Raised Bed Gardening, part 3

Since I'm loosely following the Square Foot Gardening principles, I divided my beds up into 20 square-foot squares.  Since I'm cheap, I just used sticks and leftover garden twine.  Some people like the look of wood slats for dividers, but I am planning on growing radishes along the division lines so I don't want to block their sunlight.

Easiest drip system pattern:  like a U

And since I'm neglectful at times (er, I mean, when I go on vacation) and summers are hot here, a drip system is a must.  Luckily the original owners of the house have a vast network of drip system under their thick layer of mulch, so it was a simple thing to find the tubing near the raised beds and run it along my soil.  I used a 50-foot roll of 1/4" tubing (lots was left over), 10 stakes to hold the tubing down, 15 corner pieces, 4 T-shaped pieces, 20 in-line 1gallon/hour drips, and 3 larger tube segments for stopping the flow (bend the 1/4" tube, insert into larger tube piece to pinch it closed, and ta-da!).

Easiest way to stop the flow in a drip system... bend the hose.

Afterward, I shimmied the exposed drip system an inch or so down into the soil.

Now everything is ready for the funnest stuff... planting!


Raised Bed Gardening:  Part 1, Building the bed
Raised Bed Gardening:  Part 2, Choosing your soil amendments
Raised Bed Gardening:  Part 4, Square Foot Gardening plan