Homemade Drip Irrigation
Last season we had a real problem with watering! During the heat of summer I just couldn’t seem to find enough time to get out and water the garden properly. As a result much of the crop was severely injured or lost due to drought. In order to ensure this didn’t happen again I began researching home made drip irrigation systems. The most useful publication I found came from Utah State University (http://extension.usu.edu/files/publications/publication/Horticulture_Home_2008-02pr.pdf). After reading this over several times I drew up a plan to fit our garden. Then, I went to the local hardware store and purchased the materials: 300ft of 3/4″ PVC, 50 elbows, 50 tees, 10 manual valves, pvc primer, pvc glue, a mini hacksaw, a garden hose connector, and a timer. To begin, we dug a 4″ trench down the path in between our raised beds leading to the faucet on the house. We glued the hose connector on the end near the faucet and used an elbow and a 1 ft section of pipe to raise it off of the ground. When then glued sections of pipe together until we reached the first box. At this point we added a tee that would allow us to branch off to the box and continue to run down the middle. We cut sections to run over to the box and turn up the side of the box. On the side of the box we added one of the manual valves. We then repeated this for every raised bed.
After every valve was installed the whole system to this point was glued together to prevent leaks. We then covered the pipe in the trench. To run the water throughout the beds PVC is placed where you want water and then tied into the valve. We made sure to not glue these portions on top so that they can be easily rearranged as plants move from season to season.
Then we simply drilled 3/16″ holes near the plants needing water. The last step was to connect the water and test!
It took some time to find the right water pressure to get the system to drip and not spray. At first with only about 40 holes the pressure is very high and the water shot out 5 feet. We turned down the house faucet until the pressure was just right. Then, as we drill more holes during spring planting more water will be needed and all we need to do is adjust the valve to allow more water in.
Next project: Dig our own well for our irrigation system!
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