Irrigation

            In my part of the world, it is time to start considering irrigation for your garden. Technically, you should have considered it before you ever started planting, but it never hurts to upgrade. If you are small time, like me, you would do well to invest a small amount of money in a drip system.

I am slowly installing a drip system in my backyard homestead. Last year, I bought a simple drip system kit, but ran out of time to install it. It was a very simple set-up very similar to this one. I like the ¼-inch drip line since it is easier to work with. If you have a larger garden, you may want to go with the ½-inch hose set-up. They are essentially the same in design, but the larger hose is more durable and better if you want to bury the line (to keep away from animals, equipment, etc.).

The workhorses of the drip system are the emitters. They determine how much water will get to your plants. They can literally bubble out slowly, in a small stream or fan out in a large broadcast. My system is simple. I ran the ¼-inch water line around my plant rows leaving a little slack. At each plant, or the area where I planted seed, I cut the line in half, inserted a Tee and placed the emitter right by the plant/seed on the surface. The 1-gallon per minute (gpm) emitters will run for about 5 minutes, thoroughly soaking the small site. The ½-inch hose requires you to poke a small hole and insert either the emitter directly or a nipple with the emitter attached.

The tricky part was attaching to a water supply. You can attach it to a water hose, spigot or even to your existing sprinkler line. I did the latter. I put a PVC Tee with a ½-inch threaded top into my sprinkler line. Next I added a 2-foot riser. At the top, I placed a microscreen inside a pressure regulator and a fitting that connects the tiny drip line to the regulator. You have to have a pressure regulator because the pressure coming through the sprinkler line is way too high and will blow your system apart.

It took about an hour and required some bending over the raised bed, but now I am wasting a lot less water. The nice thing about purchasing a small set-up is you can easily add to it. Tubing and emitters are very affordable. You can buy all manner of fittings and emitters to get the water exactly where you want it. Many emitters are even adjustable although they tend to cost more.

Happy watering!