Simple Drip Irrigation System for Your Garden
Simple Drip Irrigation System
It is a known fact that drip irrigation should be used in your garden because it reduces disease and weed pressures. Another advantage of having simple drip irrigation is it conserves water because you are not wasting water applying to the edges of the garden and in between rows of plants through overhead watering. If you are new to drip tape we offer a Drip Tape Irrigation Kit that has everything to get you started in the vegetable garden. Within the irrigation kit, we offer a filter regulator combo, 100-foot mainline tubing role, 1640 foot 8 mil drip tape roll, hole punch, mainline tee, 2 figure 8 clamps, 2 mainline couplings, 20 drip tape row starts, 20 drip tape row ends, 4 drip tape couplings, and 10 goof plugs. We highly recommend burying drip tape in the garden to get the most effective results. Our drip tape can be buried up to 6 inches deep and can be reused for a few growing seasons in the vegetable garden. Burying the drip tape also allows it to stay in place, decrease damage from pests, and you can direct seed on top of it with our Hoss Garden Seeder.
Setting Up Drip Irrigation in the Garden
Similar to all other irrigation methods you have a well or your water source and a water hose that runs from that water source to the vegetable garden. Once you are at the garden plot, your simple drip irrigation system will start with the Filter Regulator Combo. This filter regulator contains many parts that easily connect your water hose and your mainline tubing for the drip tape. The first piece contains a pressure regulator that helps reduce the water down to 12 PSI which is exactly what the drip system needs. Next, you have a drip irrigation filter that catches any kind of hard debris matter from entering into the drip tape and clogging it up. Then on each end, you have a 3/4 inch hose screen with a swivel that connects the 5/8 inch mainline tubing to the drip tape system. While the other end has a brass hose swivel that easily attaches your standard 3/4 inch water hose to the filter regulator combo. You can add this filter regulator combo at the end of the garden to feed in one direction. However, Travis has found that adding the filter regulator combo to the middle of your garden is much better because you get equal distribution of water to all your drip lines. Travis likes to cut around 2 to 3-inches long off the mainline tubing then place it on the filter regulator and add the mainline tee. The mainline tee allows you to split one mainline section into two mainline sections. With this set up it makes for a simple drip irrigation system in the middle of the garden area. Lastly, when you are ready to plant add the drip tape perpendicular to the mainline tubing. Travis prefers to lay his drip tape with our Drip Tape Layer attachment on the Double Wheel Hoe with the Plow Set. This makes it easy and quick to lay the drip tape in the garden as a one-person job. Next, apply the drip tape row start valves to connect the tape in the row to the mainline of tubing. While the row end valves will seal off the rows of the drip tape and the figure 8 end clamps will seal off the end of the mainline tubing. Overall, for a simple drip tape irrigation system in your vegetable garden having the proper filter regulator, tape/tubing, and fittings can make for a easy setup.