I'm currently spot watering a 2-acre market garden (mixed vegetables) from a dug well. So far (two years), I've gotten by mainly with rainfall, but this year I want to have a reliable source.

The goal is to have a reasonable volume of water available for dry spells, but not necessarily to water all the time.

The field is more or less flat, and dips down in one corner, where we intend to dig a pond, 20' x 50' or so, by as deep as possible (maybe 8'-9'). This would be done by a high hoe contractor. There is no electricity available there.

For getting the water to the field, which means up the slope and then about 500' to where the garden starts, the plan is to get a gas generator and a shallow well pump and a reservoir tank (I'm also looking into sprinkler pumps, which may eliminate the reservoir?)

For distribution to the field, the idea right now is to duplicate the existing well set-up, which is 1" PVC flexible pipe, attached to a faucet off the barn well. It goes about 300' to the garden, and then down the length, which is about 450' (x 200'). I'm not sure what the current PSI is, but we can get about 4-5 GPM right now, and the pressure is fine for hose work, and running 200-300' of soaker hose or drip tape (that's the extent of what's been tried). So I'm hoping that the pond solution could work as a simple switchover from the well connection.

For delivery to the beds, the current plan is a combination of drip tape and various spot methods (lawn-type sprinklers, soaker hoses - I realize sprinklers need quite a bit of pressure). Depending on the crop, some beds would be set up with permanent drip tape (in place for the year) and could be turned on as a zone (sections are 50x50, with 500' of tape to cover all beds per section). For other crops, it'd be manual, either dragging in fast soaker hose, or sprinker, or by hand.

I don't want it to be too makeshift, but on the other hand, I can't see (budget, time) laying in a full drip system. I want to get the pond in place, and be able to deliver the water as a first step.

I imagine this is a fairly common general situation (drip from a pond). Do you have any suggestions, warnings, comments? Thanks!