Irrigating wide raised beds

I've never used an irrigation system before, and I've read all the threads I could that deal with this, but I'm still unsure about how one waters a wide bed with multiple (and companion) plantings. My beds are three feet wide and about 30 feet long., raised but not contained within boards, and not all parallel (some of them are the garden border). I'm planting potato, tomato, peppers, carrots, chard, beans, cukes, squash, and bunches of herbs and flowers. Clay soil, amended with lots of organic matter.

Considering I get good materials from say DripWorks or Lee Valley, here are my questions:

Will plants get enough water if I snake a soaker hose through a bed (using, say, 45 feet of soaker hose for a 30 x 3 ft bed)?

Would I use two or more lines of T -tape down the beds instead?

Am I correct in guessing that one straight line of drip irrigation down a bed is just not going to reach everything adequately?

Please, if anyone's got experience watering this sort of bed, I'd love to get your input.

From what i just read on T-Tape from a site the dripper sections are spaced
evenly down the T-Tape, so you may miss a plant here and there if you allready
have stuff planted.

I was looking at soaker hose to be less forgiving , just run it right by the plants
and you see fit ,

I just seen in another forum , running PVC pipe down the beds .. you could
just drill some small holes in it where needed or even drill and tap it and screw in
some misters/sprayers.

Im thinking of going with soaker hose and the PVC pipe since i allready have some
misters laying around and see what happens. hook them up to a water timer and
rain sensor .

... just have to get the wood and topsoil and build my beds first ..

zeppy, if your thinking of using drip tape I would use queen gil. Queen gil drip tape has emitters spaced every 4 inches. Go to www.robertmarvel.com they have a kit for the home gardener using queen gil. The best tape on the planet . David

We love soaker hoses! They will soak 1 1/2 to 2 feet on either side, so for a 3 foot wide bed I think I'd just run one down the center. We have a double set going down our garden, which is 5 or 6 feet wide. You just have to fiddle with the timing until you figure out if it takes 15 minutes or 30 to get sufficient water to your garden -- check it every 5 or 10 minutes by digging down 6 inches near the edge of your bed. Remember that you probably won't see much water on the surface, so you will need to dig down to check.

Thankee, all. Very helpful!

I am moving from PVC with tiny holes punched in it on 2 sides and a bottom to T tape at 8 inch intervals in my really raised beds. I am switching because the PVC was splashing water on some things and I got some powdery mildew on squash and such. I chose T-Tape as it lasts longer than soaker and soaker hose has a problem with long runs and it waters unevenly (lots of it at the beginning and just a little down towards the end. The Pro's use T-tape. I bought my set up at berryland irrigation (pop that into Google). I have not installed it yet but will this next weekend. I think the PVC would have worked and lots of Mittleider method gardners use it but my pipes were too high, if I had installed it lower then I would have been just fine.

Sincerely,

Bump

Thanks Drew, I read this earlier and forgot. So I won't even bother considering the pvc, as I plan on swithcing to t-tape when money allows... I found one that allows you to use compost tea, without clogging. They sent me a free 10 foot section, can't wait to try it.
Currently, I have soaker hoses in 50 foot lengths going up and back on 20 foot wide rows. You can see the hose, because it is under 4 inches of snow (2 melted already). Yep this was just before lunch TODAY.

Man I have gotta get you new pictures of what I have gotten in so far! Tomorrow.... I promise!

Drew

Tomorrow suits me, I will be out planting, and read it at midnight! Thanks...

BTW, that Garden Wizard doesn't do what I want as fasr as intensive beds. I got an upgrade to Pro, but waiting on email reply. So if you have connections (or clout) with the guy at gwizard@IDEA1.com, I do wish to get that upgrade soon...

I dont even have the software myself....

Drew

just wishful thinking I guess :-( can't recommend it yet...

I posted in the Upper Midwest forum under thread Vegetable Garden Irrigation Techniques, hoping to get an active sharing going on types, costs and benefits/probs.
I'll watch to see if people surf over there, if not I'll repost here.
Ian
burlington ON
Zone 6