turn down your water pressure. let it just drip over a longer time. You are flooding it with water. light, slow and gentle like a rainfall

A huge puddle in a few minutes? Sounds like you've got a leak in a soaker hose. Look for it above the puddle.

jnj, thanks, that's a good idea. I'll try that. Dan, no it's a brand new soaker hose and it happens on all three beds. "A few minutes" is about 20. Maybe there is just too much OM and not enough plain old dirt.

Hmmm. OK. But hubby is right. Bone dry soil won't soak up water. You don't want the soil soggy, but it should be moist. At least while getting the bed moistened, yes, turn the water on at much lower water pressure for a long time. You might try spraying the bed with water, just to get the top few inches well moistened. Then the water that comes out of the soaker hose will have somewhere to get absorbed.

Note that peat moss (and for that matter, any very organic-rich mix), when it dries out, actually repels water. Google peat moss and hydrophobia, and you'll learn all about it.

It will vary depending on the soil content but in my experience with my soil 1 hose for a 4' wide bed would never work. The water, thanks to gravity, disperses down faster than it does out to the sides. So I'd end up with over-watered plants right by the hose and underwatered plants off to the sides.

I need at least 2 hoses for 4' and using 3 hoses works even better and gets me more uniformity of moisture.

Plus jnj hit the nail on the head - water pressure. Soaker hoses work best with a pressure reducer on the faucet. The lower pressure not only allows for better distribution from side-to-side but also end-to-end. otherwise you end up over-watered close to the beginning of the hose and under-watered at the end of the hose.

Dave

Thanks Dave[dig], The water, thanks to gravity, disperses down faster than it does out to the sides. So I'd end up with over-watered plants right by the hose and underwatered plants off to the sides.

That's exactly right. It's an easy fix to just add a hose or two. I will put the flow plug thingy back in hose end, keep the pressure lower and run it longer. I'm trying to get it automated so we can go out of town in the summer so pre-spraying is a less desirable method. I'll add one hose and try to avoid letting it get overly dry. Thanks again folks. Y'all are great! Mary

I use pressure regulators and timers for watering with drip lines. A automated water timer might work in your case.

Thanks jnj. We have hard water and those drip systems seem to clog up in no time. That's why I went with the soaker hose. I have some timers, just need *time* to set up the timers. ;-) That project is perking up towards the top of my ToDo list. Do you use drip tape or those little plastic doohikeys?

I use driplines but the regulator and timers are regular hose end attached. they would work on anything.

We have hard water and those drip systems seem to clog up in no time. That's why I went with the soaker hose.

Were you using the 1/4" drip tubing with emitters or drip tape? IME with very hard water the soaker hose will clog up much faster than drip tape will.

Dave

1/4" tubing and emitters. Have not yet tried the drip tape. I see your point on clogging the soaker hose. I'll rethink it next time I lay out the tomatoes. I'm too far in at this point to change, I'll just add some hoses and I'm going to cover the hoses with newspaper thinking the weeping from the hose will carry some water and wet the paper which may dampen the top layer some. Thanks again to all who took the time to reply. m