One of the more relaxing chores in the world of gardening is sitting yourself down in a lawn chair, hose in hand, sending a gentle sprinkling of water onto your vegetable beds. That's the kind of lazy, hours long fun you can have when you're retired. But if you aren't? Install a drip irrigation system in your home garden. Right now.
Hand watering is almost meditative. Unless you're watering more than 4 feet of lawn that is. If you have 1,600 square feet, a self diagnosed hyperactivity disorder, and soil that drains like a gambler's bank account? THEN it just sucks.
So a few years ago I looked into installing a drip system for my vegetable garden.
And then I got overwhelmed and confused and felt like I might stroke out so I continued with hand watering. When I finally got around to installing a drip system I did that thing we all do when we put something off. I swore at myself for not doing it sooner. Big swears too.
It turns out drip systems aren't all that difficult. They just seeeeem difficult to the uninitiated. I ended up emailing the company I buy my row cover from and asked them to help me. They sell all the stuff you need for drip irrigation including entire kits with everything included. I just wasn't sure what size kit I needed or if I needed two of them or if I should just do it without a kit.
So I took a shot, randomly sent them my garden plan and asked for help.
Within a few days someone from the company sent me back a mock up of my garden with a drip layout, a list of everything I needed to do it and the price it would be ($324 for my entire 40' X 40' plot.)
It took 3 days after work to install (working 2-3 hours each time) and I love it with all of my heart. I big heart love it. I lasagna love it.
What's to love you ask? Here are a few things:
Benefits of Drip Irrigation
- No waste of water. It goes directly in the ground where you want it, not onto paths, not onto the dense layer of plant leaves and not into the air.
- You can water and work in your garden at the same time. Try doing that while dodging a sprinkler.
- Every single inch of your garden is watered. There are no dry or missed corners.
- Because the water is dripped so slowly it's fully absorbed deeply into the soil with no run off.
- You can set it to a timer and forget about it.
- It works especially well with raised beds which dry out more quickly than other types of beds.
So, just like installing LED lighting which you can read about here, drip irrigation can seem a bit YIKES, but once it's explained by someone as stupid as you are, it all makes sense. You just need an equally confused person to explain it to you.
I am just that person.
Here's a video of the entire drip system after I've installed it so you can make sense of the layout and what it all looks like.
HOW TO INSTALL DRIP IRRIGATION
There are 2 types of tubing with drip irrigation: the drip tube (or tape), which has holes in it for dripping water in the beds and the irrigation tubing which is the hose that feeds the drip hose.
- Assemble your filter and pressure reducer. (The pressure reducer ensures you always have constant water pressure at 12 psi.) Start your project at the end of your garden that's closest to the water supply.
These are what the pieces look like unassembled but laid out in order.
Tape your pipe ends with plumbing tape (provided) and screw everything together. If you're ordering from the place I ordered from (Dubois Agrinovation) you'll get the exact same parts that go together in the exact same order, the exact same way).
- 2. Attach your assembled filter and pressure reducer to your garden hose. Make sure it is OFF. Then attach the end of your supply hose to the filter.
3. Run your supply hose to where you want your drip hoses to run. In my case I needed to run 2 supply hoses, one to feed the left side of my garden and one to feed the right side. To run the hose to where you need it you may need to cut the supply hose and attach elbows or tees, like you see below.
4. Run your supply hose the full length of your garden and attach shut off valves.
5. Cut your drip tape to length and lay them on your garden beds with the holes facing UP. You should have one drip tape per row of plants or approximately 1 drip tape every 12".
*(laying drip tape would be much easier in the spring when the garden isn't full of plants)
6. Lay out all of your on/off valves where your drip tape meets your supply line.
*TIP: If you're working alone, lay a rock on one end of the drip tape while you run it to keep it in place.
If you're working in a garden with plants already, just lay the rock on one end of your drip tape then gently pull the plants up and lay the tape underneath. Then pull the drip line tight and straight.
7. Attach all of your drip tape on/off valves. For me there were 32 of them to fit. Here's how to attach the drip lines to the supply line.
You'll notice there aren't any drip emitters. Each piece of drip tape already has holes in it where the water seeps out.
8. Before you put the end caps on your drip line you have to purge the system so any dirt that got into the lines gets flushed out. Close the valves at the end of your supply line, make sure all the drip line valves are open and turn the water on. This is your first test run. Wooooo!
9. Once you've run the lines long enough for any soil to have been flushed out, turn the water off and attach the end caps to all of your drip lines.
10. Smile. Your system is now fully installed.
The drip system delivers water slowly through holes in the top of the drip tape. The water will spread out and down.
Here's a cross section of the soil after ½ an hour of the drip system running. You can see how far down and wide the water has travelled.
Still confused? Here it is in a nutshell.
- Assemble filter & pressure reducer.
- Attach garden hose and drip system supply hose.
- Run supply hose along where you want water.
- Attach drip tape off of supply hose.
- Purge system.
- Do a little dance, make a little love.
If you have a normal sized garden and only need 10 rows of drip tape, a kit with everything you need will cost you $155.
But there are kit sizes for every garden if you take a look here.
Installing Drip Irrigation at Home
Installing a drip irrigation isn't nearly as convoluted as it seems. Follow these instructions and you can have it done in hours.
Materials
- Drip irrigation kit that includes tubing, drip tape, elbows, couplings, filter, pressure regulator etc.
- Water supply
Tools
- Scissors
- Wrench (possibly)
Instructions
- Line your filter and pressure reducerup according to the kits instructions or following the photo in this post.
- Tape your pipe ends with plumbing tape (provided) and screw everything together. If you’re ordering from the place I ordered from (Dubois Agrinovation) you’ll get the exact same parts that go together in the exact same order, the exact same way).
- Attach your assembled filter and pressure reducer to your garden hose. Make sure it is OFF. Then attach the end of your supply hose to the filter.
- Run your supply hose to where you want your drip hoses to run. In my case I needed to run 2 supply hoses, one to feed the left side of my garden and one to feed the right side. To run the hose to where you need it you may need to cut the supply hose and attach elbows or tees, like you see in my photos.
- Run your supply hose the full length of your garden and attach shut off valves.
- Cut your drip tape to length and lay them on your garden beds with the holes facing UP. You should have one drip tape per row of plants or approximately 1 drip tape every 12″.
- Lay out all of your on/off valves where your drip tape meets your supply line.
- Attach all of your drip tape on off valves. For me there were 32 of them to fit. Here’s how to attach the drip lines to the supply line.
- Before you put the end caps on your drip line you have to purge the system so any dirt that got into the lines gets flushed out. Close the valves at the end of your supply line, make sure all the drip line valves are open and turn the water on. This is your first test run. Wooooo!
- Once you’ve run the lines long enough for any soil to have been flushed out, turn the water off and attach the end caps to all of your drip lines.
- Smile. Your system is now fully installed.
Notes
Quick Guide
- Assemble filter & pressure reducer.
- Attach garden hose and drip system supply hose.
- Run supply hose along where you want water.
- Attach drip tape off of supply hose.
- Purge system.
- Do a little dance, make a little love.
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
How long do you run the system? Drip systems run for anywhere from ½ hour - 2 hours at a time depending on your soil. Different soils need different amounts of water depending on how much they drain.
Do you have to take it all apart in winter? The system can stay put throughout the entire winter. Just drain or blow some of the water out of the lines so they don't freeze and break the tubes. The only thing you need to take apart and bring inside is the filter and pressure gauge.
Will anything on the system break? Over time the drip lines might get accidentally punctured or develop holes that make the water squirt high in the air. This is alarming at first. Don't worry about it. When you get your system you'll get a huge roll of drip line tape so you can easily just replace it by removing the old damaged drip tape and cutting a new length of drip tape and installing it.
Do you still like it? I love it! I love this drip system. I walk into my garden, turn the water on and let it do its thing while I work on other stuff. Seriously. I can't recommend one of these type of systems enough.
→Follow me on Instagram where I often make a fool of myself←
How do you prepare the soil for planting in the spring if the drip system is still in place from the prior year?
Hi Matt. The drip tape just lays on top of the soil. So all you have to do is pull it aside. Personally I pull all the tape off and into the paths in the spring and put my compost on the beds and rake it out. Then I just lay the tape back down again. It's very easy to move around. ~ karen!
I dove in based on this recommendation. It is to arrive today from Dubois! I have 4ft wide beds and plan to run 3 stripes of drip tape down each row. Do you think that will provide ample coverage for my plants? I've sorta square foot gardened in some areas, so there isn't much spacing between plants. I just want to be sure that everyone gets a drink!
Hi Betty! Yes, 3 should be fine. Depending on what you're growing you can either plant closely on either side of each tape (I do this with beets and carrots), or you can plant a single row beside each tape for bigger plants like kale, potatoes, peppers etc. ~ karen!
Thanks!
Thank you so much for this! I, like you, thought...wait, what did they just do? whenever I read or watched about drip irrigation. Thank you for making it easy to understand especially with the garden layout drawing.
We live in Georgia (Zone 7b) so early morning watering at the drip line takes me about two to three hours for our garden. Drip irrigation is definitely a project I want to implement especially with our larger lower garden area.
Your soil cross section helped immensely as well.
Hi Shelby! Thanks, I'm glad it helped. I'm going to do a post on installing a small electric fence for the same reasons. Anything I've seen on how to do it is way too vague. :) It's saved my corn from raccoons for 4 years straight! ~ karen
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Do you have a clone? How do you get it all done? You're brilliantly funny and capable. I"d be jealous if I wasn't so happy for you. :)
Don't be envious, in order to make time to do all of this I haven't eaten or showered for approximately 3 years. ;) ~ karen!
Shucks! I was so excited to have my hand held so I can finally get an irrigation system in. It's my dream improvement for this year. But, all the systems in the link in your post are OUT OF STOCK. Disappointed!!
You can blame Coronavirus. People have gone nuts with buying up all the seeds, plants and gardening supplies. Sadly from a lot of people who will never use them I'm afraid, lol. You can get smaller kits from home improvement stores, but they really aren't as good. ~ karen!
I probably should have come here first! I'm using rainwater and gravity to water my plants.
I only have 4 raised beds that measure9 x5 feet each and they are a good 2 feet tall....easier on my back plus they don't dry out as fast.
I ordered a bunch of cement blocks and built a platform higher than the raised beds, put a livestock water trough on top of it and placed it under my downspout. I bought a stop valve for the drain on the trough and attached a short hose that reaches each raised bed where I have soaker hoses that are entwined between my veg plants. To water I attach the short hose to a soaker hose and open the valve on the trough trying not to forget to set a timer! Setting the timer is always a guessing game. Sometimes I set it for 20 minutes and just hope that will be enough and that we will get enough rain to refill the trough before it runs out!
I have strung up my tomato plants this year following your advice, Karen, and have looped the soaker hose in a circle around the base of each plant. I wish I could send you a picture....cause I'm quite proud of my resourcefulness....especially using what I had on hand to string up the tomatoes.
Hi Shelagh! You can send me a picture at [email protected] I'd love to see it! ~ karen
Okay I am going to buy this system. Do you get a commission? Should I mention your name? Do they have a system for hanging pots as well? I would love one of those for the porch.
I want one for the front yard and one for the back yard. I am sooooo excited.
HI Sandi! I don't get a commission. I think at one point I was supposed to but their online system was never set up properly, lol. Doesn't matter. It's a great system and I highly recommend it. I'm not sure if they have hanging basket ones or not, but I can say I had a drip system for my porch hanging baskets yearsssss ago and the floor boards underneath them all rotted from the excess water dripping out of them, so keep that in mind. :) ~ karen!
Ok, so how is this working out for y'all?
I want a system but can not have rotted porch?
Hi Joseph. It was years ago that I had a drip system on my porch (different type of system entirely). And I took it apart because of the porch rotting. If you create something to catch the drips from watering it would be fine though. ` karen!
Great setup. I got drip in my california garden everywhere, its terrific.
My quest for this summer is to find an easy method of injecting a liquid fertilizer in the system. Have you considered this?
Hi Merle! I only use compost as an amendment to my soil so I never even thought of adding liquid fertilizer but it's a great idea and I'm sure you can figure out how to do it. :) ~ karen!
You forgot the big, big benefit of not using overhead watering to cut down on diseases. I am fighting this now in my huge ivy field. Grrrrr. And I did put in drip irrigation when I planted them all and Drip Depot has the absolutely best customer service I have ever encountered.
I have installed 3 different brands and Mister Landscaper is the best. They all had tiny spray heads of different elevations. Installation was so rewarding I wanted to put an ad in Craigslist that if you needed flower bed irrigation, call me, I would do it for free.
This sounds really even easier, if that's possible.
Nancy, I don’t know if you’ll see this, but I bought and installed this sprinkler system for my small garden based on your recommendation. I love it! Thank you.
Hey Karen,
Awesome how to.
I loved your mesh triangle bed covers.
Since I live in the boonies with every kind of creature, I'm going to need these. Have you posted about these somewhere?
Can you direct me to them if you have?
Thanks,
Chris O
Hi Christine! I haven't done a post on them. I made them out of brackets that are specifically for making this triangular top out of and I got them from Lee Valley. However, I don't think they sell them anymore. You could try Googling hoop house brackets. But if you can't find them, you really just need to make a triangular frame and cover it with 1/4 hardware cloth. I put mine on hinges so they can be swung open. ~ karen!
Hi!
I just set up this same system on 3 of my raised beds with tomatoes and I'm wondering how long you recommend running the system for during the summer. I live in coastal BC so our summers are more temperate.
Thanks, Dareios
HI Dareios! How long you run the system depends on what type of soil you have and how loose it is. I tend to water a few times a week leaving the system on for about an hour during the real heat of summer. But in BC you might get away with leaving it on for just half an hour. Just run it for half an hour and then carefully dig down beside a plant to see how far the water has soaked in. You want it to have penetrated to at least 6". Hope that helps. ~ karen!
Hi Karen,
I’m new to your blog and am enjoying your posts. I’m about to put in a drip irrigation system and was wondering how yours is holding up. Everyone I’ve called said it’s recommended to take the whole thing apart at the end of the growing season and store inside, but I think you said you leave the entire system out except for the pressure gauge and filter part. It’s been 3 years since this post so wondering if you’ve ran into any issues leaving it out for the last several winters. Also, do you cover the drip tape and supply hose with anything (like mulch or plastic) during the winter? Thanks!
Hi Autumn. I'm not sure how it's done over this particular winter because my community garden has been closed because of the pandemic. But as of last fall it had held up perfectly. When I bought the system they told me I should drain all the lines, remove the ends and take the pressure gauge and filter in side. So the first year I blew out all the lines by dragging my air compressor up to the garden with me. The second year I talked with a friend who also uses drip lines and he said he just brings his pressure gauge and filter in so that's what I did the second year. Everything was fine the next spring. I'm guessing (hoping) the same will be true this year. ~ karen!
I'm curious how well the drip tape holds up in regions with hard water. Our experience with soaker hoses is that they tend to plug up with minerals over time and lose their effectiveness; I wonder if the drip tape does any better.
I'm not sure Loraine, I don't have hard water. However, the holds are bigger than those in a soaker hose. Sorry I couldn't be of more help. ~ karen!
You'll be fine and when you have to install new tape its 14-15 cents a foot 8ml good for 2 seasons 15ml good for 5 and it's just a little more expensive
Hi, Karen. Thanks for your very prompt reply, the helpful info and, of course, your great, funny, eclectic, informative blog. I really appreciate all of it and now I must tackle this before the snow flies.
ps: The "DYI" was not a misprint. Since most DIYs tend to accumulate multiple projects and To Do lists, I refer to us as Do Yourself Inners. Its still way better than being a member of the "I can't find anything to do" society.
Stay well, curious, and keep gardening!
Hi, Karen. OK, so my question comes so late after your post on irrigation..... something I've been contemplating for years, but never got around to eliminating from my To Do list.
Why did you decide to go with a particular company, rather than any other? You, like many of us DYIs, often purchase products from Lee Valley, yet you didn't use the product they offer? You tend to thoroughly research before investing in a product, so I'd like to take advantage of your knowledge.
Many thanks for any info you may offer before I make the plunge.
Jack.
Hi Jack! I went with Dubois Agrinovation for a few reasons. Their prices are really good, they're an actual agricultural company so they have top quality set ups, PLUS when I emailed them my garden layout asking for help they knew exactly what I needed to do, drew the whole plan up for me with exactly what I needed. If I had a smaller garden I may have just bought a kit from Lee Valley or Home Depot, but for a 40'x 40' plot it was a bit more extensive. All of those things (cost, expertise, quality) are what prompted me to go with Dubois. Also I'd bought other garden things from them before and was happy with them. The company was recommended to me by someone who does even MORE research than I do, lol. He's a market farmer. ~ karen!
A question Karen- Why have the water bubble up? In very dry years various commercial drip systems have had problems with crows that sometimes punch holes in drip tape if the plastic is too lightweight. It seems that water bubbling up to the top might be more of an attractant for birds. Have you had to fight off the flocks?
Hi S. That's the recommendation from the company that I bought the tape from. The reasoning is if the tape is laid with the holes into the soil, they get clogged. I haven't had any birds on my drip tape that I've seen. They're pretty touch tapes but I have no idea how they'd do against a crow. We do have Osprey in the area but I think they're too big to land in my plot, lol. ~ karen!
Huh. Neato. Could a gal put these under sod, or are they only for above grade watering?
They're for surface watering. ~ karen!
Unless you put all seeds and seedlings in at the same time in the spring, you may need to figure how to reinstall this in sections. Can the drip tape holes in the supply line be taped over until that drip tape line is needed? I am sure the garden genius you are, you have figured this out already.
I'm not sure what you mean Dale. You mean so you aren't needlessly watering beds that don't have anything in them? Each drip strip is attached to its own on/off valve. :) So you can have all beds going, 2 beds going, 5 ... whatever you want. It's really customizable and adjustable. ~ karen!
Dummy me!! I watched you install the drip tape connectors and did not recognize the shut off valve on top of the connectors. Thanks for being the equally confused person and explaining it to me. I knew you would be the genius to have that figured out. Well designed set up.
ha! It's a great setup. I never would have figured it out if the company hadn't helped me. :) ~ karen!