Laying Out Irrigation



So, when we were planning out the beds and doing the piping, we set up a fixed rigid end with a ball valve so that we could regulate the water in the beds. This was done because, initially, I'd planned on snaking a long piece of soaker hose around the bed.

Yesterday, we tested with a long piece of soaker hose, and discovered that it wouldn't work as a singular piece of hose; only about six to eight feet of soaker hose got water coverage before it stopped effectively working. So we redesigned the layout, bought some solid feeder tubing (same diameter, 1/4") and a bunch of T and corner connectors, and laid out a setup like this today.


I know, it's not even in there yet; I haven't gotten so finicky as to exactly space it perfectly. We mostly did this to test and see how long it would take for the coverage to even out. This was maybe ten minutes after we'd turned it on.

About 25 minutes after we'd turned on the front bed, it was starting to show surprisingly even coverage:


Needless to say, the second half of the bed got irrigation run as soon as the first half showed significant improvement. If anything, there'll be a thin strip at the front of the front section and back of the back section that doesn't get thoroughly watered, and I can reach those with a watering can if I feel so inclined. Otherwise, though, the soaker hose attached to the feeder tube appears to be doing the trick quite nicely, and I'm pleased with the result.

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