Oh Dave we havent had any overwatering issues, only under watering here. The first year went great because I had thinner rows but now with my 3 and 4 feet wide rows, I've had to buy more hosing and that's where I ran into a prob with the pressure. When it rains I dont water. I found a 5 outlet manifold at AceHardware.com. My rows arent the same width on either side of my garden (path runs down middle) but on my schematic I counted 10 times I will have to run a hose from side to side right through the path onto the other bed on other side. Sure wish all my hose lengths were the same too but that's not the case. We will need to get some more closures for the ends of some of them. It wont be perfect and my husband understands what he must do to help me lay the hoses. This is great. Today I took the huge hunk of hosing that are all connected from the top shelf. They were stored by the gardener for the winter, still all connected in one long snake. I unscrewed them and looked at the lengths then looked at my schematic trying to see what length will cover which beds, etc. and how the extra will run into the next bed, etc. Tried to visualize the manifold in the center left with 5 hoses coming off it. I cant see if I will a 4 outlet or 5 outlet but with a 5 I'll be safe. I noted that I could use a Y and another 250 ft rubber hose back to the site if the 5-manifold doesnt work with single hose. However if this 5-manifold fails, I have another spigot on opposite side of home, I could always run another 250 ft hose from that side. Trying to minimize costs is all, I'll try one thing at a time.

I have a set-up as follows: Short hose from bib to 4-valve manifold w/ hose-to-pipe thread fitting at the manifold intake ("always on" - the bib is always turned on, and flow control is done at the valves) At the out going side of each valve I have pipe-to-hose fittings to attatch 3/4" soaker hoses and drip system conduit as needed. The valves are attached to a timer, which runs off an outlet in my garage and has wires running discreetly out-of-the-way to the manifold. When winter approaches I undo each hose from the manifold and un-cap their ends to drain and allow for any flexing/freezing. I just leave them lying in place. I pull the wiring (which is connected/disconnected w/ twist caps) and take the valve manifold into the garage near my water heater/interior wall. This is the expensive part of the system and since it's above ground you don't want it freezing/breaking the valves. When spring comes I bring out the manifold and re-attach all the hoses/wires and test the system. Been working great for 3 years now. Have only had to replace soakers from mineral build up. Got all the parts, including the manifold from HomeDepot: (1) 4-valve manifold (5) 1" to 3/4" pipe converters (1 inflow, 4 outflow) ('cuz it's nearly impossible to find 1" Pipe to 3/4" hose fittings) Also seems like some of these may have been slip converters that I had to cement in place, but that will depend on the manifold you have. (1) 3/4" MPT - 3/4" FHT adapter (Male Pipe Thread to Female Hose Thread, this hooks the female inflow pipe thread on the manifold to the male hose end coming from the hose attached to the bib) (4) 3/4" FPT - 3/4" MHT Adapters (Female Pipe Thread to Male Hose Thread to convert the outgoing valve pipes to hose threads) (1) 1-way suck-back preventer to go anywhere between the bib and manifold, just a precaution... The best thing about the whole thing is that it's flexible. I can use soakers or drip systems, multi-zoned and they're all on timers. Nearly totally carefree, automated watering. I do have "Y" at the bib with a standard garden hose so I can hand water trouble spots if I need to... but once I have those identied I try to get a dripper or a soaker to that spot so I don't have to worry about it anymore. You can get hose timers now days, but they run on batteries - so if the batteries die, you may not know it until your yard starts dying, and I don't find them nearly as easy to program as the standard sprinkler timers (I tried this route first, but I'm much happier with the system I have now).

We added a slab/foundation planting circuit to our sprinkler system years ago using 1/2 inch laser drilled soaker hose. No expert, so here's some amateur feedback on your questions: 1) “15 minutes x 2 to 4 per day” sounds like some pro’s general rule of thumb for maintaining somewhat consistent foundation moisture during the hot months. Doubt much consideration was given to what’s best for the foundation plants. Agree that the brief 15 minute cycles would probably not be best for most, though some would get along fine with it. The recommended soak time and frequencies can only be guesstimates at best without knowing the flow rate of the hose, water pressure, and other factors. 2) Buried hoses are "hot". They are the future in several parts of the country where they are now required for new lawn irrigation installations in place of the common sprinkler heads. There is likely some small advantage for a foundation soaker in terms of evaporation loss, but just hiding it under mulch helps with evaporation, protects from UV, and makes it a LOT easier to maintain. If you do bury it, it’s imperative that you have some sort of backflow prevention device installed at any potable water source; while often not required for surface hoses, one really should be used for any drip/soaker lines that are left in place, whether on the surface or buried. 3) If the instructions on the hose didn't specifically mention connecting additional soakers together, then it's probably safe to assume poor results connecting two or more "end-to-end". Running a large diameter hose to a “T” or “Y” fitting between your two 75 ft soaker hoses should give better results. A variety of pressure regulators are available to help manage the pressures at the source and/or each segment of hose. There are several threads about this over on the GW irrigation forum. 4) Our previously installed sprinklers already reach most of the foundation [plants] when we deep water the lawn, so we add 33 minutes from the drip line only as needed - usually during the hottest stretches of July through September at a maximum of twice per week. Future intentions are to reduce the flow on these lines so that we can go with a slower multi-hour drip. The lawn deep watering that reaches the foundation is also done as-needed, which usually means as much as twice per week when temps are in triple digits and maximum once per week at other times. These run for 36 minutes based on our sprinkler heads and tap pressure. So, slab gets up to 138 minutes of combined irrigation per week (per side/circuit) depending on the heat and rain conditions. 5) You’re touching on a few of the factors that make it tough to get “perfect” results by design alone. On our lot, slope is as big (bigger?) an influence as Sun exposure. Seems more effective to keep checking soil moisture a foot or so down on the different sides of the foundation and adjusting the sprinkler/soaker frequencies and durations until you get fairly consistent results throughout the week. Here is a link that might be useful: Soaker hose: do I need a pressure regulator-Irrigation Forum

oure, you can set it up that way. But the bigger question is how to set the run time? Sprinklers need to run for only minutes, drippers/soakers may need to run for an hour or more. End result: Some things drown; other things die of thirst.