Watering #2 – The Main Garden

Very early this spring I redesigned my watering system for the main garden which involved burying all the waterlines which would permit me to mow and whipper-snip without damaging or moving any – making for a cleaner, tidier garden.

The redesign actually started last fall when I installed an outdoor tap on the side of the house, closer to the garden.  This meant installing a new ‘T’ into the watering system in the basement.  The T was placed after the sulphur-removing aerator but before the water softener – a neighbour recommended bypassing the softener in order to reduce my consumption of softening salt.

From the outdoor tap I ran a small piece of flexible rubber hose to some ½” PEX water line which connects to another tap for better access and convenience.  I installed a T with a ball valve which leads to a buried ½” PVC (75 psi) trunk line.

The water line runs to a central spot in the garden where it comes out of the ground to another tap.  I again installed a T with a ball valve which runs back down to a buried ½” PVC distribution line.

Using more T’s and elbows, the water is distributed to each bed coming to the surface in one of the corners.  Since the final delivery of water is through ¼” soaker hoses, there is still sufficient water pressure even after all of the valves, elbows and T’s.

I just love using the 1/4" soaker hoses for my plants as they release the water relatively slowly letting the water really soak deep.  Also, watering the roots and not the plants keeps the plants drier helping to reduce the risk of diseases.

The picture to the left shows my four juvenille potatoe plants.  The total length of the soaker hose is about 24".  It's not much put over the coarse of an hour or two, plenty of water is released.