Many people divide their gardens into rectangular beds to provide an efficient use of space while allowing access to the plants with paths between the beds.

Some of the beds may be densely planted, while others will have individual plants, such as tomatoes or squash, planted at widely spaced intervals.

The densely planted beds lend themselves to the use of 1/2" Emitter Tubing or 1/4" Soaker Dripline which will provide water to the plants in a simple, efficient way.

Individual plants that are planted at wider intervals can be watered with higher volume emitters/sprayers, such as shrubblers or can be ringed with 1/4" Soaker Dripline.

Getting Started
If you are 'automating' your system with a timer, that will be the first component coming off of your water source. A timer (or electric valve) is not required, but it makes it easy to keep your garden properly watered even during those times when you are not available (yes, some of us get to take vacations...). We have a timer comparison chart that can help you in choosing a timer for your system.

The next component in your system will be the filter. Since the openings in emitter tubing and many drip emitters is rather small, a filter should always be included to remove any particles that might clog emitters. Even if you have municipal water, it is possible for small particles to get into the system and cause problems with emitters if you do not have a filter. Consider it a cheap form of insurance.

The next piece is the pressure regulator. This brings your water pressure down to a reasonable range for a drip irrigation system. If you have low pressure to begin with, you probably won't need a regulator. If you are using emitter tubing, which is pressure compensating in the range of 10 to 50 PSI, and your water pressure is less than 50 PSI, then you don't need a regulator. If you are using soaker dripline, you will probably want a 20 or 30 PSI regulator since this tubing is not pressure compensating and 20 PSI will give you the nominal 1/2 gallon per emitter (per hour).

At this point you are ready to connect up to your tubing. A fitting called a ELFH Female Hose Beginning is used to connect a hose thread fitting to the poly tubing. We like the Easy Loc parts because they are simple to work with and can be easily removed if you need to reconfigure your system.

Your choice of mainline tubing is either 1/2", which can carry up to about 240 gallons per hour, and 3/4" which can carry around 480 gallons per hour. You will want to measure your water flow when you start your drip design planning so that you will know how much water you have available per "zone". We have a flow calculator on our web site to do this calculation for you. If your flow is less than 300 gallons per hour or so, using 1/2" mainline tubing is a good choice. If you have more than 400 gallons per hour of flow, which is common if you are on a municipal system, then using 3/4" mainline tubing makes sense unless your garden doesn't need more than 240 gallons per hour with the emitter tubing and emitters that you plan to use. The 1/2" tubing is a bit less expensive than the 3/4" tubing and a bit easier to work with, so if it can meet your needs you are better off working with it.

Once you have the basics of your system figured out, it is time to go on to looking at the watering of the beds.

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