This DIY Raised Bed Watering System Will Keep Your Plants Refreshed & Hydrated – House Digest

The design of Mobley’s watering system is intuitive and simple, and far superior to overhead garden watering methods that can be bad for your plants. Water is brought from a nearby hose bibb via a ¾-inch PVC pipe that functions as a manifold with an outlet at each of his four raised beds. Outside each bed, the ¾-inch pipe is fitted with the aforementioned shutoff valve, and is then reduced for a ½-inch PVC pipe that is split into two lines and takes water into the beds.

One ½-inch pipe runs along each side of Mobley’s raised beds. Along a straight line down each pip, he drilled 1/16-inch holes every 6 inches to emit water into the soil. According to the Utah State University extension service, the 1/16-inch hole size is perfect for a home garden drip irrigation system because it should have about the right flow rate and will allow small particles of soil that find their way into the system to pass through. The 6-inch spacing is perfect for growling plants like carrots and peas, and the easily reconfigurable pipes mean he can adjust that spacing for plants with larger or smaller water demands.