Tips for installing Drip Irrigation System for vegetable garden? (tomatoes, how to, planting)

[Ghengis]

We have a couple of gardens that we would like to water with a drip irrigation system. One of the plots is roughly 30' X 60', one-third of which consists of a raspberry patch, a couple of A-frames with grape plants and a couple of blueberry and cranberry plants. The remainder we generally rotate with corn, tomatoes and squash/melons/pumpkins. A second area we have consists of four, 4 X 8 raised beds and a few trellises that we plant climbers around.

• we would like a system that is can be laid on the ground, can be modified and moved around to accommodate the different planting configurations from year-to-year.
• As the two areas are a hundred feet or more from the nearest water source, I envision dragging the hose out to several established "circuits" and connect to a hose connection at each of the "circuits" and watering each circuit as needed.
• I wonder if in the interest in achieving uniform pressures/distribution, I should plan on creating loops around the various beds and feed the individual rows via bridges between one side of the loop and the other (like a ladder). More material needed but easier to regulate/balance the flows I would think.
• any thoughts on when to use the soaker lines vs. the individual emiiters?
• amount of valving needed to control flow rates for paticular plants/rows?
• any other tips or suggestions on how to configure the distribution or supplies to get?

Thanks!

[cdelena]

I have had good luck just using line that has an emitter every foot, moving it and cutting as needed. At one property I simply tapped into the existing sprinkler system. In another I had a dedicated line. When using large diameter line for long runs (much bigger than your application) a small pressure regulator is needed. I have found that in small applications putting water all over the ground is simply not rocket science so most common sense systems work (large applications do take a bit of design).

[Nomadicus]

Soil type comes in to play. Heavy clay soils need fewer emitters than sandy as well as lower volume. I would highly recommend visiting an irrigation specialty business in your area instead of a box store garden shop. I've installed thousands of feet of irrigation lines for both residential and commercial and each job had to be designed as individually as possible for the best results. Auto timers to run in the night hours are a good idea to conserve water.

[cl723]

Our drip system didn`t have enough water coming out to water the plants properly. Make sure you have enough water coming out to water the plants.