Sunday, April 15, 2012

Make your own drip line - Conserve Water in the garden

I decided to change my drip line this summer.  Because I have a nice new mini roto-tiller I wanted to change the spacing in my drip line. I made a quick video to show you how I made it. I'm sorry it's out of focus. It's really hard to tell with this camera. And I had it on wide angle - add like 30 lbs.  Yikes!


I live in Utah and the summers here are dry.  They call it the High Desert where I live. We are in the tops of the mountains but it's still sage brush.  So here are the three pieces I put together first.

Here it is put together.
 And here is the nasty hose I will replace this year.  I will add the timer after all fear of cold is gone.  They will freeze and crack.  The one I love is from orbit.  

Here is the piece the hose connects to.

The ball valves are a new feature this year.  I'm super excited about them.  This way I can control the amount of water for each line, especially in the fall when my green beans still need water and my tomatoes don't. Got green tomatoes late in the season? Cut off the water supply. 

I put together 14 pieces in all. These first 4 are 1 foot apart so that each foot in my square foot garden with have its own supply.  Then after that they are 3 feet apart. 

This is my cattle panel trellis for my sugar peas that grow up and over the top.

I didn't bother to buy the expensive ends.  I just folded them over and used a zip tie.

And now I know where to plant things!!!

Still need to fill this up. This drip line has its own emitters which control the amount of water that drips out.  Perfect for even watering.

The mountains are gorgeous.  I would have put my tomatoes out today in their walls of water but a big snow storm is on its way.  Maybe next week.

My other goal is to get rid of this gravel path.  Too messy.  The other goal but not this year is to have a pro put a cement wall and cover it with a rock similar to what is on my house and put caps on it so I can sit on the outside edge if I want. This also means having them raise the well cap.  I like things neat and orderly and pretty.

Now that this is done I will be laying out weed barrier (once the plants all sprout) and then putting river rock down.  Yes, even before I beg for a few more new trees.

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