Drip irrigation?

For the second year the garden really REALLY needs supplemental water. Two nights ago I put a lawn sprinkler on it for hours and by the next day the top half inch or so of soil is already dry again. Last summer too many things did poorly because I refused to water and I don't plan to do that again this summer. I'm considering a drip irrigation ssystem instead of watering with a sprinkler.

Does anyone here have experience with drip irrigation systems (for the home garden) and if so, would you care to share tips and suggestions? There's a $35 Rain Bird system on Amazon that looks like a decent starter kit (if the quality is reasonable.) There are kits on dripdepot.com starting at about twice the cost. Are they worth the extra money?

I want to water both individual plants such as tomatoes and squash as well as row crops like beans, carrots and lettuce.

thanks,
hank

My experience with drip irrigation systems is limited to Arizona where my mother lives. Drip irrigation is almost a necessity there, because of the constant heat. Her system is a mixed blessing. It springs leaks constantly. Animals constantly chew through the hoses. Because of the extreme variation in temperatures (there is a 40 degree differential between night and day), the connectors become lose, from expansion and contraction and often leak. We put cables ties around all the places where hoses fit over connectors, which helps somewhat. Because of the constant sun there, her hoses are starting to decompose from UV exposure (on a 10 year old system), and need replacement. Water is expensive there, so if she is out of town and a drip system springs a leak, it can be pretty costly. Anyhow, it may sound like the system is a total PIA (which it is), but for the most part it works, and I would say 80% of the problems she has experienced have to do with the extreme environment. There are however, a lot of parts to fail.

Hi-You waste a lot of water, using a lawn sprinkler to water your garden. You lose the least amount of water if you water in the early morning or in the evening. f you physically don't want to spend the amount of time required to water your garden with a regular hose, you might be interested in investing in some soaker hoses. Those type of hoses, you can turn on, and then leave and come back and turn them off. With a soaker hose, none of the water is wasted. Soaker hoses would be cheaper than drip irrigation.

We use drip irrigation to water our peach trees on our fruit farm though, and in a summer like this, we could not get by without it. Our system is not cheap though. Hope this helps, Nancy

We've been using soaker hoses for years. We have about 150' and have them intertwined around the plants and shrubbery that we want watered. When we do water we leave them on for about 3 hours which is enough for once a week. We don't leave them on full tilt but about half strength is enough.

Thanks all for the info.

UV deterioration is a concern. I'm trying out fabric row covers this summer and I'm surprised to find that the stuff I laid down early in the season is deteriorating pretty rapidly. I guess the stuff from the big box store is meant to be used under mulch where it will be protected from the sun. I'll have to see if any of the kits advertise UV stable materials.

I've used soaker hose in the past and don;t seem to get very even distribution with it.

I have used Rainbird drip irrigaters for the last three years.I bought mine at Menards and they work very well.I chose the 1 gph limiters and turn the water on for only 45 min. Per day and have had no problem with the tomatoe
Plants.The drip feeders place the water directly to the base of the plant.It made a big differance with my water bill

We have a drip irrigation system and it works great. I am not sure how it was put together. I do think its a good idea especially in this terribly dry weather.