lehua, Thanks for your reply - much appreciated. I suppose I should have checked more into the forum archives prior to posting - would have prompted me to first check into my hydraulic specs. Our water does come from a municipal source, which obtains it's supply from local fresh water natural lakes/ponds and reservoirs. It is treated with chlorine and fluoride (1.0 mg/l) and has a moderate hardness of 68 to 84 mg/l. I just did a test by filling a 5 gal bucket from the freeze-proof garden bibb, timed it with my phones' stopwatch - and it took exactly 60 seconds to fill to the brim, which equates to 300 gal/hr. The main vegetable planting area consists of (6) 36"+ wide x 18 ft long beds, each naturally bermed about 6" above the 18" wide pathways - which are freshly covered in straw mulch each season. Each row slopes along its length, approx 6" in 18 ft., or 2.8%. We also have a couple of 42" x 12 ft wood-plank raised beds for strawberries, herbs and smaller rotating crops. An 8' x 5' onion patch, 10' x 4' raspberry patch and a 40' x 3' mixed use bed along the east garden fence - all with about a 1.5% slope. The soil composition is 12" to 18" of very rich humus, with a mix of loam + grey clay in the subsoil layers. I have been layering at least 3" of my own organic compost over each bed twice/season, which I first break down with my shredder/chipper. Water plumes have always spread very well when hose/pail watering in the past. Organic additives, such as bone meal, wood ash, and dried blood are added regularly, with limestone tilled in the Fall, if soil ph tests require it. Concentrated fish emulsion is mixed with water and applied by hand to each plant during the growing season. Due to some early blight occurring on our tomatoe and pepper plants, which was spread I believe from water ground splash, I'm thinking drip irrigation may minimize this from happening. I have not yet purchased the inline filter, 3/4" mains and 1/2" laterals, but have received the 3/4" ball valves and electronic water timer/valve I had ordered. The author of a Utah Co-op Extension article on the prototype PVC system (see link), recommends drilling 1/16" holes, in 2-3 hole clusters, spaced to align with individual plants. My plan was to dedicate each lateral to plants with similar needs, with all lateral and major pipe joints being separable to accommodate seasonal rotation and off-season storage. Since I have no experience with this yet, I was waiting for the time when my indoor grown seedlings are about ready for transplanting, before determining hole spacing. Drilling should be easy enough to do when that time comes by setting up a jig. Sorry for being long-winded - many thanks for your encouragement, and system endorsement . . . I feel less like a pioneer now. Best, Steve Here is a link that might be useful: PDF - Designing a Baasic PVC Home Garden Drip Irrigation System

Hi tdscpa, Thanks for your suggestions. I had checked out the rainbird and other websites but I did not see explanations on having the manifold at the water faucet with the lateral lines going 25 feet underground verses having the main line going 25 feet under ground with the manifold in the irrigation area. But see my comments below. Hi homr, Thanks for taking the time to key in all that information. Especially explaining the pressure loss problems. But it looks like my whole plan will have to be revised due to what I learned. See my comments below. REVISED PLAN: Thanks to all who contributed to this thread. I really appreciate it. I talked to a city tech and he gave me a link to city ordinances which deal with irrigation systems. From what I read, it appears that the backflow preventer (BP) has to be installed in the main line prior to any branching. This means the BP will have to be installed near the front corner of our property where the main line first enters our property. This will require longer runs from the BP to the irrigation areas in the front and back yards. I'll have to check with a licensed plumber with experience in irrigation systems confirm whether the BP has to be installed before any branching. But it looks like I have even bigger problems if the BP has to be installed at the front corner of our property: 1. If the BP has to be installed at the front corner of our property, the main line will have to go across our concrete driveway and entry sidewalk to get to our front yard. IÂm reluctant to cut our concrete driveway and entry sidewalk to do this. 2. The path from the BP at the front corner to the back yard is all concrete. That side of the house has concrete from the house to the hollow tile perimeter wall. A DIFFERENT QUESTION: Any licensed plumbers reading this? Is there a universal code that says all main lines have to be buried in the ground? Or is it "generally" permissible to run a main line above ground? (Like attached to our hollow tile perimeter wall above the concrete sidewalk?) Assuming I can get the main line from the BP at the front corner to the back yard, I will have to run the line around the house (buried under ground) to get it to the front yard without having to do item-1. (The other side of the house does not have concrete.) Sorry for the long post. I guess there is no such thing as a simple drip irrigation system if it is to be done right, Sky

Lehau13 - Thanks for your helpful questions and perspectives. I don't believe there is a pressure regulator but I will double check. (1) The rep said the 78 PSI was the pressure of water that would go into the irrigation system and the source of that water would be a new line from above my water meter inside my basement to an exterior wall. I'll have to check that for the sake of the internal plumbing and appliances too. (2) The rep proposed five zones, two of them for drip irrigating the beds and three for the lawns totaling 5,100 sq. ft. He didn't delineate the zones so I'll have to ask him but in total he's proposed 12 Rain Bird 5000 rotors and six rotary nozzles. (3) I told him we were taking "quotes" but to drive home that point, when I send him some followup questions, I'll say that will make it easier to consider the different proposals. all wet - Thanks for your response. I will, of course, be comparing both the quality of the designs and prices. My concern at this stage is that none of the companies may propose a design that is well thought-out, My plan has never been to automatically go with the low bidder, which as you suggest, is a risky strategy. My concern with the first proposal is that it seems both over-priced and of questionable design. To all -- I may have to extend my search beyond London, Ontario, which for those who don't know is a city of 350,000 two hours from Toronto, Detroit and Buffalo and an hour from the Michigan border. We did that for a major home project recently when we struck out finding a company that did high-quality work and were quite pleased with the results.

Since tomatoes are grown in almost every climate and there are many different type there is no right way to do it but depending on the context there can be wrong ways. An older retire has all day to water but is too frail to move a 20 gallon container. I can advise such people 3 gallon is doable. It would be a horrible solution for those that plan on week long summer excursions or want maximum production. If you are one of those people who plant their garden in way back yard and forget to visit it for a week or two then I strongly suggest that you cage every 3 feet. When disease is a problem it is less feasible to pack them together. On the the hand growing in containers close together makes changing out the soil trivial to rotate away from the disease etc. Some times there is better sun further up the trellis. If one wants larger and earlier fruit then by all means prune(at the cost of total production). This also means those with lots of space may also want to prune to a single vine for the early fruit. There are just too many urban, forested settings and where caging a plant every 3 feet is not desirable. There is one site I like about a garden that terraces into a mountain. That space is precious. I used to be one of those where I grew up with a sunny large flat back yard. Now I have a 6 foot strip on the south side of the front yard and side of the house because its shaded elsewhere. I go from raised beds to containers once I hit the side of the house. A few big cages and a few hills of squash is just going to eat up my space. I do pole beans rather than bush for this reason. 3 foot cages is simply designed for one cultural practice with specific goals in mind which I would classify as lower maintenance and cost utilizing an available space resource. The default advice seems to be traditional row gardening and it does not always apply. However its also true not to take advice on intensive gardening and then treat it like a row garden. In one case an urban gardener will just not even try. In the other case such a person will be discouraged to try again.