Making a drip irrigation system for my allotment - any advice?

Evening all,

I know considering the weather that this question may seem a little miss placed but I want to get ahead this year before the mad planting rush and I was thinking of making a drip irrigation system firstly for my polytunnel.

If this is successful I will then make one for the whole plot if that is possible and I was just wondering if anyone had done this before and if they could give me a few hints/tips.

Is it as simple as putting 'a few' small holes in a hose pipe connected to a big water barrel with a tap?

I am currently searching to see if I can get some materials for this on freecycle.

My plot has a slope of around 15-30 degrees as a guestimate I reckon. There is also water available several plots away but if I can utilise the rainwater from my polytunnel to fill the barrel that would be top!

Thanks for your help,

Samuel

 

I use leaky-pipe (hose made from recycles car tyres that leaks along its entire length) for my young hedges - but ... it leaks all along its length For things like Brussels Sprouts planted 2' 6" apart that's a bit daft I reckon. You could use drip irrigation for that, but its a lot of spaghetti pipework (and cost) all over your allotment. Great for in a greenhouse (where plants need a lot more water, and watering frequently / daily - so hard to go away for a long weekend whereas for "outdoor" vegetables you can just water them thoroughly before you go, and again when you get back ...)

There is an irrigation "tape" you can get, which has holes at specific intervals - but I have no idea how you plant at the same interval as the holes - perhaps put the tape down first, and use it as a plant interval distance guide? probably going to be a nightmare with a range of crops that each need different spacing?

You could use an oscillating sprinkler, and soak the whole area, very wasteful of water though.

You might get on OK with a 2L pop-bottle, with a small hole in the bottom, "buried" next to each plant - fill it and leave it to drain away over a prolonged period of time. Manual to fill the bottles though. I use that approach for my Squash. They are planted on a mound, so water runs off, but I plunge a 2L pot next to them, and fill the pot with water. It takes about 10 minutes to run out of the bottom (big holes in the bottom of a pot of course), so its more to keep the water at the base of the plant's roots, than to deliver it over a prolonged period.

I planted a couple of acres of mixed woodland at a previous property. Long way between trees, and hand watering took ages ... so I bought rolls of Black 2" lay-flat-tubing, laid it around everything so that it "visited" every tree, connected it to the hose with a pull-tie and then made a pin-prick next to each tree (in the bottom, so the wind didn't cause the fine jet to wander about all over the place!) For bigger trees I made 2 or 3 pin pricks, and for plants further from the water source where the water pressure was lower. It lasted about 3 seasons (probably because I cut it up, repeatedly, strimming around the trees ... so might last longer if looked after properly)

Other than that, mulch to keep the moisture in the soil and reduce evaporation. Perhaps even get some woven mulching fabric, make planting-holes at appropriate spacing for your plants, and plant them through the fabric - that will keep down weeds, as well as helping to keeping moisture in (and warming soil in spring by the black colour capturing sun's warmth)

 

All good ideas so far, here are a couple more.

Shredded plain paper/and brown cardboard. With printed paper/card, and in general, if the printing is glossy/shiny then put that in your recycle bin as the print is UV coated (varnished and cured under UV lights, if its matt/not shiney then its likely to be water based and safe to use in the garden and/or compost heap.

Anyway, back on topic again, you can add shredded paper and card to the planting hole, this absorbs water and becomes a reservoir for your plants, mulching as Kristen mentioned helps to keep that in and around the plants roots.

A plot neighbour at out site setup an irrigation system a couple of years ago and it worked quite well for him although he said setting up the taps to get the right flow was difficult. This system worked from hanging bags that needed filling every couple of days, but one eventually burst when it was overfilled. Setting up using Johns method would have made things a little easier.

I use soaker hoses myself in one of my tunnels, but also supplement that with hand watering. I have a large IBC tank, the sort that bulk food stuffs arrive in, the bottom tap of that tank has a cap and to that I fitted and siliconed a tap to it, a short length of hose is connected to that to get into the tunnel, then another connector to fit the soaker hose to the end of that, gravity does the rest for me.

My best suggestion for watering is to get a fellow plot holder to help out, it can then be done on an exchange basis, you water for each other when either of you are away.

Steve...