How do you water?

[lesa]

Watering can and soaker hose here... I highly recommend the timers they have available- this way there is no chance you forget to turn off the water.

 

[digitS']

A soaker hose set-up or some other close-to-the-ground system would really be appreciated here, Petey. But, I have a couple dozen 100ft beds and have had things in rows & rows. The soil is very porous so I've said that I could turn a hose on full all-day and it would only make a 5-foot wide puddle. It could even be true . . . So, flood irrigation is just outta the question.

The large veggie garden gets its water from 4" irrigation pipes just like the alfalfa field nextdoor. I've got several field sprinklers there. The other gardens have similar impulse sprinklers but of the much smaller rainbird type. They are on pvc stands.

A couple do not have these stands. The hose attachment is just fixed to a 45 elbow at the bottom and the pipe is wired to a steel fence post. The others need to be moved a little this way and that but mostly, they need to be moved outta the way when not in use.

I used to think that completed, they cost me about $14 for the pipe, fittings and sprinkler head. The pvc parts are still about the same price I suppose but the sprinkler is more expensive than $14 these days.

Steve

 

[chris09]

I hill my garden, hilling is like the older version of today's raised beds. When we water we use either 2 1/2 gallon sprinkling cans or about 200+ feet of garden hose with a pistol grip type hose nozzle and a water breaker threaded to it.


IMO a hilled garden works better than a raised bed garden just because I can either plant on the hill or in the ditches left behind when hilling the garden.
If we are predicted to have a wet season I plant on the hills and if we are predicted to have a dry season I can plant in the ditch and let the hill direct the water to the plants.


Chris

 

[Southern Gardener]

The black weeping soaker hoses and homemade pvc sprinklers. I use straw for mulch and that really helps.

 

[dpurdy]

I use drip irrigation to water my garden. I use a timer and have each row controlled with valves so that I can determine who gets fertigated or watered on any given day. This is the first year that I will use drip irrigation on my raised beds as well. Using a drip system frees me up to do other tasks. It used to take a hour or more to water my plants, now I just have to check lines periodically to make sure there is no problems with the lines or emitters. If someone is taking care of a large garden, I would recommend using drip irrigation. The amount of time that I save by using drip irrigation is well worth the investment. In one year, depending on temp. and weather, I use to spend aprox. 200 hours a year(or more), watering and fertilizing my plants. With a drip system in place, I have much more time to inspect plants and stay on top of potential problems, like viruses, nutritional disorders, or bacterial problems. A lot of time and effort is put forth by all of us who grow plants from seed to fruit. I look for as many ways that I can to lighten the work load. Whether you use soaker hoses, sprinklers, or a drip system, they're good tools to help make gardening a little easier.
DP

 

[peteyfoozer]

I like the idea of drip on a timer. I have that on the perennials on my rock wall....Hmmm...this has me thinkin'