Water ponderings

We talked about watering systems for the garden last night at our meeting – and maybe at every meeting. The club has held classes about setting up drip irrigation systems. I have had drip systems myself, and still have a bunch of (expensive!) parts. The trouble with drip irrigation systems is a) all those little emitters and sprayers and lines are costly, b) putting together a system is fiddly, what with poking holes in lines and inserting bits and bobs, and some of us are impatient, and c) nearly all of us are on well water, which means low pressure and mineralized water that will clog tiny passages in emitters and sprinklers. So, maybe like you, I end up dragging hoses around my big garden, and cussing.

But there are a couple of options that I'm hoping to try this year to improve my watering, and cut down the cussing before the county air quality people notice the blue cloud over Elk and label my town "unhealthy for sensitive groups."

You can buy, for about $20, a filter that screws right on your garden hose and will "remove or reduce" calcium and iron particles that clog soaker hoses and drip lines. Has anybody tried one? They are supposed to last only about a season, but I think $20 a year might be a good investment. 

There are a couple of brands, and here are links for them. 

Mr. Drip

Mr. Soaker Hose

The Utah State University Extension Office has put together a plan for a DIY PVC watering system that is being used by lots of Type-A gardeners (smart, super-organized maybe even anal-retentive engineering types – you know who you are!) around the country. The system has been adapted for all kinds of operations, from market gardens to raised beds, is completely customizable to each garden, and is significantly less expensive than commercial drip systems. (Leave it to an extension office to make all the information available free to everyone, instead of patenting their ideas and selling kits for a bajillion dollars. Thank you, good people!)

The USU plan includes valves for control by zone or bed.

Original DIY PVC plans 

The problems I foresee with the DIY PVC are a) possible leaching of chemicals from the plastic (though PVC is approved for drinking water and is used from my pump house all through my house and to the hose bibs, it's hardly organic), b) while it is cheaper, it still ain't free, and c) while all the parts are bigger than drip bits, there is still some significant fiddling. On the plus side, I could use PVC for the main lines and then switch to soaker hoses and drip equipment in the beds. Also on the plus side, the PVC parts are not glued, and can be disassembled and put away at the end of each season, and reassembled differently next season.

You can read more about different adaptations of the system at these links – or just search "DIY PVC garden watering" on the web.
Modern Homemaker’s system

PVC for tomatoes

PVC nerd site (Yes, there are people who use PVC for everything. You didn't know?)

My plan is to hook up to the house spigot above the garden, cross the sidewalk somehow (we'll think about that later), then set up a main line down the slope through the middle of the garden. The main line will be three-quarter-inch PVC, interrupted with three-quarter-to-half-inch Ts leading to half-inch ball valves ($2.64 at Home Depot) at each bed. The ball valves allow precise control of the water to the half-inch line(s) running down each bed. (I imagine a 1960s model tripping down the center path of my lush, perfect garden in her high heels and making sweeping Vanna White gestures along the cabbage bed, then, with a flourish, opening the valve, causing sparkling water to drool on the happy green plants. She smiles. Her perfect teeth sparkle.)

 Imagining TV commercials is so much easier than doing the work. Sigh. 

PVC will degrade in sunlight over time, so I guess I could spray paint it brown, which would also make it less ugly, or just mound mulch over it. Or buy the new-fangled sun-resistant PVC, if it isn't too expensive.

Anyway, here's one more way to get water onto the garden. I've got the project on my list, just under the "put up fencing to create goat moat around the garden to repel deer." If that doesn't work, I'll have to get uglier goats.

Fellow gardeners, how do you water your gardens? And repel deer?


Su: 8 rocky acres, 2-year-old garden, a few tiny fruit trees and raspberries, small greenhouse made from 3 recycled patio doors; 2 Shetland sheep, 2 cashmere goats, 6 angora rabbits, 6 dogs.