Kia hora te manno
Kia whakapapa paumamu te moana
Kia tere te Karohirohi

May the calm be widespread
May the sea glisten like the greenstone
And may the glimmer of summer dance across your pathways

Monday, May 23, 2011

Dodging the showers to install irrigation.

Friday, when the weather was nice, I started removing the irrigation lines in my vegetable garden. You see, I had 1/4" soaker hose installed, but was not too happy with the way it delivered water to my raised beds, so when I was in the hardware store looking to see what else may work, I noticed 1/4" flexible polyethylene tubing with 1/2 GPH self cleaning drippers built in every 6". I had an 'aha' moment and thought to myself, "why not give this a try"

Drip line installed on the first raised bed.

Of course the weather turned crummy on Saturday and Sunday, but there were short periods between showers when I went out and started installing the new tubing.

I already had the 1/4"main line from the 1/2 tubing which runs around the perimeter of the garden installed, so all I had to do was run a new 1/4" line along the top of the side of the raised bed and insert T fittings every 1' then cut eight lines which run across the bed, and install them. I have an old thermos which I fill with very hot water, take it out to the garden so I can dip the ends of the tubing in the hot water to soften them, making it an easy job to push in any of the fittings.

T fitting secured with a Support clamp.

The other end is closed off using a hole plug.

I ran the system for about 3/4 hour tonight and it seemed to be working as I wish it to. I still have to set up the timer so the watering will be done in the wee small hours of the morning. I like to get the watering done around 5am before the heat of the day. It remains to be seen if we are going to have much of a summer this year.

I had to be careful in laying out the lines between the beans and other crops. I only broke off the top of one bean.

So if I can install my own irrigation system, anyone can.

3 comments:

GRACE PETERSON said...

Wow. This should really make a difference when the rain stops and we have to do the watering. IF the rain stops. :)

Kit Aerie-el said...

I love that you show the steps to install your irrigation.
I'm still lugging the watering can and hoses everywhere, when it doesn't rain, that is.

Victoria Williams said...

Great job!
Love that flicker photo in your header!