mockturtle

I think you're going to spend many hours watering your beds with the setup you have.

If you have access to a water faucet, can you get some soaker hoses (cheapest) or drip lines to water your plants and mulch the beds deeply? You don't give your planting zone or mention mulching, but summertime really causes rapid evaporation without mulch and can lead to poor plant production. You want to enjoy your garden, not spend cumulative hours watering it by pouring water into containers beside the plants!

Well, I have 16 raised beds all on drip irrigation with timers. Three beds are not.
The ollas are filled with water a couple of times a week, and they water all the plant roots within a 10-12 inch radius.
Beds are all mulched.

I thought about soakers but the three beds are all very far apart, and I hate tripping over all the connecting hoses.

8 ft x 4ft. bed with two ollas in it. I just need something to supplement, and have read a lot about using plastic bottles.I have 12 one liter bottles. Takes about ten minutes to fill them. And since the veggies only need a couple of inches a week, in theory I need to only fill them a couple of times a week.

But there is the question, how often do I fill them?

We're in southern california, pasadena area. Zone 9.

mockturtle

The question of how often to water is not relevant. Instead, you'll need to check the soil by sticking your finger straight down into it, and if it's dry two knuckles down, it's time to deep-water. If you water on a schedule instead of deep-watering less frequently, you'll find most of the roots won't go deep, instead seeking water just under the soil-surface and compounding the need to water more often since the soil surface loses moisture quickly. Or conversely, you could over-water the plants.

IOW, you need to pay attention to the needs of the plants, not a schedule! [I also have soaker hoses and a timer, but with the deep mulch, I don't even use the timer much (except when germinating seeds are trying to get above-ground) since I have to water so seldom, maybe once every two weeks or even less.]

I think you'll be busy checking and watering those three new beds, but that isn't many, so it isn't likely to be overwhelming. With an olla, it's impossible to even give you a ball-park figure since so many factors impact how moist your garden soil stays such as temps, evaporation, plant-transpiration rates, etc. It could be once a day or once a week!

I think your best bet is to just determine the moisture in your beds with the old trusty finger-method, and then water if needed!

That's good you have it mulched, and the more height to the mulch, the better of course.

This is probably not what you're talking about, but I have some for some indoor potted plants that I sometimes forget to water. They work well for that purpose. I just judge from the level in the bottle when to refill. I would imagine something like this might work for you. Although I use smaller (water) bottles for my indoor plants, they will work with a larger (soda) bottle.

Here is a link that might be useful: Plant Nanny

Thank you Anney. you are correct, it is about the plant not the schedule.
I have my fingers, which I have been using for about twenty years, and just in case, I have a handy dandy moisture meter.
I think I am covered, just was curious if anyone else had used this particular method of watering.
I haven't done it before, I have used drip irrigation. Knowing my garden so well after so many years, I have a pretty good idea of temps and evaporation levels, so the timer does really well for me. And I am LOVING the ollas. They are all kinds of awesome.
But it doesn't appear that many here have used this method, except susan2010 (thankyou), so I guess it will just be trial and error. Like everything else about gardening!

i tried the bottle drippers a few years ago but didn't like them, seemed messy, fussy, and flimsy to me.

Last year i buried a few one and three gallon plastic pots strategically and watered by filling them and letting them drain. It worked pretty well in my clay soil even though the water was delivered rather quickly. i don't know that it would be as effective in sand and it does take up some room.

Thanks for posting about the ollas, i haven't heard of that technique before. Found some instructions online for making your own, even, but i'll probably stick with my low tech method.

Thanks Mauirose. I think your idea sounds good. They bottles do drain fast as well, which is sort of what I was asking about. Does it really matter if the water is delivered fast or slow, as long as the plants get what they need?

BTW, the ollas are really fantastic. Because they are buried so deep in the bed and the water leeches out of the sides, the roots get a nice SLOW watering. This is the first year I have used them and my heat loving veggies are resonding really well!

mockturtle,

Here are some pics showing how I watered before I installed my drip system. I still use these for plants (mainly sunflowers) that were not put on the drip. It's basically a gallon jug with an 8" or so piece 1/4" tubing coming out the bottom. I tee the end of the tubing so I can water a couple of inches to both sides of the plant. I water as needed. It takes approximately 15 minutes to run out of water. It works pretty good but is time consuming if you don't have enough jugs.

In action watering some okra plants (on drip now)
{{gwi:56350}}

In action watering a sunflower just to the right (recent)
{{gwi:56351}}

Here is a link that might be useful: More garden pictures here.

Mockturtle,
I have done what you are proposing (if I understand your post correctly), in garden beds (in ground) and in large tubs (75L or so capacity), in order to deal with our seemingly perpetual drought and the water restrictions. Sometimes the only water available for the garden is water collected in the house while waiting for the hot water to come through, so I need to make sure it gets where it's needed.

I've used plastic bottles and make a lot of holes with a heavy darning needle around the bottom third, then I buried the bottles with the neck sticking just above the mulch (keep the lid on when not watering if you want to stop snails from moving in or mulch/soil falling in.

I would water about twice a week, or as needed. Obviously this would be a pain to do on a large scale. On a small scale it worked for me very well. The spacing of the containers depends on the plant's water needs - tender veggies vs mediterranean herbs, for example. And of course newly planted seedlings/seeds need different treatment!

As far as the rate of flow from the container to the soil, it will obviously be way faster than an olla! It will depend partly on hole size and number, and over time I found it slowed a bit as dirt clogged some of the holes.

A fast rate is not necessarily a problem, unless your soil is super-sandy. Provided there is organic matter there to hold onto the water and keep it in general the vicinity of the plants, I don't think it matters whether the water is released over 5 minutes or over a few hours. In fact, although I still use this method in the large pots, I have modified it for the current garden that I have - For the in-ground beds I have cut the bottom out of my plastic bottles and use them basically like a short pipe going through the mulch and into the soil. This type of subsurface watering works perfectly for me. I have a clay soil which I am progressively amending with organic matter, so I'm not worried about excessive drainage.

For me the buried container was simply a convenient delivery system for the water, and also a handy way of knowing exactly how much water I was giving at each watering. Carrying water to 3 raised beds twice a week or so wouldn't be too much work for me, but then all my watering is manual because of water restrictions and the fact that I don't own the property and don't want to invest in an irrigation system that might not be appropriate for the next location. YMMV

Wow! 19 raised beds. I envy you :-)

I like your plan. But I guess it depends on what kind of plants you're watering.

I have used the 2 ltr plastic bottle drip watering from time to time before I had time to add drip irrigation for new veggie beds.

They worked for veggies. For my application, the drip spikes only goes into the ground for 8 inch. The bottles would drain in about 10 min, while my automated drip irrigation runs about 30 min for similar amount of water. To be honest, I don't feel much difference in result. But because filling the bottles and transporting them on hills was not practical for me, I much prefer dripping systems on timer.

I also tried this for trees and bush, which absolutely do not work as well as the automated drip irrigation on timer for an hour or two. They simply drain too fast to go deep enough.

Oh excellent !!!!!!
Thanks so much. All your responses are exactly what I was hoping for. I was just concerned because the water comes out so much faster than a regular drip.
It doesn't seem like it should matter if it is fast or slow as long as it gets to the root, but I wanted to hear from others who have done it.

My soil is all planting compost with a good layer of mulch.

And Bluebirdie, it's 16 beds. Once I get my husband to agree to tearing up our front lawn, I'll put in more. We share the work and harvest among three families, as well as donating to the local shelter. Lot of work, but as you all know the reward is incredible.

16 or 19. don't matter. I envy you! ;-)

LOL, Bluebirdie !
On my way out to tend to those 16 beds!