[huntoften]

I used soaker hoses when I first started...hated them! Very inefficient way to water tomato plants.

I went to drip irrigation 5 years ago and can not imagine watering any other way. I have my raised beds set up with their own water access with a shut-off valve on each bed. This way I can rotate crops each year and adjust only the emitters.

I have some lines set up for tomatoes and some set up for lettuces, and other closer grown crops. All I have to do is take the tomato line out of one bed and move it to another when I rotate crops each year. Open the valve to whatever beds I want watered and it's a done deal.

I have the garden set up on three zones. This year I'll have four zones with one for my container grown peppers and eggplant.

I hook my system up to 2 rain barrels up by my house and the gravity pressure is enough to water the whole garden...100 gallons at a time. When it doesn't rain, I fill the barrels with the hose and let them sit a day or two to warm up and for the chlorine to evaporate.