drip...drip...drip...

[Rob]

I just bought a leaky hose!

Actually, I just bought a bunch of drip irrigation stuff at the Wal-mart garden center (on clearance of course). I bought a starter kit, a fittings assortment, and some extra drip line for about 25 bucks, normally 70 bucks worth of stuff or thereabouts.

Dripping is responsible water use, unlike in-ground sprinkler systems. It puts the water right where it's needed (you can install emitters to service single plants if needed) and at a rate that the plants can use, so little is wasted. In concert with mulch it's a great way to go.

In a previous blowout I nabbed a timer too, so I have the stuff to auto-water the entire front of my house, some 90 feet of frontage, and potentially wrap around the west side too.

[justDIY]

I did drip irrigation this year ... it worked well with most plants, but some didn't appericate it

namely my medium sized leaf flowering plants, primrose and strawberry, they didn't grow very well until I switched to a mist-type head, and they responded right away.

tomatoes and squash grew real well with dripping, although on very hot days, I think they needed some mist too, as the foilage was a bit wilted ... perhaps I wasn't dripping enough into the rootzone

[Doug]

I use that setup alot and it saves alot on the $$$ and you can add ferts as well every few weeks.
I fill two large barrows full of water every few days and let gravity do it's thing, had to place them high on a platform. This year I may set up some garbage cans and use water from the downspout like I did before
Heres what I did a few years ago using fish tank air valves