Irrigation

Our mosture for the garden does not come during the summer when plants are growing.  If you want a crop then you need to relay on what is in the soil or supplement water.  Few gardeners have enough water or funds to irrigate everything.  

Where to start.

Current soil moisture monitoring

For years, I simply used a shovel or soil probe to determine the soil moisture.  If soil was muddy it was too wet if like concrete it was too dry.  Recently, I invested in a good weather station will the ability to connect a wireless soil probe.  

Ambient Weather WS-5000 Ultrasonic Professional Smart Weather Station

It uses an ultrasonic anemometer to determine both wind speed and direction so no traditional wind cups or vane. The wireless sensor array features a louvered radiation shield for the thermo-hygrometer sensor and a solar panel to measure incoming sunlight.  Added sensors include a rain gauge, external temperature/hydrometer/barometer, temperature probes with remote probes and soil moisture meters.   There are also weather cams, lightening detectors and air quality meters available for the weather station. 

The station comes with LCD indoor station/display that connects to the sensors via RF (915 MHz) up to 1000 feet line of sight in open air (300 feet under most conditions).  Sadly the LCD station/display did not connect directly to another computer but connects via WIFI.   

I use 2 soil moisture meters located in the garden and lawn.  

Needs water and what does not  

Plants with tap roots or deep rooted plants escape the summer dry season.  Daffodils will pull moisture deep and surround their bulbs with moisture for the dry season.   Iris seems to tolerate the dry season but water improves flowering.  Fescue grasses tolerate low moisture although during extreme dry seasons the grasses will go dormant until fall rains come.   Fruits and vegetable crops will need to be watered.   I also water around the house and a grassy area to provide a green space for fire prevention.  Due to extreme climate change and a longer dry season I started to water a pine plantation to reduce plant stress and increase resistance to pine bark beetles. 

Frequency and Amount

Location  Frequency (days) Amount (hr)

House green space 7 1 

Grass area for fire 4 4 

Vegetable garden 7 2

Veg Garden drip 2 0.5

Fruit drip 4 4 

Pine tree hillside 7 5

Water Source and Storage

Changes in climate has change my water sources.  When I first came I considered collecting water during the wet season and using it for the dry season.  Math got in the way where a 30x50' roof would yield 5,600 gallons water but only 24 hours of sprinkler time.   Storage costs and limited days of water became a problem.

We have a seasonal stream but it dries up during the dry season.  I thought about a pond but costs to establish prevented establishment.  

My best option was a well.  

If your well has low output consider a nurse tank where input maybe timed during low demand use.  I also use a 750 gallon water tank for feeding my drip irrigation in the garden and greenhouse.  The system uses a 12v RV pump and solar panel delivering 3 gallons per minute.  

Method of Dispersal

Drip

A 0.25" tubing system with feeder hoses is used.  The 0.25" has a flow capacity of 36 gph at 40 lbs water pressure.  I use drip lines with perforations at 9 and 12" intervals and a rating of 0.5 gph per hole to distribute water over long distances.  The orchard drip lines have 12" spacing and connected to a 3/4" hose via 1/4" feeder lines on the soil surface.   The garden drip lines have 9" spacing but use a 2 gph emitter to regulate flow from the 1/4" feeder line.  There are 24 - 2 gph emitters connected to a single 1/4" feeder line in the garden with water being added at both ends of the feeder line.   

Oscillating Sprinkler

The lawn around the house gets watered with a wig-wag or oscillating sprinkler.  It is rated to cover 4,000 square feet but I am lucky to get 1,000 square feet around the house.   I also use it to supplement the drip irrigation in the vegetable garden.   This sprinkler covers 2000 square feet because of increased water pressure at the garden.  

Impact Sprinkler

The grass strip used for a fire break and the pine tree plantation are watered with impact sprinklers.  These are set stationary on  tee posts and make large circular watering patterns.   The circle is about 80' in diameter.

Timers 

Over the 30 years I have been using timers to water I have used several manufactures of faucet end timers.  Currently I use Orbit single outlet timers for all my water connections.  Most are the automated water timer timer where you can set start time, duration, and frequency.   I also use 2 hour dial timers for the oscillating sprinklers.  The 2 hour timer turns off the water so I do not need to monitor the length of the water set.