, a deep soak, since I don’t have to do it often. You could do a soaker hose under the straw. But the key to it all is the deep mulch/straw.
Reef
New to gardening and only using containers since I’m renting now, but it’s going great. Not sure I’d be doing it at all or as well without the drip kit as I get easily distracted.
Started with this kit, which was great to start with: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B083941R1W/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
12 different 1/4 inch outlets. The included 1/2 in clear tubing is junk, but you’ll need more of it anyway, just get 30 feet at the hardware store. You’ll also need an adapter to connect it to a standard hose outlet, another easy hardware store purchase.
It doesn’t come with the hose with holes in it, so get this too: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AZ8I0SQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
That ought to get you going.
Croaker
+3 on Drip Works.
We are upgrading from soaker hoses this year.
1/2 main line w 1/4 branch lines for raised beds and containers. You can get drip lines with inline emitters. Your 1/4 branch line emitters are spaced at 6 and 12”. There are illustrated garden plans on the site to help you through the planning process.
Recommend you look at the kits. You need a filter, pressure regulator and adaptor from there it’s based on your bed plan.
Depending on your purchase price will vary.
We have four 6×4 raised beds, a 6×2, 4×2, 10 containers and 80 square foot crop row. Ended up 200 feet of 1/2 tubing, 100 feet 1/4 w inline emitters 6” spacing, 50 feet of 1/4 tubing, T conners and elbows, u clamps for holding down lines, goof plugs and connectors Planning on getting the drip tape for the crow once all of the beds are complete.
We are still in the install phase as we expanded this year.
Will try to post some picks .
Massachusetts Gardener
DIP is a brand I use. They have all sorts of stuff. We use their drip schemes for vegetables in pots as well as 4×8 raised beds. Soaker hoses in the beds (black, porous hose that water seeps out of), emitters in pots. The emitters are DIP and the soakers are I don’t remember. HD sells DIP as well as the soakers but we’ve shopped at ACE for the soakers as well. Also CheapSprinklers online carries DIP and other brands.
Put backflow preventers on any line that’s ‘permanently’ installed and near soil to prevent back suction from potentially allowing bacteria and chemicals (If you use any) from getting into your household pipes and thus into you if you drink any water from your house (as we all do). I have 4 zones each with it’s own preventer. Maybe one would do at the source but I decided to have 1 per zone.
I use cheap garden hoses to get the water from the timer to the pots and beds plus 2-way and 4-way manifolds to organize the flow where I want it to go. Also, the 2-way and 4-way all have valves on them to allows me to somewhat adjust some water flow rates. Also, I have a 4-zone timer that allows for per-zone adjustments of days, times, durations of watering. We’re a bit hardcore (30+ pots of various sizes, seven 4×8 beds, 4 other-sized beds) but it’s our passion although some other commenters seem even more hardcore than us. Awesome!
Also note that in my town, outdoor watering is banned except for hand-watering of vegetables. I’m ignoring this stupid rule because drip irrigation wastes way less water than hand-watering. I guess their reasoning is that if you have to water by hand then, because everyone is lazy, nobody will do it thus saving water. Or something.
Also note that nothing is maintenance free nor labor free. You have to observe the watering to make sure everything is working correctly, no leaks, flow is good, etc. Also, always check soil moisture content per plant type to make sure it’s correct We don’t consider this a chore because puttering around in the garden is what we live for (as if there’s anything else to do…).
Jak
Dripdepot.com is another source. Also Toro for industrial grade products.
Bo
John, how handy are you at plumbing?
;>)
Seriously, a couple of years ago, I built what I termed as “the worlds most expensive raised vegetable beds”. Since it’s 0430 Central and I’m sitting here in my underwear drinking coffee, trying to summon the energy to get ready for work, I can’t run out and take pix … but I’ll describe it. If anyone is interested, I’ll get some photos later after I get back from work.
Basically, I poured twelve 4×4 slabs of concrete (handmixed in a wheelbarrow) and layed 2 rows of concrete block (4″ thick, not the standard 8″) to make a 4 ft square bed. Into that went topsoil, compost (including cow poop) and moisture-retaining potting mix.
On the outside, I ran a waterline (PVC) up the side and terminated with either a standard brass faucet (Rev 0) or a 1/2″ PVC gate valve (Rev 1). Connected to those is 1/2″ PVC pipe running around the perimeter at the top and across the middle. Each piece has 1/16″ holes drilled in it to allow water to shower the plants/bed below. Saves dragging a hose around.
Why did I do this? Down here we have something called “torpedo grass” which has pointed roots that can puncture multiple layers of landscape fabric. And I got tired of trying to keep that stuff out of my beds. If it ever punches through the concrete, I’m calling it quits.
This year, I have 6 beds dedicated to strawberries, 3 to zucchini, and 3 to yellow squash. I figure that in another 15 years, I’ll reach the break even point in cost of construction vs. free veggies. LOL!
Uncle Cosmo
Give it up, Cole – you cannot possibly raise your bed high enough that Steve The Cat From Heck could not still jump on it & rip out the throat of the unsuspecting drip who slumbered therein. :^p
chopper
i dug in some homemade ollas, covered clay pots with a rubber plug in the bottom bung hole (heh), and fill them with water from the drip system as well. creates a consistent moist zone for things like tomatoes and their roots will grow right up to the pot for moisture.
TaMara (HFG)
@Anne Laurie: Love them and have now bookmarked that system.
Ol'Froth
Soaker hose. Much cheaper, but may not work depending on your garden layout.