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Friday, June 24, 2016

My Veggie Garden Irrigation System






Not the best photos. I was trying to get pics of my irrigation set up for my veggie garden. I used schedule 40 grade pvc... went with 1/2".  It runs along the sweet peas and snap peas (which climb the garden fence)...then around the green beans, squash plants, okra, onion, greens...




I ran the pipe along side of my 12 tomato plants.

A pic of some of the cuc hills...




another shot of some squash, right after the garden got hit with high wind and heavy rain..




I laid the pvc pipe out where I wanted it, beside the plants... Glued the whole thing together. Then used a cordless drill with a small finishing nail as the bit. Drilled holes where I wanted them.... Every 6" along the beans and peas. 3 or so holes for each tomato plant, 4 for each cucumber hill, 3 or 4 for the squash plants.  You can drill as many holes as you need depending on how much water each plant will need.

For even water pressure and to make sure the water would reach all the way through the watering system, I drilled the holes on the top of the pvc pipe. This seems to work. Water has to fill all of the watering system before it seeps out of the holes.
 Also.... I made the system to be one complete unit, it's connected like a full circuit..... But I inserted ball valves into the pvc to give me the option of watering one side of the garden at a time.

I ran a garden hose from my water hydrant (the hose is not pictured, it's under the squash leaves). added a "split" so I could attach another spare garden hose (the red one) if needed. I just control everything using the valves. 


I can water the whole garden at once or close two valves and do one side at a time..



Half of my garden gets more shade than the other side, so sometimes it doesn't need as much water.



I also like to use the garden hose at times. There's something peaceful about standing out there watering or weeding the plants. It's so relaxing! I put my earbuds in and listen to music while gardening. :)


The squash plants now. They have really taken off!  You can't see the irrigation system any more unless you look for it.. The garden covers it all.



So far I'm getting summer squash and zucchini. There are a few little sweet peas growing too.




I've been gathering eggs in the morning, stopping by the garden for fresh squash and making scrambled eggs, squash and cheese for breakfast with a side of toast. Not sure how long I can go with this menu. It tastes pretty good so far  but I'm open for suggestions to get me through the rest of squash season! :)

Hope everyone has a great weekend, Thanks for stopping by!




4 comments:

LindaG said...

I like this idea. Not sure how well it would work for me, as hubby does like his tilling.
But I like it and will remember it. Thank you!

Oneeye said...

Hey Cowgirl, a few words of thanks.

Several years back my wife and I decided to have a pig roast for her Mother's birthday. We had the pig, just needed to learn how to cook it. I hit the web looking for information and found your post about cooking a whole 🐖 in a cinder block pit. What a find your blog was! Since then I have cooked several using this method. They are so good we just started having a yearly pig roast for no reason. If you want to mess with your friend's heads, invite them to a party that you have no occasion for! I just completed one this afternoon for my bosses daughter's graduation party. It was awesome! Over the years, I have fine tuned it to what works for me but you are certainly the inspiration for it. Thank you much!

cowgirl said...

Thanks Linda! I'm hoping to divide this into two parts to remove from the garden while tilling. Haven't decided about the drilled holes.. I like to rotate crops so I might end up plugging some holes and drilling new ones next year.
I figure the worse thing that could happen is I'll take it apart and use the pipe for a chicken pen or something. lol
Picked my first 2 tomatoes yesterday. I'm so happy!
Hope you are having a great weekend!

cowgirl said...

Wow, Thank you Oneeye! I'm glad to hear you have had success with the block pit. I bet your block pigs taste wonderful!!
Thank you so much for letting me know, you've brightened my day!
Hope you're having a nice weekend. Sending (((HUGS))) your way! :)