I have soaker hoses in four separate garden areas, all running off one timer. There are lots of Y connections, which come with 2 valves each. I use sections of garden hose to connect the areas. Where the garden hose needed to cross a lawn, I cut a slot with a straight-edged shovel, pushed the hose to the bottom of the slot, then by stepping on the slot, the grass closed up. I don't have soaker hoses longer than 50 to 60 feet, and I sometimes take the cap off the far end to check that all the water hasn't soaked out before it reaches the end. On one long perennial bed 6 ft wide, I have four soaker hoses in parallel 18" apart. On shorter beds, I wind the soakers back and forth in a serpentine pattern. I try to put the hoses between the flowers, not too close to them. I have a potted plant hanging from a shepherd's crook at the end of one of these beds, so I plugged a drip line into a soaker hose and ran it up the shepherd's crook. It needs a little more pressure to get the water up to the hanging pot, but it works. The pot gets water much longer than it needs, but the extra water just drains out the bottom. Some years I've had the soaker hose on top of the ground, and other years nearly buried in the mulch (barely visible). The water flows faster when above-ground, but when buried, it seems that the flow nearly stops when rain has already soaked the ground. (I have high clay content.) So I don't turn it off when it rains. Squirrels, shipmunks, and winter frost haven't done any harm to the system, but I remove the outdoor timer over winter. I also have a drip system for a potted herb garden, but that's on a separate timer. Jim

It sure sounds like mineral deposits or build-up, & the only products that I can think of for removing minerals are harsh & expensive & it seems like it would be difficult to use them on a soaker hose; I think I'd just replace the hose. maybe re-cycle the old one for something else.

Melony, Ask away and no one is counting how many questions per thread. The only reason to post a separate thread on different topics would be to ensure that the GardenWeb search function could find them later. With molasses, I use it on an as-needed basis when adding organic matter or fertilizers to garden areas. Sometimes I put it on the compost pile where it works as a great compost activator by stimulating biological activity. There's really no rule about when to use. I just add it when I think an area needs a little more soil improvement. With drip irrigation, I use T-tape from DripWorks that has emitters/slits every 8", but my soil is heavier than Jay's. Even my sandy/silty soil has had some clay added to it in the veggie garden in an effort to make it hold water longer. In a new gardening area with very sandy soil which has not been improved very much yet, keeping it well-watered this year was difficult, so next year I'll run more drip lines through that area in an effort to keep it moist. I also hope to amend that soil quite a bit during the gardening off-season. I use soaker hoses for some things and most of mine last several years. I like to put them underneath the mulch because that protects them from the sun's UV rays to some degree. Really though, as time goes by, I'm switching more and more to drip irrigation than soaker hoses. They don't make soaker hoses as well as they used to and they do not seem to last long here. However, we have some soaker hoses that are 13 years old and completely encircle the house's foundation area. They stay there year-round and we use them to keep the clay soil around the foundation moist so it won't crack and cause the foundation to crack. Because we have a Victoria style house with wraparound raised porches, most of the soaker hoses are underneath the porches and are not exposed to direct sunlight which may be prolonging their lives. Either that or they are the best soaker hoses every made. I lift up the drip tape lines from the garden and let them dry out at the end of the season, then roll them up and store them in a big Rubbermaid tote indoors over the winter where they are not subjected to freezing temperatures. That prolongs their life somewhat. I've also used the black distribution lines where you punch holes where desired to insert emitters, drippers or sprayers at the intervals you choose in order to customize the spacing to suit your plantings. They work just fine, but if you rotate crops every year, you have to remember to rotate the driplines too with the correct spacing for the crop spacing. If you use customized lines with emitters at different spacing for each crop, you don't want to turn on your system and discover the bean beds have the driplines with tomato plant spacing and vice versa. Like Jay, I mix and match watering systems as needed. The way I do things in a very dry year is different from a very wet year or even an average year. I just try to go with the flow and alter things if I am not happy with how the system is working. Sometimes I'll even turn on the sprinkler and water with it for a while during a prolonged period of very hot weather just because the plants look so dry and dusty. Dawn

I use soaker hoses, but also have a drop irrigation system (that I am not using). For something like tomatos or other plants set at 12" spacing drip irrigation can work well, simply place an emitter every 12" or so. Where the drip becomes inferior to soaker hoses is with dense plantings. Here the fact that soakers deliver water along their entire length provides even coverage without worrying about installing tons of emitters or having them clog and fail or pop out. With Mel's mix you will have to sow seeds very close to the soakers (or emitters) as the water doesn't spread very far for the top inch. At 6-8" spacing of the hoses the mix is well and evenly moistened below 1" however. Long story short in my opinion the soakers are better suited to the close spacing found in SFG and they are less complicated/time consuming to set up. Drip is a better choice for wide plant spacings.