Virginia Shenandoah SQFT Garden 5/5/20

olivia.walter 5/5/2020, 11:58 am

Virginia Shenandoah SQFT Garden 5/5/20 Img_1512

Virginia Shenandoah SQFT Garden 5/5/20 Img_1510

I'm worried I planted to early.. also, I don't think I've got the drip irrigation set up well enough.. it doesn't seem to be reaching the plants evenly/draining to quickly out the bottom. Advice? TY!

OhioGardener 5/5/2020, 12:31 pm

Nice looking gardens, Olivia! One problem I see with drip irrigation is issues such as where I inserted the arrows on your picture. Low pressure drip irrigation systems do not work well go up slopes, or with object obstructing the tubing. Notice where your drip line goes over the boards that the tubing gets flattened or restricted by both the up slope of the tubing, and by the pressure against the angle of the board. Point beyond that will not receive the same amount of water as points in front of it. If possible, run the tubing under the boards, and keep them as level as possible. For example, when I place the tomato cages in the bed, I have to pull out the tubing, install the cages, and then re-route them through the cages so that the tube does not get crimped by setting the cage on top of it.

Virginia Shenandoah SQFT Garden 5/5/20 Drip_l10

olivia.walter 5/5/2020, 2:16 pm

OhioGardener wrote:Nice looking gardens, Olivia! One problem I see with drip irrigation is issues such as where I inserted the arrows on your picture. Low pressure drip irrigation systems do not work well go up slopes, or with object obstructing the tubing. Notice where your drip line goes over the boards that the tubing gets flattened or restricted by both the up slope of the tubing, and by the pressure against the angle of the board. Point beyond that will not receive the same amount of water as points in front of it. If possible, run the tubing under the boards, and keep them as level as possible. For example, when I place the tomato cages in the bed, I have to pull out the tubing, install the cages, and then re-route them through the cages so that the tube does not get crimped by setting the cage on top of it.

Thank you!! Very good observation. I'm thinking my best option might be to put a notch in the boards so the hose will flat. Definitely have some rearranging to do.

**sanderson** 5/7/2020, 11:50 pm

Olivia, I agree with Ohio Gardener (OG). You can just remove the middle board and have one long bed. I noticed you already have stakes in the holes of the brick corners.

I had the same problem with a hose hung on a hose rack. It eventually flattened and the dripline it was attached to wasn't getting water, all 50' feet of it! Shocked

yolos 5/8/2020, 12:28 pm

Those blocks she is using in the corners specify the length of board that they will hold firmly. I would just drill holes in the center boards where the lines go over the top of the center board. Drill the holes (or as you say notch the boards) and put the irrigation lines thru the middle boards OR divide the irrigation system into two separate systems each staying on separate sides of the middle board. I actually just installed irrigation on a 2 x 9 foot bed. But at one end the last foot is divided by a 12 inch high board. I just drilled holes in it and pulled the irrigation line thru leaving it level with the soil. Of course this particular bed had a 1/4 inch irrigation line so it was easy to do. Don't know what diameter irrigation lines you are using.

**sanderson** 5/12/2020, 4:45 am

Notching the boards sounds like a good option. I would make the notches fairly deep in anticipation of the Mel's Mix dropping during the growing summer season.

mollyhespra 5/23/2020, 10:31 am

Actually, I don't think you even need that center board from a structural perspective. Why not just take it out completely? Its just going to rot anyway, being wet on both sides all the time. Thoughts?

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