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has anyone got any ideas on how to set up a small drip irrigation system. the water pressure (if you could call it that) will be a siphon from a 44 gal drum raised just high enough above the veges.

G'DAy Nick,

Sorry, I really haven't done much with drip irrigation

Nev

You need to have the water high enough to push the water through whatever you're going to use. For proprietory stuff like Leaky Pipe that's 6 meters, but I see a drip tape in my catalogue that works with just 2 meters. If the beds aren't big you could use a 16mm hose or tubing "backbone" with an end-cap. Using a punch or bradawl you make little holes in the hose and push microtube (5mm) branches in, stake or tent-peg them in place and cut to length, and put a suitable dripper on the end of each piece. They're not too expensive and that sort of thing works with only 1 meter pressure. Tips-

Sideways creep (by capillary action) depends on your soil type - 50cm for clay but as little as 30cm for sand. You can always add more drippers later. Water loss is less if you put a little mulch over the whole thing when you're done. Don't use cheap hose as you'll lose a lot of pressure that way, but if you're ever likely to use a higher pressure system, use a pressure regulator or all your microtubes will pop out!

Personally I'm running 16mm backbone around my plot with bits of Leaky Pipe for large bits, pressure-regulated drippers straight off the pipe for fruit trees, taps to determine which bits are active, and a length of ordinary hose for watering the beds.