Drip System In The Garden

Here's the "Assembly" mounted on the exterior wall of the greenhouse. The old "Y" Hose Fitting at the left side of the Assembly needs to be replaced. It leaks. That's okay; it's so old I don't even remember where it came from. I think maybe I just found it left behind somewhere I once lived. Now I know why it was left behind.

Also, it's hard to see in the photo, but I've put wooden standoffs between the Assembly and the greenhouse. This lets air get around the Assembly so things can dry out. I'm also hoping that it'll make it easier to remove the Assembly in advance of winter freezes should that become necessary.

In the photo to the right, you can see some of the drip tubes. This is near the "head end" of the drip system. These are half-inch (roughly) drip tubes w/ in-line emitters. I think they're ideal for vegetables planted in rows.

I didn't happen to take a photo of the head of the drips system. I've used a collection of T's in a solid header pipe to feed the laterals that you can see in the photo. The header pipe is fed by short garden hose that goes under the circum-garden path.

In the photo below, you can see the terminated ends of several of the drip tubes. These in-line emitter tubes have built in pressure regulation. If you supply them with water within their spec'd pressure range, all the built-in emitters drip at their spec'd flow rate. That's 0.5 GPH for my system.

You might notice that the spaces between the rows aren't constant. That's because I decided to put some paths in the garden area. I'll probably stake cardboard down in those areas to keep the soil from being compacted too much.

The drip lines, both the header and the laterals, are held in place with some little hold-downs I made from old wire coat hangers. I cut each hanger into four, roughly equal pieces and bent each piece around a scrap of 1/2" PVC tube. It made for a nice, smooth bend and I think the hold downs will work until the tubing gets warm and used to being laid out in straight rows.

All-in-all, the drip system went together pretty easily. I'm very happy with the parts I got at Dripworks.com. Unfortunately when I placed my order I forgot that I'd need elbows (instead of T's) at the first and last laterals. Also, I decided that I wanted to have twelve laterals instead of ten, so I needed two elbows and two terminators.

I thought it would be fine to use whatever I could find at the local hardware store for these last bits. It'd save ordering and waiting, etc.

Wrong!

The only fittings that leak in the whole drip array are the compression fittings I bought at the local store. I think that they were old and not particularly good quality. Or maybe I didn't use them right... but how can you not?! Once the tube is shoved, wiggled, twisted, cursed into the compression fitting, it's supposed to Just Work, Darnit!

But they leak, and I guess that's just the way it is. Anyway, I'll order the four fittings from Dripworks tomorrow and they'll be here soon, so it's not a huge deal. Lesson learned.

Now I need to figure out the best mulching for the vegetable garden. It's really exciting - even with a few leaks at the periphery - to turn the valve and see all the emitters start to do their thing. It's easy to imagine how this system coupled with heavy mulching will improve yields and reduce irrigation needs.

If the theory is borne out in practice, it's going to be a great garden this year!