Hi
We have just completed our first proper year of attempting a self-sufficient-ish life and by the end of it found watering to be a very time-consuming chore.
We have 31 raised beds in our garden, plus a sort of greenhouse attached to the house that is 31ft by 6 ft, which we grow chillis, peppers, tomatoes and aubergines in. We also grow potatoes in old compost bags and car tyres, and have other veggies growing in the garden borders, plus 8 fruit trees and a fruit cage with another large raised bed that contains a variety of soft fruits.
Can anyone suggest the best (and hopefully cheapest) way that we should look to irrigate the above. We have 2 outside taps, a 20m hozelock hose and a 50m hozelock hose, which i would love to make redundant as in my ideal world we would not have to water anything manually this year. It would be nice to be able to have a few weekends away, and only need to ask the neighbours to collect eggs in our absence rather than spend about 90 minutes each day watering!
Any help or tips anyone can give would be great. Likewise if anyone has any opinion on which companies are cheapest to use?
(we grow all manner of veggies - carrots, parsnips, beetroot, beans, tomatoes, garlic, lettuce, peas, mange tout, spinach, onions, broccoli, radish, cabbages, sprouts, cauliflowers, asparagus and not sure what would be the best things to use - have seen drip pipes, sprinklers, drippers and other things and want to make sure whatever we invest money into, it will ensure that they get the right amount of water, so that the tomato skins don't end up splitting, so that we don't encourage blight etc!)
thanks in anticipation!
L