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    Home » Video

    DIY Soaker Hose Irrigation System - GF Video

    by Eric · This post may contain affiliate links, its one way we pay the bills. · 10 Comments

    I put together this DIY soaker hose irrigation system for my raised bed vegetable garden and made a video for you. With this and a timer, I don't have to spend time watering by hand, and wasting water. Soaker hoses are great for slowly watering your garden while saving water. In another video I show how to run a garden hose underground to your garden beds.

    Steps to build your DIY soaker hose irrigation system:

    The video explains it quite well, I think, but here are some photos and tips to make it all work.

    soaker hose irrigation system being installed

    Soaker hose is available in a few different diameters. Lately I've been seeing mostly ⅜" diameter hose. Buy the hose tubing connectors that match your diameter. Either a farm supply store or a hardware store will probably have the T and elbow connectors.

    soaker hose connection to a garden hose

    Soaker hose is easiest to work with when it has been sitting in the sun for a few hours. Lay it out flat, use some rocks to hold the ends and keep it from curling. It cuts easily with a wire cutters or scissors. Be sure to cut off about 6" of hose with the feed end of the hose before cutting the lateral lengths that run down the bed.

    soaker hose ends capped off

    soaker hose right angle connection

    If your hose pressure is enough to pop out the elbows and Ts, use wire or cable ties to connect the hoses. At the hose ends, I use a wooden dowel or bend over the end of the hose. Sometimes bending the hose doesn't work.

    Parts needed for this project:

    Easy To Program Water Timer

    Good quality soaker hose

    soaker hose weeping water

    Here is a diagram of the watering system for my raised bed vegetable garden:soaker hose irrigation system layout diagramFor my beds, I run a hose across the bottom end of the bed for a trellis. I usually plant snow peas or beans on a trellis at both ends, and the lateral soaker hoses don't do a great job of getting to all the seeds I plant along that edge.

    For connecting the garden hose to the bed, I show in this soaker hose installation video how I bury the hose so the lawn mower doesn't run over it.

    watch more drip irrigationjpg

    I have found it best to use your soaker hose drip irrigation system once or twice a week in the early morning, you want long deep watering, not short shallow watering. Here is a garden hose timer that works well for automated watering.

    « Best Homemade Tomato Cages - GF Video
    Drip Irrigation for a Container Garden - GF Video »

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Sarah

      June 05, 2017 at 11:56 am

      Great video! Just what I was looking for, and fun to watch as well! Love your dogs. 🙂

    2. Eric

      June 12, 2017 at 9:44 am

      @Sarah good to hear! I like the soaker hose drip irrigation as its easier to deal with, and it doesn't break in winter. thx!

    3. Sarah

      June 15, 2017 at 2:16 pm

      @Eric I got it all set up this week and it's working great! By the way, I found the PERFECT repurposed parts to use at the ends: Those plastic-capped corks from liquor bottles! I just tapered the corks, and the black caps blend in nicely.

      I just have one minor problem, and I wonder if you have any suggestions. It seems that the end of the line gets less water than the beginning (which makes sense). A bed near the beginning of my system is getting more than it needs and is more sloped, so there's more runoff. The beds at the end are not getting enough. I'd rather not re-route the whole thing... Would adding holes to the end sections be enough to solve my problem? Or is there some kind of tape I can wrap around sections of the too-much part to lessen the flow? Thanks a bunch!

    4. Eric

      July 10, 2017 at 10:20 am

      great to hear. what I have done is make the soaker hose a loop basically. both ends of the soaker hose attach to the timer-faucet. that way there is more equal pressure throughout the hose. thx!

    5. Michael Neeb

      June 25, 2019 at 12:26 pm

      How long do you run your soaker hose for tomatoes and zucchini?

    6. LInda-Claire Steager

      May 13, 2021 at 4:44 pm

      I feel much more confident to get my system set up.

    Trackbacks

    1. How to build a trellis for your vegetable garden - GF Video says:
      April 30, 2020 at 3:06 pm

      […] wondering if you can transplant peas? I finally answered this for myself. And here’s an easy DIY soaker hose system video to water your trellised […]

    2. Drip Irrigation System with Soaker Hose - GF Video - GardenFork - Eclectic DIY says:
      May 1, 2020 at 1:58 pm

      […] I use this homemade DIY drip irrigation system with soaker hose for my raised vegetable beds. Its easy to build and works great. Watch the video to see our first take on a soaker hose system. If you want to build a simpler version see my video for PVC connected soaker hose system. […]

    3. 15 DIY irrigation system for this hot summer - Canadian Blog says:
      June 12, 2020 at 2:01 pm

      […] much soil or nutrients, here is another alternative surface spray system described step by step. Garden casket. They each set up the drip hose sprinklers as you saw before, but this time also cover the lengths […]

    4. 15 Amazing DIY Irrigation System For Summer - DIYCraftsGuru says:
      June 17, 2020 at 11:43 am

      […] Gardenfork […]

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