Hey Mark, I've always wondered how gardens this size set up watering systems?
I would think it would take hours to water something like this. Not ideal.
Can you explain your system please?
Does it all come back to one pipe, do you use a timer system, is it buried, do you use rain water tanks for watering?
Tell me all.....
Cheers,
Exactly right, hand watering is possible if you have lots of time (retired etc) but a watering system is the best way to water a large vegetable garden.
The process to actually make a watering system is really quite simple and relatively low cost. I buy standard 15 mil irrigation piping and fittings from Bunnings or any garden centre and you practically just join them together in whatever shape and size you require.
Once you have the skeleton piping around the beds then it's just a matter of using off shoots of 4 mil small rubber hoses joined to risers with the little sprinkler heads on top. You do this by creating a small hole in the irrigation piping with a little tool often included in the irrigation kits (like a hole punch) then a little joiner is pushed into the hole acting as a leak proof connection between the 15 mil piping and the 4 mil hose leading to the riser. I then position a riser about 1 metre apart or 4 rises should be enough for a garden bed 2.4 x 2.4 m square.
The irrigation piping is dug in shallow trenches only needs to be a few inches down between the garden beds and from the source to the vegetable garden. Obviously, I leave the piping exposed around and on top of the garden beds themselves.
At the supply end, it all comes back to the one source. I have a water tank (rain and bore) with its own electric pump got it from Masters (German engineered made in China 2 year unconditional warranty $200) top piece of kit and can run 4 plus taps at once - not that it's ever needed. I have a manifold with several connections and three separate timers (cheap dial ones) which last for years. I set the timers to go at different times in the morning covering different parts of the garden. If you have a large area to water you can't just use one tap and timer because of the drop in water pressure so I have mine divided into 3 sections.
Also, if you are watering different things like pots or seedlings you may require a separate timer and connection than the general garden because pots and seedlings will need less watering more often (3 times a day in the hot sun) and the rest of the garden may only need a water twice a week (if you get what I mean).
There are a million different sprinkler heads you can get and also the old drip irrigation was fashionable in the drought but I have tried them all and I have settled with really only two types: which is, for raised garden beds the system I described with a full-circle sprinkler head and for furrows (my traditional patch at the back) I use 15 mil pre-made drip irrigation hose placed on top of the furrows/mounds under biodegradable weed matting. You can get the drip irrigation hose in 15 to 30 metre lengths (from memory...I think). I wouldn't use any type of drip irrigation in raised garden beds because it won't spread evenly and it gets in the way.
An in-line filter or two won't go astray either (they're only a few bucks) and they help to filter the water from the source to stop small objects (like dead ants) from getting caught in the tiny sprinkler heads but if the heads do get clogged a thin piece of wire poked through the hole unclogs them easy enough. Filters will save you having to do this too often.
I really should write an article and do a video on irrigation - think I have got a vid somewhere... We might start a specific irrigation thread later on.
Any other Qs just fire away
