Also, any recommendations on brands?

My local hardware store carries a brand called "Green Thumb". Seems well made and is a decent price. I'm going to get one this year too.

Any idea if its better to have the holes facing up or down?

Many use them and love them; I wasn't thrilled. I have very hard water and over a single season the pores clogged and created high pressure inside the hoses which caused ruptures. By the end of the season I think the hoses were more duct tape than hose :)

Your mileage may vary.

I've used them for the past two seasons, and they went into the trash last fall. I could not get even coverage, some areas were dry while others had standing water. These were the porous type, not the ones with holes. This year I am upgrading to drip lines, which are not really that much more expensive and will work much better and last longer.

Here is a link that might be useful: Drip Line

As stated above, if you have hard water, soaker hoses rapidly become plugged and stop working. I've found it better in my area, where there is a lot of calcium and magnesium in well water, to use disposable T-tape irrigation tape instead of traditional soaker hose -- same effect, but a lot cheaper. It's meant to be disposed of at the end of the season. One bad thing about it, though, I've had trouble with voles chewing into it to get water.

Here's a good place to buy all kinds of drip irrigation supplies.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dripworks Irrigation Supply Catalog

The link below is to a good previous discussion on using soaker hose and their pros and cons. There are several more discussions too that a search here will pull up for you if you want to review them, but this one is a good place to start.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Soaker hose discussion

I use a different system that works for me, but may not for everyone. I buy basic cheap garden hoses from Home
Depot and run them through the beds and at each plant
I punch a hole in the hose and screw in a shurflo emitter.
The water goes directly to the base of the plant and nowhere else. I've been using the same hoses and emitters
for more than 10 years with no breakage at all. I can water and liquid feed at the same time, with no fancy connectors,presuure valves, filters, etc. etc. I can water 100 rose bushes, thoroughly, in an hour's time. I plan on using this same system for my watermelons this year.

I love my soaker hoses. If I have one that I think isn't functioning the way it should, I buy some little emitters at Wal-mart pr I use a darning needle and make my own soaker hose openings.

I've been using soaker hoses on flower borders and a small vegetable garden for years and have had very good luck with them. One secret to making them last longer is to put them under mulch or scratch a trench and bury them just 1/2 to 1 inch under the soil. It keeps the sun from deteriorating them and makes for more even watering. After a few years they do develope leaks and need a bit of duct tape but then again, what doesn't work better with a little of the silvery stuff?!? LOL I've never used drip tubing so I can't compare. And I can't tell you what brand of soaker hoses I've bought over the years. I have 8 or so and they're all probably different brands. None seems better or worse than the others.

Sandy

I've used soaker hoses for many years now, and they have worked very well for me. I just love 'em. They are easy to set-up and use (I place bricks or rocks on them while laying them down, and remove the bricks when covering with mulch), and they distribute the water well. I get the cheapest I can find at Costco or HomeDepot or even at yard sales.

I also have hard water and havent had too much difficulty with them becoming non-functional. Yes, the newer hoses work better, but even the older ones still work, you just leave them on longer.

I use regular hose-mending pieces to fix them when needed.

And I also prefer to use them beneath a layer of mulch. We are so dry here, if you dont use mulch in garden beds, you'd have to water all the time.

I gave one a try last season in my raised vegetable bed. It was a pain to snake around in my bed, it wanted to go where it wanted to, rather than next to the plants. Shortly after laying it down it developed a large leak right near the connection, so I ended up with a huge mud puddle at the beginning of the hose and dry plants at the other end. I've since gone back to hand watering as its all that I trust right now. I am thinking of giving it another try in my flower beds as they are long and narrow, I think much of my pain was due to the fact I was trying to snake it around too much.

I found a 75 foot flat soaker hose at Wally World that is much easier to lay it out where you want it. Check out the photo below where I used pieces of coat hanger bent into a U shape to stake the hose in place. I then buried the hose just under the surface while planting, then topped with mulch. Works great!

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:30463}}

medcave,

Hubby bought 2 of those Wal-Mart soaker hoses. One has a pretty big leak about a foot from the end...trying to figure if I can get some water-proof glue to repair that. It did a pretty good job on my 2' raised asapargus bed and on the 5' blackberry bed. I intend to cover with bark mulch because our wind will blow it away otherwise.

Peggy

A trick to get those soaker hoses to "behave" when you're trying to put them down is to lay them out in the warm sunshine for a little while so they are softer and more flexible. Plus, an extra set of hands helps. If mine is especially difficult, I put bricks or cobble stones on it every few feet as I lay it out and leave them for a few days until it settles down, then pin it down with bent clothes hanger wire.

Sandy

I use drip system with varying GPH emitters that are connected to a timer operated valve, no fuss, no muss.

See your garden go from this;
{{gwi:30464}}

To this;
{{gwi:30465}}

Here is a link that might be useful: Win Free Garden Stuff

Peg, I hit one of my hoses with a tool and I used black gorilla tape to mend it...worked like a charm...It has to be good and dry and wrapped tightly but it won't leak.

Ruth,
I had thought about gorilla glue since this soaker hose is fabric that has 2 seams and they leak from the seams but this one has a BIG leak near the hose connection end.

Hubby's at the hardware store now ordering some closet doors for our bedroom remodel...gotta call him and remind him to pick some up!

Peggy

I have used the round ones to some avail even though our water has a lot of mineral stuff in it. I put them in the sun and get them quite warm before laying them out in a long bed in two parallel strips. I put a "Y" in one end and connect that to the water source and I connect the far ends together making a great long loop so pressure is somewhat more uniform. I correct break problems with inexpensive hose repair kits as sweet_lemon, I think it was, suggested above. I've a little box, a battery operated gizmo, which turns the water on for several minutes twice a day so manual operation is not required every day.

I use soaker hoses and love them. The way we handle holes or splits is to cut the hose clean through at the break. Insert a metal tube which has graduated tips on both ends. Than tighten the hose onto the metal on both sides using a metal clamp. The clamp circles the hose and tightens with a screw. I don't know the names but one of you guys might.

My DH ran an underground water line to the garden and arranged it in such a way the water splits to two hoses which can than be connected to two soaker hoses. My beds are about 24 feet long by 4 feet wide. A 50 foot soaker hose circles the bed in the inside area. I usually water each raised bed about 20 mintues once or twice a week. I have 5 beds which takes about an hour. Did buy a timer or will forget suckers.

I've read that, for any of these options,the water source needs to be uphill from the area that you're irrigating? Is that true?

My water spigot is close (less than 20') to the garden beds, but probably 3' lower than them. What are work arounds? Could I just run a hose to the topside and start the irrigation system, whatever it may be, from there?

Many thanks!

Water is under pressure and I don't have any problems.

albert_135 wrote:
"I put a "Y" in one end and connect that to the water source and I connect the far ends together making a great long loop so pressure is somewhat more uniform."

I love this idea. This makes such great sense. I will definitely try that this year.

I also like the idea of using pieces of clothes hanger to pin down unruly hoses. I've had good success using bricks or rocks temporarily and then removing them as I bury the hose. I've also had decent success with duct tape but I bet Gorilla tape as ruthieg__tx suggested would work even better.

cherylco: My garden area's pretty flat so I don't know for sure, but I think the pressure from a spigot would pressurize a soaker hose even if it was going uphill. Would be interesting to see one way or the other, though. Worst case scenario, however, is that you could run a hose to the uphill portion and start the drip hose there as you said.

I don't like the ones with holes so use the round ones that leak. They used to be great and last a long time when they were 3/4", but the last couple of years the new hoses are 5/8" and seem to be made thinner as I have had a lot of trouble with them developing leaks and breaking in half. I'm going to look harder for some of the 3/4" ones if they are still out there.

Drip sounds good but once you set it up for an annual crop I don't know how easy it would be the next year to fit the spacing of the next annual crop, especially if you are rotating crops in an area and all your areas are different sizes like mine.

I am also going to use Soaker hoses in my veggie garden this year. I had an area in my yard that was full shade, under trees, and bone dry. I tried getting a Woodland garden going and used sprinklers until I was sick. It never seemed to help much. Last year I put Soaker hoses in that very area and the success has been huge. I am already seeing the spring plants coming up. Needless to say, I am a fan of the Soaker Hoses. Good Luck

Soaker hoses have worked ok for me and I'm using them this year because I couldn't find T-tape locally and am tight on time and money. Next year, I'll use T-tape though. Like drip it allows you to more control of watering, but unlike drip, you can get a good soaking faster.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCYboYdOjIU

You can buy the little U stake things at the nursery's around here. They are pretty sturdy ...they rust but not an issue for me. The are 10 cents each...

Hi, I just wanted to share my experiance w/you. My very first veg garden I did raised beds. I didn't use the box/wood frame, I just mounded the soil in 6-8" deep hills on top of soaker hose. I left one of the ends out so I could connect the hose to it to water. Then I put my grass clippings in between the rows to help keep the weeds down. I lived in a small town that was on water rations so this was my only option. I had the best veg garden that year and every year after I have done the same thing.

The water goes right to the roots, where it is needded, there is no waste, you can water anytime of the day. And I never got caught by the city and I lived across the street from the water dept.

Well I do cover my hoses but truthfully, when we are on water restriction, I water according to the schedule...and I have never had anything die....hardly seems right not to be doing your part for water conservation.