Drip Irrigation

Headworks

Grow healthy vegetables the automatic way, while using less water.

BY ERIK KNUTZEN

Y

Mainline tubing

Valves

¼" driplines

Misters

¼" driplines

Most vegetables prefer soil that’s neither soggy nor dry, and earthworms and beneficial microorganisms do too. When there’s too much water, these organisms drown. Too little, and you find yourself with dead plants and a reputation as a “brown thumb.”

How much is too much, and how little is too little? How often should you supply water, and how can you remember to do so?

Drip irrigation answers these dilemmas, giving plants the perfect amount that they need to thrive, and saving water at the same time. Irrigation also keeps water off the leaves of the plants, preventing nasty maladies like leaf mildew, and you’ll suffer fewer weeds by delivering water only to the plants that you want to grow.

The chief drawbacks to drip irrigation are cost, the use of plastics, and the time and trouble for

installation and maintenance. For these reasons, I believe that drip irrigation is best reserved for your vegetable garden. For the rest of your yard, try to find plants that are adapted to your climate and don’t need supplemental watering.

In this article I’ll explain how to assemble a typical layout to water a vegetable garden in a raised bed of quality soil.

The array of tiny plastic drip irrigation parts and supplies can seem confusing at first, but the principle is simple: you’re simply piecing together a stretch of hose that leaks.

Illustrations by Alison Kendall

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Make: Volume 18