So this was the most recent project. We had no water in the garden area. This is what I had to do...dig a trench about 125 feet long, from the house, where the water is, to the garden, where it isn't...
I opted for hose for this project. Some might wonder why I didn't use PVC pipe? I thought about it, but I haven't worked with it before and it had to have several curves in it. Also, at each end, it would have required hooking it up to faucets with the accompanying plumbing connections, which again, I haven't ever done before. So I basically just opted for easier (in my opinion) and quicker so as to get the water to the garden as fast and reliably as possible.
As you can see below, I didn't just buy regular hose though, I got a larger diameter hose (this is 3/4") to allow for more water flow. It is also made for heavy duty applications and can actually be buried for use in sprinkler systems. I figured that would work just fine for us and it did.
I bought this tool and a trenching shovel. As it turns out, this was the better choice. Apologies for the blurry photo, it focused on the background and not the foreground. I'm still getting used to my new camera, ha.
What I did was just push it into the ground (which was, fortunately, soft from recent rains) and I just rocked it back and forth and pushed up on the opposite side and it made a trench! It was pretty easy actually.
After a couple of hours, I had gone the entire 125 feet from the garden to the house. I did the entire trench first, then started at the source water faucet and went back toward the garden with the hose. Afterwards, I covered the trench with soil to let the grass grow over it. We figure that the trench is there now so if we want to put in pvc later on, we just pull up the hose and half the hard work has already been done.
Then came the test. As you can see, I put in this Free Standing Hose Stand (got mine at Home Depot, less expensive, but above is link for Amazon). It goes into the ground and you hook up the supply hose at the back and then the front acts as a regular hose faucet. It was the moment of truth..and yes, we did actually have tremendous water pressure! I didn't notice any loss of pressure, it's the same as it is at the house end. It's wonderful, we now have running water in the garden! Yay!
Lastly, I added this four outlet valve manifold. We opted for the brass version for long term durability. I can connect an array of hoses for the various raised beds now. Of course, for this first season, I will probably only use one since we are limiting the veggies to a few beds. Better to plan ahead for the future.
Next I am having soil delivered (hopefully this week), then mulch (hopefully next weekend), then I have to hook up the drip irrigation to the beds we are planting. I say hopefully because we have some rain in the forecast this week...
Update: I've had a couple of comments that reminded me I didn't address everything I should have. The trench is dug to about 4 inches deep, which is shallow. Of course here, we don't have the hard ground freezing other parts of the country might in Winter so I won't ever really have to worry about that. And secondly, I do have a timer that I purchased last year that will go on here so that I can make sure the water comes on and off as needed. :-)
Update: I've had a couple of comments that reminded me I didn't address everything I should have. The trench is dug to about 4 inches deep, which is shallow. Of course here, we don't have the hard ground freezing other parts of the country might in Winter so I won't ever really have to worry about that. And secondly, I do have a timer that I purchased last year that will go on here so that I can make sure the water comes on and off as needed. :-)
what a great system!
ReplyDeleteHopefully it will work as I planned, ha. thanks!
DeleteI have basically the same feed to my garden. There are three underground-fed Rainbird sprinklers that are on automatic timers, but they don't always deliver the amounts I want, where I want it. I put the hose fed four valve manifold at the back of the garden shed and attached four hoses of different lengths. The hoses don't look all that pretty laying all over my garden paths (why did I buy bright yellow hoses?), but they sure are handy.
ReplyDeleteSO that's your secret! Ha, Yeah, that and two green thumbs, lol. I do hope this works, I kind of thought about hose color, I will probably just have to pick one color and keep it all the same. This one didn't really matter since it was buried but I do like the terra-cotta color. We'll see what I can find, ha. Thanks!!
DeleteAt least the yellow hoses are highly visible, so I don't trip over them. Not very often, anyway. I have a heavy duty black hose, but the water in it gets terribly hot and could easily scald the plants if I wasn't careful to flush it thoroughly each time. Gray and green hoses (and yellow) don't heat up as badly. I've never had terra cotta.
DeleteOOH! The voice of wisdom! I thought about black but didn't think about it heating up the water. Thanks!! Actually, I don't think yellow would be so bad, you know i like color in the yard, ha.
DeleteI too made a small trench and buried my hose from the house to the rabbits. Works great and, like you said, when/if you need to move it, just pull the hose out. My rabbits are gone now, and I did just that. I didn't add dirt on top. Eventually, the grass grows over the hose on its own.
ReplyDeleteI do like the idea of the faucet, though. May have to incorporate that for a sprinkler in my garden.
This idea just sort of popped into my head, I'm glad to know others have used it and it works. the stand up faucet I guess is what you are referring to, it just was exactly what I needed. Definitely would recommend it (and the four or even two if you wanted only two) valve manifold. thanks for stopping by and commenting!!
Delete1st Man,
ReplyDeleteThere's always so much to do when getting a garden situated. You did a fabulous job installing this water source. Will you be possibly installing a timer to water the garden when not on premises?
Thanks! I know it was the most important part, have to have that water in the garden. I still have to hope I get the irrigation set up right but fingers are crossed! And yes, thanks for the reminder, I updated my post, yes, I have a time that I'll put on there as well so that it will water. I told 2nd Man that I might have to drive out a couple of times per week when things are growing just to make sure all is good and keep it watered correctly. Hoping though the timer works great.
DeleteHow neat! To what depth did you dig? I would LOVE to do something like this to my gardens!
ReplyDeleteI update my post, realized after you comment I should have put that. Probably about 4 inches...in colder, ground freezing climates, I'm not sure if it would have to be deeper? In our winter (next winter of course) I'll disconnect at both ends and blow water out of it so it doesn't freeze the hose. Theoretically of course, LOL!
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