How to set up a low cost watering system for a veggie patch

Watering a veggie patch without spending a fortune on it

Hand watering is fine for about a fortnight, and then it turns into the job you end up doing at dusk with a torch in your teeth because you forgot again, and the plants are the ones that pay for it. A watering system fixes that, and the thing most people get wrong is assuming a system has to be a big spend, because on a patch this size the cheap versions work nearly as well as the expensive ones.

Two things matter before you buy anything. Water that goes onto the soil rather than the leaves is worth more, because water sitting on foliage evaporates off in our heat and it gives fungal problems a head start overnight. And a slow deep soak beats a quick spray every time, because roots follow the moisture down, so a shallow watering keeps them sitting near the surface where the first properly hot day cooks them.

Soaker hose, the easiest one to start with

A soaker hose weeps along its whole length, so you lay it between the rows, hook it up to the tap and let it run slowly while you get on with something else. It's the one I'd point a beginner at, because there's nothing to work out and nothing much to block up the way a dripper can, and you can shift it around as the beds change.

Buried bottle drippers, which cost nothing at all

Cut the bottom off a 1.25 litre bottle, punch a few small holes in the cap, and bury it cap down beside the plant with the cut end sticking up. Fill it whenever you walk past and it'll seep out over the next few hours instead of running off the top of the soil. It looks like a bodge and it works, and for a few tomatoes or a couple of zucchini it's honestly all you need.

Drip line, when you want to stop thinking about it

Drip line has the emitters built into it at set spacings, so you peg it out once along the row and every plant gets about the same amount. Put a tap timer on the front of it and the whole thing runs itself, which is the point where watering stops being a job you have to remember and becomes something that just happens while you're at work.

Wicking beds, for the person who goes away a lot

A wicking bed holds a reservoir of water underneath the soil and the plants draw it up as they need it, so you're topping it up every week or two rather than watering every second evening. It takes an afternoon to build and it's the most forgiving setup there is if you're away for work or you're simply the sort who forgets.

Unglazed terracotta, the old one

Bury an unglazed terracotta pot up to its rim, keep it topped up, and the water seeps out through the clay into the soil around it as the soil dries. It has to be unglazed or nothing moves through the wall at all, which is the bit people miss, and it suits a pot or a small raised bed far better than a long row.

The four things that make any of these work better

• Water early in the morning, so the plants have taken it up before the heat arrives and the leaves aren't sitting wet overnight.
• Mulch over the top of whatever you install, because a bare bed loses a fair bit of what you put on it straight back to the air.
• Walk the line now and then and look for leaks, since one split fitting will quietly waste more than the whole system saves.
• Wind the run times back in the cooler months, because the same setting that keeps a patch alive through summer will drown it when the soil is already damp.

Shop related products

• Pope Drip Eze 2LH 13mm x 30m. Drip line with the emitters already built in, ready to peg out along a row.
• Pope Hold Down Stake 10pk. Keeps the line where you put it instead of letting it creep out of the bed.
• Pope Simple Set Single Tap Timer. Turns the watering into something that happens without you standing there.
• Easy Wetta Garden Mulch 50L. Goes over the top so the water you have just put on stays in the soil.

Did you know we also stock soaker hose in the shop, in lengths from 10 metres up to 30 metres. It isn't on the website, so give us a ring on (08) 8536 4333 to check what's on the shelf.

The garden centre carries the watering gear, the mulch and the feed that goes with it, so have a look through the garden range, or come in and we'll work out what suits your patch.

Read next

• How to stop drip lines and sprinkler heads clogging up
• The best time of day to water your plants
• How to keep a garden alive through a heatwave

I still wander out with a watering can of an evening out of pure habit even when there's a perfectly good system running, so don't take me as the model of efficiency here.

Cheers,
Candeece