Rick, here's a drip system using various types of fittings, emitters, distribution manifolds (some adjustable), inline drippers, pot drippers, adjustable drippers, inline shutoff valves, and both 1/4" & 1/2" tubing with non-clog pre-installed emitters (6" & 12" spacing.) It also has a fertilizer injector and 3 zones. It's a very challenging garden to do because of various heights, paths, raised beds, containers, many different types of plants & plants' needs, a driveway, etc. It has tomatoes, peppers, corn, watermelons, perennials, garlic, onions, peas, brugmansia, strawberries, raspberries, giant pumpkins, etc. I agree corn should be planted in blocks of at least 4 rows rather than a single row. You can put your corn rows next to each other and fill in the path with plants too, or plant more than 1 "row" wide per row, or even many "hills" per row. The corn in the pic has 1/4" dripline with 1/2gph pre-installed drippers every 6" (1gph per foot.) Rows are branched off of a distribution head that has dime adjustments for each of the outlets to shut off any line at any time. (Yes, you use a dime to turn a screw in/out to control flow of each outlet.) The pumpkins have 1/2" dripline with pre-installed 1gph drippers every foot. The same line zigzags through the strawberries and watermelons. The driveway container peppers and tomatoes use similar 1/4" line with the pre-installed drippers positioned over the containers. Many lines have shutoff valves to turn the line off when not needed. The beds have distribution heads with plain lines going to each plant on the rightmost bed, and the output is changed by changing an emitter in a distribution head; adjustable emitters were manually inserted into 1/2" lines on the bottom bed, and the black fabric beds have 1/4" lines with pre-installed 1/2gph drippers run off a distribution head with shutoff knobs for each line built into the head. I liked the 1/4" line with pre-installed drippers so much I converted many of the larger lines. Cherry tomatoes in containers near the middle have pot drippers that connect to a 1/2" main line via 1/4" lines w/shutoffs. The triangular cages near the bottom have inline pot drippers. The black fabric pepper bed uses 1/4" tubing with emitters pre-installed every 12 inches. The garlic bed uses three 1/4" lines with pre-installed drippers every 6" and shutoff valves for each line. I've probably skipped a lot of things (1/2 drums get adjustable drippers, perennials along fence 1/4" line with preinstalled drippers, etc.) The fertilizer injector (the cheap model) cannot be under pressure constantly (faucet on but valves closed) so a "master" valve gets inserted before it. Anytime one of the 3 valves open, the master valve opens first, so there's no pressure on the injector and water only flows to it when a valve is turned on. This way, you can use one $39-$59 fert injector system for the whole system (versus the need for a pressurized fertilizer injector system at $200+) and the fert only goes to the open valve. My point is, while this is a really complicated system, (even partially intensive/square foot gardening principles in some places) it shows the flexibility of drip. There are limitations on 1/4" line lengths too, (I think somewhere between 20-30ft) but you break those limitations by simply adding a ditribution head or punching a hole in a 1/2" line with a $1 tool and connecting additional 1/4" lines off it to get around the length limit. I guess you'd have to decide if you want to take the easiest way out (Tape) or do it right the first time with extra options available, plus future changes possible (Drip.) If you pull a diseased or dead plant, will you be watering an empty spot? Do your plants have different watering requirements and can you make changes? Can you branch off and add a new spot easily? If a line plugs, will it still provide for the rest of the plants in the row? Can you bury the line? Is it repairable or can a section be bypassed or shut off, individually or completely? These are some questions you'll have to ask yourself, only you will know what your needs and limits are. Hope this helps. Mark Here is a link that might be useful:

Thanks everyone for the advice. We've decided to start adding drip irrigation first (hooking it up to the hose bibs) and then adding the hard-piped sprinkler system later this year/next spring. We will set the drip irrigation in the large mulched beds of trees, shrubs and perennials and set them up so that they can be added to the hard-piped sprinkler system when it is installed. How should we setup such a system? Should we run a regular garden hose from the bib to the mulch bed (area where we plan on running the drip line into the sprinkler system in the future)? What kind of tubing/piping should we use as the laterals? Below is a rough draft of the system as I envision it: 1. Close to the hose bib run a small piece of hose attached to manifold/shut-off valve that branches off into a number of different connections. One of the branched lines will be for general use and the other(s) will be for the drip irrigation. 2. After the manifold valve, a pressure reduced and filter will be installed. I don't plan on a backflow valve as the hose bib has an anti-siphon feature. 3. A section of garden hose from filter and pressure reduced to start of mulch bed (drip irrigation). 4. Laterals running along edge of mulch beds (or down the middle). Not sure if laterals should be PVC,poly tubing, vinyl tubing, or PVC flex tubing . Laterals will be 1/2" I think. 5. 1/4" tubing running from lateral to plant. Not sure if I can run 1/4" to more than one plant or not. Also not sure what tubing to use ( poly tubing, vinyl tubing, or PVC flex tubing, drip tubing). I plan to use maually placed emitters at each plant. Please let me know if this plan makes sense. I don't mind spending extra money to make the system the most efficient and durable that it can be. Any and all suggestions are welcome!

How can one accurately quote without a static pressure reading?? If , based on his numbers all the heads are quarter circle, then 10 heads x .81 gpm = 8.1 gpm flow. That alone is just outside the industry standards for flow in a 3/4" sch. 40 pipe. How likely is it that they would all be quarter circle?? If they are all half circle then 10 heads x 1.52 gpm = 15.2 gpm flow which is way out of line. Pressure loss per 100 ft. is around 18psi at that flow. Knowing the static pressure is important for that reason alone. Forget it if you add any full circles to the mix. There are other variables that affect how much water can be run but we do not have that info because we can't see the site. Based on what info you have given, I do not see this zone as operating very well. We generally do not run more than 8 gpm on a 3/4 pvc line and the conditions have to be right. High flow rates in a small diameter pipe bring along other problems such as water hammer noise.

OP: that number sounds normal for my area; however, David is completely right. The cost and need is regionally dependent. We NEED them here to keep things alive, unless we want to hand water every single day. It's hot and dry for months. There isn't a chance I would let my backyard be sprinkler-free..... it would mean I couldn't enjoy the backyard space, have no privacy from trees, have to contend with some nasty weeds, etc. I know this since I lived with nothing for over a year as I planned how I wanted everything landscaped. Also, I'm on a well. The OP probably isn't, but we wouldn't need a meter. My other option was to hook up to irrigation canal water (which would have a yearly fee and require more trenching, but wouldn't put a drain on my well pump or well water.) So, the OP needs to know their options. Are they hooking up to city water? Can they hook up to irrigation water instead? OP should ask the neighbors what they did.... and what is required. Some states or counties mandate a meter or regulate use. Finally, is your ground all rock? clay? something really hard to trench and work in? That is certainly a factor in the price. I think you should get quotes from at least a few companies....