Suzanne D. wrote:

Hello,

"jeff" wrote in message
...

Since my garden is compact (runs of 6' to 10' max) I'm thinking the
1/4" line will be easier to manipulate. Should I be thinking 1/4" for
everything using Ts on the 1/4" line instead of piercing the 1/2"?

You should have at least one main 1/2" line. Having all of the water
flow through 1/4" tubes might cause backup at some point, whereas
allowing several small lines to come out of the big line will keep
things flowing smoothly. I like a single big line just for running
along the edge of the bed, with the little tubes doing all of the
creative work among the plants.

OK, I've laid out the backbone 1/2" line to run along the edges of
the garden. I think what I'll do is run taps with valves for each
section. Each section will have about 4 or 5 emitters and a max length
of 10'.

I suppose since the backbone runs along the garden path also, I'll tap
off for a few other plants, the roses have taken a beating...

I have a hard time believing that those 1/4" taps on the 1/2" line
don't leak. Everything I've ever done with plumbing leaked! That's why
I'm trying to minimize the taps.


What's the 10 gallon pressure compensating flow control for? I have
more than 10 1 gallon pressure compensating drippers in the kit.

I have never used the flow control. I just adjust my flow manually.

How do I water carrot rows? I didn't see 1/4" soaker hose. Mister,
or just keep hand watering? Or the 1/2 gallon inline every 6"?

I hand-watered mine. (I didn't have rows, I broadcast them so they
filled the bed.) Using a mister works well too, but you shouldn't have
misters on the same circuit as drippers. (Use a splitter at the water
source.) There are also 1/4" tubes that have holes every 6 inches, but
I have found they tend to clog, so you'd have to be ready to go out
there with a needle every few weeks. You could also use a needle to put
holes in regular 1/4" tube--that would allow the water to come at
intervals closer than 6" if you wanted.

OK, I'll do the hand watering here. I pulled a carrot from the edge of
the garden a while back. Although it was almost an 1" in diameter, it
wasn't much longer!

Since I have different vegetables I wonder if I should put valves
inline for the different sections and set this up for the water
frequency of those neediest (cukes at the moment) and shut off the
water to the sections that don't need more.

That would work. What I do is simply use more drippers on the
water-loving plants, and make them for 1 or 2 GPH instead of 1/2 GPH.
This allows more water to reach each water-loving plant from a single
circuit. You can just turn the flow on and leave for an hour, and all
the plants will get their proper amount of water at the same time.

Will do.

I've got a pressure regulator and more tees coming from Drip Depot.

I've shopped at 4 different Home Depots and a Lowes looking at drip
supplies. Amazingly none of them had the same parts. It's almost like
one shipment got divided between 5 stores! I did find some 1/4" vinyl
line made by Mister Landscaper that looks like great stuff.

Raining again...

Jeff

--S.