"Downspout" Garden Irrigation

Downspout Garden Irrigation FARM HOME Miscellaneous You can put rainwater to work irrigating garden beds with a super simple downspout irrigation system When Ted Sponsel and his avid gardening wife Linden Staciokas built a garden bed under a house eave the system saved them time and hassle with watering Sponsel says his downspout system was easy to install and kept a perennially dry garden area well watered The area under the house eaves never got any rain explains Sponsel Building a raised bed there and installing this system put the water and space to work With the open bottom bed any extra water just drained through The system consisted of a length of 4-in flood irrigation pvc pipe with drain holes already installed He buried it down the center of the partially filled bed At the far end he capped the pipe with a solid end To supply the pipe with water Sponsel extended the downspout to the near end of the irrigation pipe I picked up a matching diameter pvc plumbing fitting It had one round side to match the pipe and a square mouth on the other side to match the square downspout end he says Once that was placed on the input end of the irrigation pipe I simply directed the downspout pipe into it The only tricky part was getting the slope on the irrigation pipe right If there wasn t enough slope the water flowed out the near end of the pipe Too much slope and most of the water flowed out the far end Sponsel ran a hose onto the roof and through the downspout He then adjusted the slope so the water flowed out evenly across the length of the pipe Once he was satisfied he firmed up the soil and added manure and more soil to the bed The only other addition to the system was to add wire mesh over the top of the downspout to keep out leaves Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Ted Sponsel P O Box 72884 Fairbanks Alaska 99707 ph 907 457-8343; dorking@acsalaska net

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