Soaker hoses aren't that expensive. Why not get two more and leave them instead of constantly moving the one. Then you save a ton of time and don't risk breaking stems each time.

So long as you have good drainage, the plants will take what water they need. General rule of thumb is that gardens require one inch of water per week by supplementing rainfall.

You will have to adjust throughout the season and be attentive to the amount of rainfall you receive each week. There are two schools of thought on watering. Frequent shallow waterings or less frequent long, deep waterings. The general rule of thumb is that mature plants need 1-2 inches of rain per week in summer. You should provide whatever portion of this moisture is lacking. One inch of rain equals 65 gallons per 100 square feet of garden space. But this is just a guide. Time of the season, stage of the plants, soil composition, and many other factors affect the amount of water required. Be consistent during fruit production.

Mulched plants require less water than plants that are not mulched. Raised beds require more than non-raised beds.

If a good amount of compost is incorporated into the soil, less water is needed. Compost holds 6 times it's weight in water.

Watering too frequently and too heavily is just as hard on plants as too little water. Roots require oxygen just as much as they require water and nutrients.

Dry winds dehydrate plants.

Cooler temps require less water.

Those using drip irrigation whether from a soaker hose or milk jug are likely getting the best use of their water which is going right where it needs to go and the ground has time to absorb it.

There are hundreds of methods of watering. Whatever you do, just be consistent. But I do agree, twice a day sounds like too much. Roots require oxygen equally as much as they require nutrients and water.

I personally believe in a couple of deep waterings per week with the use of 2 inches of mulch to reduce evaporation and maintain a more stable soil temperature.

Plants recover from dehydration much better then they ever recover from the roots being suffocated by drowning so under watering is better than over watering until you get the hang of it. Oxygen is equally as important as water and nutrients and rain water is always better than municipal tap water.

You have to observe the moisture in the soil after the soaker runs, there is no way to say how long to run them. The output is affected by the flow rate at the source, but also they tend to output more when new and less as they age and mineral deposits form on them clogging the pores.

Just pick something like 30 minutes per day and let it go a few days, monitoring each day to get a feel for whether it's too much, not enough or just right.

Additionally as plants grow and weather gets hotter they will need more water.

And you can "observe" the moisture by performing a percolation test to determine your drainage.

Here is a link that might be useful: Soil Percolation Test

thanks. I laid the soaker hose in my front garden - it was more work than I expected, and I now clearly see that moving it around would be impractical.

We laid soaker hoses for the first time this year as well. I came here for alot of info.

They are now in place and I love them. We snaked them through the raised beds and connected each one to the next. ON each end of the long beds, to keep them secured, we cut off the ends of wire clothes hangers and stuck them into the ground securing the hose within. That has helped the hoses stay put cuz they tended to jump off the beds sometimes at the ends of the beds.

We bought hose fittings with valves on them so when I want to disconnect the main hose and spot water, it's easy to do. I turn off the valve before disconnecting the soakers or the water will spray in my face. I dont have to be at the garden site to water. I just slip out my back door, turn on the spigot and the soakers do their job in my absence. I appear at the spigot a couple hours later, to turn them off. I water for 2 hours, two or three times per week. My garden is 1000 sq feet. The watering system is super cool. You could even put the hoses on a timer...way cool. That way they will go on automatically and turn off automatically too.

I wish we would have gotten the fittings that snap together, that would make it even easier to connect and disconnect the main hose for spot watering. They are only a couple bucks a piece so next time I'm at Ace.....I plan to grab some.

I never could get soaker hoses to work for me. Our city water has a high calcium content. The pores in the hose start to plug immediately upon installation. Then water only exits from a few locations along the hose. Never where I want the water. Soaker hoses have always provided the weeds between my plants with a nice moist environment.

I ran some 1/2 inch and some longer runs using 3/4 inch black poly tubing. Then, I connected little 1/4 inch "spaghetti" tubing to the larger tubing. Using emitters of 1/2 gallon and 1 gallon per hour, I was able to water the root zone of my veggies. In some cases I use little sprayers when my plants are close together.

I've done a terrible job of explaining this but, it's SUPER easy to install. It's also built to last 30 years exposed to full sunlight. Many companies offer "drip" or "micro" irrigation supplies. Some of these companies will design your little system, if you send them a drawing of your gardens. I used these in hundreds of gardens we built before I retired. The only problem we ever had was gardeners cutting the tubing.

I use ½" mainline tubing with several lengths of ¼" dripline coming off it at the head of each bed  like soaker hoses, but more flexible and durable. Assembly is easy and it works like a charm. It's been easy to extend as I've added to the garden.

I keep it on a timer. I like watering in the pre-dawn hours, which gives the plants a chance to take up the water before the sun evaporates it. On each watering day, I have it set to water for 5-10 minutes, then wait an hour, then water another 5-10 minutes, etc. That seems to saturate the soil better with less runoff than one long continuous watering.

Dripworks, where I bought mine, offers a design service  you send them a sketch of your garden and they'll design a system for you. They've been excellent  knowledgeable, ship promptly, know their products and have a good range of solutions, from farms to square foot gardens. It's worth ordering their catalog to check out some options.

nygardener,
I know this is an old thread, but thank you for your Dripworks recommendation. They had videos showing how to set up a drip system that were extremely helpful to the new gardener. Just got a complete kit from them :)