I'd dig down in the soil an inch or two to check sub surface moisture. Could it be dry on top but wet in the root zone?

Watered for an hour how? Sprinklers and soaker hose or drip tape water very differently in the same amount of time. How much peat was in the mix? Dry peat can take forever to actually get wet unless it is well soaked for hours first.

Dave

One of the problems with a raised bed is that the soil will dry out sooner; you could also call that a benefit. When you add porous mix that tends to dry sooner and you have a situation where you may actually need very frequent watering. My guess is that you don't have enough organic matter (including peat) in the soil

to hold moisture when you water. Since you've planted I would try mulching to help conserve moisture and also install a drip system b\c much of overhead watering may by running away on the sides.

I've wanted a drip system for so long...my husband promises to get to it. I will try mulching.

We're talking triage though. I only have a sprinkler and a nozzle with a "soak" setting. For now, I need to use those. I hate to ask, but if I went with the soaker hose, how many minutes would you estimate I should water?

You need to amend the compost with peat and vermiculite. Their sole purpose is water retention. Then mulch heavy.

I just called someone who does my garden assembly projects to get an estimate on an irrigation system. After five years of sprinklers and hoses, and 8 raised beds and a big plot, I'll find the money somehow. I understand it would depend on many factors, but can anyone throw out a ballpark figure?

a drip system for 8 raised beds should be below 100 dollars. You need to know what you are doing as you need fittings, T-connectors, terminators, main line and drip line. Assembles in two hours or so but it will take longer if you need to dig to have the main line underground.

This guy knows what he's doing. But I'll have to pay for his labor (gladly!) I just don't want it to be $500. Couldn't swing that.

"how many minutes would you estimate I should water?"

That's the thing right there. You really need a system in place where you can adjust timing and emitter size to give the results you need, and you determine that by trial and error, and that too varies by rainfall and plant size.

I have a dead dry environment with no appreciable ground moisture and use two drip loops, the red one and the gray one, called so by the two cans of spray paint I happened to have on hand at the time. Each runs from a controlled sprinkler valve/vac breaker via 1/2" pvc tubing, and they run together everywhere. One loop is long duration and long interval, and one is short. There are cheap three dollar plastic ball valves at each bed to cut off the whole bed from the system. Each bed has a 12 inch threaded pipe coming up out of the ground and capped with a multi-barbed manifold head for 1/4" tubing. if a plant needs more water, I pop off the emitter and replace it with one with faster flow.

The few things in a row like trellised peas and cukes get a long imbedded emitter drip line, but mostly it's just manifold heads with quarter inch lines snaking everywhere, so it's designed for specimen plants like toms, peppers, and squash, not bedding plants like carrots or garlic. If I had such bedding plants I'd just replace a tubing head on the short duration line with a shrub sprayer head.

It's all dead simple and the whole thing probably cost $250 US. That's parts prices. 200 feet of tubing costs roughly $70 all by itself. It can be buried either in the beds or in the paths with spurs to the beds. Anywhere. I have no winter freezes so there was no reason to put a drain on the low spot.

Two things. One is I have to do something like this to manage water because of the climate, but can still drag out a hose for touchups. Two, you still have to watch for clogged emitters. Three, it's easy but not mindless.

Thank you so much. I am a words person--can do zero things with my hands and my mind isn't mechanical. My husband is an engineer and could do this in a snap but he just put in a new bed for me last weekend, so I'd rather just pay (if it's not that expensive) than to ask him to do it.

He told me that $200 might cover parts. Sh*t.

I was going to post something similar to grubby's post, highly seconding the need to keep each bed's irrigation easily customizable by you. You'll find that each bed will probably have different watering needs and that they will change from year to year, assuming you rotate your crops. You're also going to have to experiment a lot in the beginning to figure out the optimal watering schedule/amount of water for each bed, so being able to pop off one tube or emitter and add something else will be important. I also added a manual shutoff valve to each bed in case I'm leaving one empty or have something planted in one that has much different watering need than the rest of the beds on the same timer, etc.

grubby, instead of sprayer heads, I use drip line with 6" imbedded emitters and line the tubing up about 6" apart for my carrots and such. Works a charm.

We bought one of those splitters with places for 4 hoses, some hose from freecycle, some soaker hose from freecycle, some hose repair kits. This way we can water the things that need it more or less frequently as needed. I still do a hand watering from time to time for therapy and to get in there and really inspect the plants. A couple of the beds are too far to use this system, so they are hand watered.

I'm retired now, so I have the time , but it was great when I was working! Nancy

Also, I can give my daughter easy to understand instructions for watering if we go away! Nancy

Wait, a sprinkler nozzle watering for an hour and the bed is dry in two days? Is that what you're saying? That just doesn't sound right. Especially in NE Pennsylvania, where the temps can be that extreme yet. Yes, the soil might be dry on the top few millimeters, but it's got to be moist below. Dry as in the soil isn't dark and moist? Or dry as in it isn't sopping wet? Parched beets? What does that mean? You mean the leaves are drooping? Beets have pretty deep roots, so it's practically inconceivable to me that they are hurting for lack of water after intensive watering two days before.