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Prudent Baby

Get sewing how to, sewing tutorials, and sewing help to learn sewing. We offer sewing tutorial for sewing moms.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Irrigation System for Raised Bed Garden


Team Texas had a wildly productive weekend of garden preparation; buying plants, installing an irrigation system into our raised beds, and planting.

We were all ready to go to Home Depot and design an irrigation system from scratch. Imagine our delight to find that someone has already done the work. The guys at the "Depot" introduced us to DIG Irrigation Products drip and micro sprinkler system (not a sponsor, just love their stuff.) DIG has created an awesome FREE Drip Irrigation Installation Guide which guided us through what to buy and how to put it together. Down the line, if we want to install misters, sprinklers, faucets etc, we can easily add them on. It's really amazing. For now we just need a basic irrigation system to keep my lazy butt from killing the entire garden.

Here's what we did...

1. drill 1" hole through ends of bed approx 6" from top. A hose transition attaches the 1/2" poly-tubing irrigation mainline (thick black tube) to the quick disconnect hose attachment.


The cinder block just holds the tubing flat while it relaxes


The mainline runs from the end of first bed, along the center in a 6" ditch and under the opposite bed wall to next bed. Between the two beds, the mainline is buried approximately 6"


Then the mainline comes back up under the second bed's end wall and into a 6" deep trench down center of bed.


At the end of the second bed, a Figure-8 Hose End is used to seal the end of mainline.


The hose goes into Figure-8, is crimped and inserted back into Figure-8 Hose End.


1/4" flexible micro-tubing/drip tubing. 50 feet cut into 6 - 8' long pieces.




Use the DIG Punch Tool to poke a hole at the beginning of the mainline in the first bed to begin drip-line installation.



Install 1/4" tee for 3-way layout of 1/4" micro (drip) tubing.


Attach one 8' length of micro-tubing/drip-line to once side of tee.


And another 8' length of drip-line to the other side of tee.



When you get the the other end of the first bed, install a 1/4" Barb connector for a single dripline.



Attach single dripline


Now, in the second bed, repeat all steps for adding the tee with double drip-lines and the barb connector with a single drip-line.




Close-up of barb connector with drip-line installed.


And here's a close-up of the Tee with drip-lines installed.

And here's what the Tee and the Barb connector look like.


At the end of each drip-line, fold over to crimp and tape closed.




Now you want to test system for leaks at ends & connectors.


Attach quick disconnect hose to outside of bed.



At the faucet there is:
1. a check valve prevents dirty water going into water system
2. A pressure regulator that gives you the 25lb of water pressure needed for the system vs. the 40lb of typical house water pressure.
3. The nipple for quick hose disconnect.


Attach quick disconnect hose to faucet.


If everything looks good, start burying your drip-lines at 6" deep. The two drip-lines that come off of the tee go out one foot and then down the length of the bed. The one drip-line that comes off of the barb connector at the far end runs back to the start along the center with the mainline hose.

Digging trench.


laying drip-line.



Burying drip-line.


And once you're all finished you are ready to plant! You don't want to plant directly on a drip-line. Here we have laid our irrigation on a 1 foot grid creating 4 columns the length of the bed. This makes it easy to avoid the buried tubing. More to come on what we are planted shortly!

So what do you think? Easy enough to try? Did we do it all wrong? Is this the most boring post you have ever seen on Prudent Baby? Talk to us and you could win 3 sets of key fob hardware!

Labels: , , ,

36 Comments:

Blogger Stacia said...

Thanks for the idea! We might be doing this ourselves soon!

March 29, 2011 at 12:10 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

My irrigation method is: collect rain water in a big barrel. Use 3 small children to pour buckets of said water over plants. I guess your's might be a little classier...

March 29, 2011 at 12:25 PM  
Blogger Sara Bradbury said...

I love it and a I am totally inspired to set up my own irrigation system. The only question I have is do the cute men come in the kit from DIG?

March 29, 2011 at 12:32 PM  
Blogger ryanandlaura247 said...

Thanks so much for the play by play- all the pictures really helped me understand, as I am soooo visual.
This system is something I'll definitely be keeping in mind for down the road, but since I'm in a rental right now, I'll be watering my little garden spot by hand this season.

March 29, 2011 at 12:32 PM  
Blogger Lisa A said...

I think it was a really interesting post! I'd love a raised bed garden to tend but I'm not too sure how enthused hubby would be to install that lovely drip system! For now I'll have to settle for patio tomatoes and my indoor herb garden! =)

March 29, 2011 at 12:36 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

I have to show this to my husband! Our raised beds didn't do so well last Summer because I was chasing our toddler, pregnant, and it was way too hot to go outside. Thank you so much for the information!

March 29, 2011 at 12:39 PM  
Blogger Lotte Lu and Brother Too said...

Thanks for the idea...I'll be showing this to hubby tonight! We are building our raised beds next weekend (if the frost stays away). Love the little cutie helping out! Mine is about the same age and I hope she gets a lot out of the gardening experience this summer...including tons of fresh veggies!

March 29, 2011 at 1:27 PM  
Blogger Marisa said...

Way too much work for me, but kudos to you!

March 29, 2011 at 1:42 PM  
Blogger Meg @ The Crunchy Conservative said...

This is really helpful! I hope my husband is up for the challenge this Spring :-)

March 29, 2011 at 1:46 PM  
Blogger Belinda said...

Great post & great idea! I'm inspired :)

March 29, 2011 at 1:48 PM  
Blogger Leah Ketchum said...

Great post, I'm on a bit of a gardening kick right now, so suggestions and tutorials are always welcome. now I just need to figure out how to modify it for my container gardens...

March 29, 2011 at 1:59 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah! I have been looking for an easier way to keep my poor veggies alive each year! I ALWAYS forget to water mine so I need some help! I can't wait to hit up the Depot to save my poor veggies! Thanks ladies = )

March 29, 2011 at 2:25 PM  
Blogger Vanessa/NessieNoodle said...

you are making me so jealous... not quite warm enough here to get out and play in the dirt. (we do have a mean compost going right now thought!)

March 29, 2011 at 2:52 PM  
Blogger Raechel said...

This makes raised bed gardening so much less intimidating! So grateful for the info - and the courage! Thanks!

March 29, 2011 at 3:08 PM  
Blogger She Sews Álot said...

wow!! Im sooo inspired!! I sooo cant wait for spring break to get here cause now I have an idea for the new flower bed and how to keep all my pretty flowers blooming all summer long!! Thanks ladies!!

March 29, 2011 at 4:33 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I love this post! My husband and I just expanded our raised beds and I was wondering why since we usually don't have time to keep up with the smaller ones.......this would make it so much easier THANKS!

March 29, 2011 at 4:43 PM  
Blogger Debbie said...

This is great! I've been square foot gardening for about 4 years now and have dreamed of having an irrigation system (I'm a terrible garden water-er)....so glad to have seen this post!

March 29, 2011 at 6:53 PM  
Blogger Mrs Chronic-Shock said...

Do you think my condo association would fine me for setting up one of these babies on our balcony? A girl can dream right :)

March 29, 2011 at 7:19 PM  
Blogger Radiomom said...

Beautiful!! Maybe my raised beds will get a treat this year!!!??

March 30, 2011 at 5:29 AM  
Blogger Joanne said...

Have not been able to find an easy system... and I think this might be it!!! Thanks! Will look for it this weekend!

March 30, 2011 at 6:22 AM  
Blogger Jessica Hilliker said...

awesome idea!!! I was contemplating making raised beds but don't know the first thing about what/how to plant in them--your post got my wheels turnin' :)

March 30, 2011 at 8:31 AM  
Blogger Amber said...

I love how it's all hidden! I wish my husband would bury our lines like that.

March 30, 2011 at 10:28 AM  
Blogger Line said...

I think my lazy butt would love that too... I want to deserve my nickname, though: Laura Ingalls! So I think we'll start our garden beds the traditional way (but I bookmark this, just in case ;-))
Thanks for sharing!
linedupuy(at)hotmail(dot)fr

March 30, 2011 at 2:17 PM  
Blogger autumn13 said...

LOVE IT!
I have wanted to a make a rasied garden bed and this make me want to do it more!! What a great post!

March 30, 2011 at 2:25 PM  
Blogger Caroline F. said...

You forgot to mention when your "team" is coming to my house!
caroline

March 30, 2011 at 3:13 PM  
Blogger Jen said...

Did you use a weed barrier on the bottom of your beds, or just put the soil in on top of the grass? Our bermuda grass is a PAIN and I can just see it coming up through our raised beds!
jen_waller(at)sbcglobal(dot)net

March 30, 2011 at 3:37 PM  
Blogger nursenicki said...

So this may be a dumb question...but...can the drip line just be hooked up to a rain barrel? I'm going for the ultimate in lazy gardening!

March 30, 2011 at 3:52 PM  
Blogger MMay said...

Looks great! You can also put a timer on your faucet. Last year we had our timer go off every third night for half an hour and our crop did great.

March 30, 2011 at 4:48 PM  
Blogger Faye said...

i think its great. def not the most boring post, although i havent really seen too many uninteresting ones. i LOVE gardening, and ijust have my garden too, i have 1 ong 8x4 garden instead of 2 4x4. i made mine the same way as yours too! great minds think alike lol. anwyays, thanks for sharing. i would consider doinga drip line, had i not spent ALL my money on the plants, seeds, and soil. will bookmark for future reference.

March 30, 2011 at 5:00 PM  
Blogger *Amber* said...

Hmm too bad I didn't find out about this before I planted my seeds... and then replanted them after a surprise frost. Instead I spray it down with the hose twice a day. Maybe next year!

March 30, 2011 at 5:31 PM  
Blogger Jacinda said...

Hi! Thanks for all the great comments & questions.

Parrotts-I don't think the rainbarrel would provide enough water pressure. Water tower? lol

Jen-We have Bermuda too. Total pain! Yes, we laid down weed block fabric at the bottom, stapled to the bottom of the raised bed. That Bermuda is not to be trusted. Vile Weed!

Leah. The DIG brochure (avail at Home Depot) has options for container gardens too!

But most of all I just want to say that this is an easy project that a mama can handle on their own. My husband did ours because he is into this stuff but don't let a reluctant huz stop you. You can totally do this!

March 30, 2011 at 6:34 PM  
Blogger newfern said...

Thanks for showing how easy it can be to create a clean setup. I am definitely ready to try this when I build my new beds!

June 9, 2011 at 6:15 PM  
Blogger Mishqueen said...

We use drip lines, but we've never buried them. Did you have any trouble with clogging?

November 4, 2011 at 2:08 PM  
Blogger Larry Smith RealtyNow said...

This comment is from a Daddy! I have been looking for an irrigation system for my square foot garden. I have a total of 15 boxes, 4'x4' each. The boxes are in 3 rows with 5 boxes in each row. My question is how many boxes do you think I could put on one line or circuit without the water pressure dropping too low? Do you think your system would work if I put 5 boxes on 1 line? Any suggestions? Thx!

January 10, 2012 at 6:36 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

This looks so great!!! One day when I get a backyard - I'm surely going to be looking at these plans! Great picture and step by step instructions! Found you through Pinterest!

January 20, 2012 at 6:24 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Few things: I know it looks better to bury the drips, but you will be able to watch your water-use efficiency more closely if you leave the drips above ground. The brand of irrigation equipment you bought is great, but if you are using hard water or well water, you might want to check out the brand Netafim. You won't have to replace clogged/broken drips was often.
Looks great! Happy Gardening!!

January 21, 2012 at 5:28 AM  

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