This is the type of irrigation system I am using these days. PVC drip with valves. Low pressure and less water.
https://extension.usu.edu/files/publications/publication/Horticulture_Home_2008-02pr.pdf
I re-use the pvc and valves. This is the 2nd year doing this. I change the configuration occasionally. The only spot I have glued is the pvc hose adaptor attached to a small length of pipe before it gets attached to a valve or t connector. just snug the pipe ends together and it works fine.
I have found I can water a 3/4 pipe 40 foot long in 10 minutes and then go water the next section. It takes about 40 minutes of turning valves on and off untill the whole garden is watered. I usually have 5 sections.
I have used 1/3 the amount of water I normally used when using a sprinkler.
It definitely cuts down the amount of weeds in the garden.
Nice, thanks for the link. It looks easy enough to do on a smaller scale. I may try that next year.
I planted me a loquat I got from a friend at church. That makes 3 fruit trees on the Nelson farmstead 🙂
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Garden update:
Some of the Zipper Cream peas are finally ready to pick, there are 8 rows, 4 with crab grass and 4 without.
Had to irrigate a few times and have received several good rains in the last week so the peas are making, some mature, some snaps and some blooms still on the vines. They'll continue to produce if we can keep Bambi at bay.
Noticed the deer made a pass through the end of the patch Saturday night or sometime on Sunday, we scattered some Milorganite around the patch yesterday evening before dark. This morning the peas were still there. For those that don't know, a small patch like this can be destroyed overnight by a ramblin' deer herd. The deer seem to be stayin' in the creek bottoms, cooler places but they do now know where the peas are planted.
Here's a few pictures of what's going on at Starvation Plantation in the Panhandle.
Treefarmer
My garden update is that I've been harvesting some sweet potatoes and man are they good. Some are kind of funky shaped so I may add a little sand next year so they can spread out a bit. Still getting plenty of eggplant and peppers. I had to pull the zucchini because even though I had several good flowers with small fruit, the bugs got in them. My okra got too wet I believe with all the afternoon storms we've been having down here. The roots rotted so I pulled them too along with what was left of the onions. So now all I have are eggplant, sweet potatoes and peppers. I do have two more tomato plants I planted that seem to be doing well but aren't producing fruit because of the heat. Oh and now I have 4 banana trees with bunches of bananas on them and a pile of small limes on my lemon/lime tree. All and all it wasn't a bad season and I learned a lot.
