Installing a Drip Irrigation System in our Vegetable Garden! (step by step instructions)

We installed our first drip tape irrigation system in our 125 ft x 30 ft vegetable garden! No more overhead watering which can cause blight, fungus and other various diseases on your plants! Drip irrigation can also save up to 60% water which has been great this season so far, since it has been so hot and dry!
Where we purchased our irrigation system:
duboisag.com/c...
*Each of our drip tape lines is 30 ft long and buried into the soil approximately 2 inches deep ( we dug shallow trenches, rolled the drip tape down flat, with the water emitter holes facing up, and buried the tape in soil).
*Our onions, leeks, carrots and beets are all planted on either side of one line of drip tape. This is a test for us to see if that will give us adequate water for the plants or if we will need to plant one row of seeds only, per one line of drip tape next year.
*Our potato hills will be a bit different. Once the potato seedlings emerge from the soil, we will lay down the drip lines on top of the soil. Upon the first hilling of the potatoes, the drip lines will then be buried 2 inches deep at this time.
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#irrigation #gardening #savewater

[@acresofclayhomestead]

Beautiful garden!!! I'm sure the new system will save you so much time. 😊

[@alanacawker-therusticwife]

Thank you Ronda! So far, it's been such a time (and water) saver! We are glad we decided to try it out!

[@trumpzilla4193]

Thank-you from BC....and the link to Dubois....have you been pleased with your system?

[@alanacawker-therusticwife]

Hi there..thank you very much for watching and for your message! We love our system and found Dubois to be very helpful. We gave a fella there named Nelson, the dimensions and a sketch of our garden layout and he put together a package for us based on what we sent him. Nelson mentioned that if we take care of the drip lines and store them properly for the winter, we should get 3 years out of the lines. We are on our third year this season. Thank you again for watching and have a great day!

[@raincoast9010]

Thanks for the walk through, the garden looks really nice.

[@girlsglitterngiggles]

Thank you for this!! Converted lawn to garden space in preparation for this spring! Looking forward to installing this system

[@alanacawker-therusticwife]

Hi there! Thank you so much for watching and I hope you have a fabulous growing season! Take care and have a lovely day!

[@danmartin9278]

Very cool, Happy to see James in video...👍

[@alanacawker-therusticwife]

Hi Dan! Thank you very much...it took some arm twisting but he finally let me feature his voice in the video anyway! 😁

[@frenchcountryorchard]

This was awesome, and nice to hear James too! Sorry I’m behind on the videos, I blame Lu 😹

[@alanacawker-therusticwife]

Thank you! James having a voice cameo took a lot of arm twisting! 😄That Lu...he is a stinker! 🤣

[@davidmuise388]

Wow hon I’m really impressed that’s awesome ……. Oh and Alanna thanks for your lovely replies I really appreciate them it’s nice to make comments but even nicer to receive replies and I’m sure like every one else you need a break as well…… hope your garden is ok in all this heat ..sorry am a little behind your videos but am in the middle of moving can never find anything after the move right so just bear with me I’ll get you caught up hon ok. Stay safe take care god bless I so enjoy you bye bye for now

[@alanacawker-therusticwife]

Good morning David! Thank you for your kind message! I hope you get all of your things squared away after your move...it really is kind of hectic when things aren't where they usually are! 😁 Thank you very much for watching my videos and supporting my channel...that is very kind of you! Have a great day!

[@BrambleHillHomestead]

So fun to see the video. I saw your post on IG and commented that I am eager to get mine up and running. Great to see what you have done!

[@alanacawker-therusticwife]

Thank you very much!! We are so happy we put this system in...especially this year! It's been so dry!

[@metoffice5035]

Awesome. Your explanations and demostrations are well articulated. I am going to try mine and will definately come back to you with feedback. Keep up the good work.

[@alanacawker-therusticwife]

Good morning....thank you very much for watching and for your kind message! Good luck with your irrigation install this season and happy gardening! Take care and have a great day! 🌻

[@sodbuster518able]

Rhonda from acres of Clay sent me over here

[@alanacawker-therusticwife]

Hi Bruce! Ronda is so very kind to give me a shout out and you are kind for visiting! Thank you very much! 😊

[@robertmarino2158]

Good job , it will work for you , stay safe , enjoy ! Have fun !

[@alanacawker-therusticwife]

We love the drip lines so far...especially when our summer started off so dry!

[@lonil1515]

This video has such wonderful information. I would love to try this out for my garden.

[@alanacawker-therusticwife]

Thank you so much Loni! We love it so far...it's nice to not stand there for hours with a hand held hose to water!

[@cassiebrindza8306]

Good luck with your new system! It works very well, my Sister had one set up 2 years ago. How do you keep your beautiful garden so weed free is what I really want to know 😉

[@alanacawker-therusticwife]

Hi Cassie! Thank you very much...we love it so far! I bet your sister is glad she put her system in...it's been so dry! Lots of time spent weeding but so worth it! 😃

[@realvipul]

but after this its difficult to put any machinery to remove weeds😕

[@AndyPiper-1]

Great video. Thanks. I am setting up a new garden and want to try a system like this. Do you have any problem with pressure drop at the end of the system?

[@alanacawker-therusticwife]

Hi there...thank you very much for watching! We have not had an issue with pressure drop at the end of the system. Our garden is 125 ft long and 35 ft wide and the watering seems quite even. That being said, I should say that our garden is not completely flat...the ends of the drip lines are slightly lower than our header line leading to higher pressure at the ends of those lines. I hope that helps!

[@kathi7956]

I wish!

[@bjdaxom9555]

u are beautiful and super talented 👍🏻

[@alanacawker-therusticwife]

Thank you very much...thank you also for watching and for your kind words!

[@418Jane]

Your garden looks fabulous. It looks huge. Is it bigger than your garden last year

[@alanacawker-therusticwife]

Thank you Jane! It certainly feels huge when it's time to weed it! 😄 It's the same size as last year...maybe because the plants are small, it looks bigger?

[@mntsportr7615]

Run Time? I am curious on the time duration you run your drip tape given the vegetables in the row. Can you half turn the blue drip tape line to slow the amount of water emitted? Trying to setup a timer for our garden that contains a variety. Thanks for the helpful detail on your install!

[@alanacawker-therusticwife]

Hi there...thank you very much for watching! The amount and timing of watering is highly dependent upon growing conditions....most garden plants need about 1 inch of rain water/week. We don't use a timer here and also do not leave the irrigation system on when we aren't home. The reason being is that we have developed a couple of drip line leaks which has caused some minor flooding in the row. We don't have experience turning the line spigots half on so we can't really say whether or not that would be a good idea. The drip line lays flat when the water is turned off...when the spigot is on full, that line is full of water which then causes the water to drip gradually through the emitter slots in the line. If the spigots are only turned on halfway, my husband said he worries that this may result in uneven watering due to restricted flow. To answer your first question about how long we keep our irrigation system on, that depends on how much rainfall we have had. Also, since we have a mixture of clay and clay/loam soil we may need to water less than a garden that has sandy soil. I realize that I didn't answer your question fully but it's hard to give a definitive answer about how long to leave your irriigation system running since it really depends on your soil, the weather, the size of the garden and your irrigation system as well. I really hope I have helped you a little bit with my long winded answer! Thank you again for watching and good luck with your garden this season!

[@sammyarmstrong2098]

So I panted. Each vegetable plant right next to the emitters. I water once per week but have lost 4-5 squash plants from too much water? Should I have put the plants in the center of the plant row inches away from the emitter??

[@alanacawker-therusticwife]

Hi there...I'm sorry to hear you have lost some squash plants. Our plants are about one and a half inches from the drip line and we haven't had an issue so far...how many emitter holes are in your drip line? I believe our drip tape has 1 emitter hole for every 7 inches. Some vary in size and also the number of emitter holes so I wonder if perhaps you could try holding off on irrigating for a bit to see if the plants perk up some OR I wonder if instead of watering once a week, you could try irrigating 2 or 3 days a week with less water? When we first started with our drip irrigation, there was a lot of trial and error in our garden as we had to learn how far apart the vegetables went, how much water to give various vegetables and how far we buried our drip tape. Some people put their tape on the surface but we have settled on burying our tape 1 inch in the soil and found that is perfect for us. I hope that helps...have a wonderful day!

[@mohmoh3249]

thanks 😍😍 but what about Clogging of drip emitters under soil !!!??????? What did you do to prevent this problem? sorry for my bad English

[@alanacawker-therusticwife]

Hi there...thank you very much for watching (and also, your English is perfect! 😊). We were concerned about the emitters clogging as well at first but we have never had a problem yet. Apparently, the benefits of sub surface drip lines compared to having the lines on the soil surface is that it prevents water loss from evaporation and run off, also it provides proper amounts of water to the plant's root zone. I hope that helps...have a great evening and thank you again for visiting my channel! 🍃

[@Heritag131]

What's the size of the HDPE pipe

[@robertkaydea9330]

Hello, thanks for your informative and educational presentation, what is the name of your drip tape supplier?

[@alanacawker-therusticwife]

Hi Robert...thank you for watching and for your kind message! The company that we purchased our irrigation system from is called "Dubois Agrinovation"...their head office and warehouse is in Quebec but they also have one in Ontario as well. They have various kits available or you can buy separate pieces. We spoke with a representative there and gave him the dimensions of our garden and he made this kit for us. This is the link to their website: duboisag.com/ca_en/equipment/irrigation.html I hope this helps...have a great evening! 😊

[@robertkaydea9330]

@@alanacawker-therusticwife thanks very much Alana

[@alanacawker-therusticwife]

@@robertkaydea9330 you are very welcome!

[@birgitelisabeth9661]

The water that's been sitting in my hose before I turn on the water is very hot in the summer and I fist have to let the water run long enough until there's cold water going through the hose before aiming it at any of my vegetables. How does this work in a system like that? What happens to the water that's been sitting in the system in the sun and can be very hot?

[@alanacawker-therusticwife]

Hi there...the water that has been sitting in the hose and main line does get quite hot here as well. What we do is shut off all of the drip tape valves, open the end cap on the main line (the end opposite to where the garden hose connects), then run the garden hose to flush out the hot water. I hope that helps! Thank you for watching...take care and have a great evening!

[@birgitelisabeth9661]

Thank you for your reply. It seems that this system would not do well with a timer then which would turn on by itself or perhaps the water automatically drains out of the main hose as it is an open system and then there is no water in the hose when the timer would turn on the water? @@alanacawker-therusticwife

[@alanacawker-therusticwife]

@@birgitelisabeth9661 Good morning! That is a very good point about the timer during the hot months. We actually don't use a timer as we don't like to have things running while we aren't here just in case of a malfunction and cause a flood. We always like to be around when the irrigation system is running for that reason and also in case one of the drip lines gets a larger hole in it, which can also cause a small flood as well. If you need to use a timer or if you would rather not flush the main line, you could try irrigating (or setting your timer to irrigate) in the early morning or evening when the water in the garden hose and main line has a chance to cool down. Thank you again for your messages as they are both great questions about the system, especially if you live in a very hot climate! Take care and have a great day!

[@birgitelisabeth9661]

That's a great idea. Thanks for the tip. Right now, when I'm away for an extended period of time, I have someone come by and water my large garden regularly but that is not a good longterm solution. @@alanacawker-therusticwife

[@Burnlem65]

curious what your water source is: a well? I'm trying to design a system that can pull about 14 gpm to prevent my well pump from cycling on and off. right now, my drip system is not pulling enough water and the pump is cycling on every 12 seconds, which does not promote good pump life. i also realized that my 1/2" cannot deliver enough water, is my theory. do you know how many gpm your systems pulls (demands)? any thoughts?

[@alanacawker-therusticwife]

Good morning Mel...thank you for watching and also for leaving this message! That is definitely something to check into and I am going to call the fella that prepared the drip irrigation kit for us at Dubois Agrinovation, to find out whether or not we will be burning out our submersible pump too! We do run our system on a well and as I mentioned , we have a submersible pump. The gentleman at Dubois, mentioned that using a 3/4 inch hose is advisable for this system. I'm not sure whether you want to know the output pressure from the hose on our end or how many psi the pressure regulator runs at on our drip system? The feed from the hose was measured at 5 gps and when the drip system is running, the regulator reads around 12 psi. I will include a link to an article that I found that may be helpful to you and I will also include a link to the company we purchased our system from. I hope that some of this information can helpful to you! If it weren't for your comment, I would not have known to check into how the system could potentially wear our pump out...thank you for that! Take care and have a lovely day! www.rainbrothers.com/using-a-pump-for-drip-irrigation-common-mistakes-and-best-solutions duboisag.com/ca_en/equipment/irrigation.html

[@burtongolden7813]

What measures do you take to prevent header line and drip tape from freezing during winter?

[@alanacawker-therusticwife]

Hi Burton...I am so sorry that I missed this message and it has taken me so long to reply! We leave our header line out all winter but we disconnect the drip tapes, clean them up and roll them onto a large spool to store in the basement for winter. The fella that we bought the drip irrigation system from, said if we take care of the drip tape, we should get a few years out of them. As for the header pipe, we opened the stop valves ( and left them open all winter) which allowed the water to drain from the pipe. Our garden is on a bit on a slant, so gravity helped keep the pipe drained. We were fortunate and had no issue with splitting and so far everything has been working fine this season. Our winters can get quite cold at times and temps can dip to -30 degrees Celsius. Thank you very much for watching and I hope this has helped! Take care and have a great evening!

[@burtongolden7813]

Yes thanks very helpful. Continue to watch.

[@raysfildsoyland682]

Mam pls let me know and show the source of water u have?

[@alanacawker-therusticwife]

Hi there...thank you very much for watching! The source of water we have is the garden hose attached to the house from our drilled well which is (I believe) 8 gallons/ minute. I hope that helps! Take care and have a great day!

[@ToyotaPete]

👍

[@alanacawker-therusticwife]

Thank you! It sure is a time saver!

[@akvs94]

We set this system up just today. It is said that mice gnaw at those pipes and therefore need bridging every now and then. How often should we expect this to happen based on your experience? To mice out there, why would you gnaw at plastic? Get a life. Jeez...

[@alanacawker-therusticwife]

Good morning...thank you very much for watching and for your message! So far, we have not had an issue with mice damaging the pipes but I wouldn't put it past them!! I agree...they certainly need to find a more appropriate snack other than our plastic piping that we all work so hard to pay for and install...they just don't care about nuttin'!! 😅 I hope you have good luck with your new system this season and also that the mice leave you alone too! Take care and have a wonderful day! 🐭

[@will5286]

NOTHING LIKE PRESENTING EXPERTISE---NOT

[@alanacawker-therusticwife]

I will be happy to watch your video on this subject...have a great evening! 😊