I've had my share of dried out pots and non-thriving plants in my raised beds. This year was the year everything received lovely drip irrigation!
The load of the work is done upfront, generally once, and then you are set. We even took a long weekend away and I wasn't worried one bit about having someone come out to water the gardens. That, itself, made installing the drip irrigation all worth it!
½" black irrigation tube
I started with a simple roll of ½" black irrigation tubing. Don't get confused by the fun colored water line you might see in the plumbing area. I had to ask and they directed me to the yard outside of the store.
PSI reducer
I ordered a 15 PSI reducer from Nolts in Iowa. This is a special place ran by some nice Amish folks, so don't be thinking that you will order this online. It was refreshing to call someone up on the ol' telephone and order. The advantage is, that they carry a wide selection of greenhouse products for a very reasonable price! PSI stands for pounds per square inch. Simply put, you need to reduce the water pressure coming from your original hose spigot so the pressure doesn't blow your ends off of your lines.
Filter
You will also want a filter. Just go ahead and ask the friendly guy on the other end of the line when you call Nolts. 😉
Keeping sediment out and away from your drip irrigation tubing is really important. This will save you from clogs, leaks, and other problems that sediment could cause.
Fittings
I just grabbed a bunch of different barbed T's and elbow fittings as I didn't really have a plan and kept some on hand for other projects.
Emitter Tubing
You will want to space your ¼" emitter tubing out every 12" in your raised beds. This is emitter tubing is like a tiny little soaker hose. It connects to your ½" irrigation tubing using emitter drippers. You will also want some plugs for the ends of your emitter tubing to keep bugs and dirt out. I used these. In the end, they went on the easiest.
Keeping the tubing in place
By using drip irrigation, you are directing the water where to go. I used some landscape staples and some c clamp staples (found those in the plumbing area of Menards) to hold all of my irrigation tubing and ¼" emitter tubing right where I wanted it.
Water Monitor
A water monitor will help you gauge how much water you are giving your plants. I bought one that had two zones on it. This one is similar to mine.
Grab a bag of ½" hose clamps
Do yourself another favor and add a few ½" hose clamps to the list. I did have to go back and add some ½" hose clamps to some of the ends and where the connections were, due to leaks, but not just too many. These worked nicely. They are much easier than trying to find the right socket fitting for your drill, to fit the metal kind on.
Here's the Drip Irrigation video showing you how to put all of this together:
MORE HANDCRAFTING FROM HEARTY SOL
SUMMER JOURNAL PRINTABLE!
Find out how our kiddos keep themselves busy and occupied on their very own during the summer when they’re not in the gardens. Read our post about how to create a summer journal and grab your FREE printables, here to personalize those journals! I even include a little application for the extra jobs around our home- for our kids!
Cheers!
I really like what you guys tend to be up too. This sort of clever work and coverage!
Keep up the wonderful works guys I've you guys to my personal blogroll.