Can I get help with my garden here? Drip irrigation setup

[bazinga42]

Hi.

I don't know if I can expect to get help here or if I'm better off finding a gardening or irrigation forum. I figured this would at least get me people that understand our climate.

First off, let me say that I am the anti-gardener. I can't stand plants. Don't get me wrong... if they leave me alone, I'm happy to leave them alone. But me and gardening... we just don't really get along. I don't understand it, I don't like it, I wish that everything would just stop growing...

Now, we bought this house a few years ago and haven't touched the garden since my wife got pregnant in 2010. It became an unholy mess as you can imagine. I went on a mission this spring to get it under control (in the context of the above paragraph). Two ABSOLUTELY PACKED green bins later, and the weeds are out.

Unfortunately, there was a lot of collateral damage. First, I'm sure I mistook some plants for weeds and vice versa. So I probably ripped out some things I shouldn't have and I think I may have left in a couple that aren't supposed to be there. Second, the irrigation drip lines were so entwined in weeds that there was no way I could keep them in place. It didn't occur to me to make a note of where they were.

So what I need help with is a) identifying the plants I have (are any of them weeds that should go?) and b) figuring out appropriate watering for them.

I think I don't want to continue using the existing sprayers. I believe they were probably a good deal responsible for all the weeds. Our front yard has dribbler things going to each plant and weeds are nowhere near the same kind of issue. I have a large assortment of dribblers and 1000' of drip line at the ready so I'm prepared to start over. I just need help with figuring out what needs how much water.

One problem/note: the drip irrigation for this garden is branched off the same line used to water our long row of cedars. And those need a lot of run time (they are currently irrigated with hoses with a bunch of holes punched in them).

I took a bunch of photos and drew up some diagrams but before I post all those I thought I'd see what kind of response I got on the overall picture/situation.

Thanks.

Signed: Thumb as green as Alberta's tar sands (aka. Steve)

[TylerM4]

Quite the post - I'll carve off a few.

1st off - drip irrigation does sound like the way to go for you. You've got a bed of larger perennials = drip.

You are concerned with needing to keep the line on a long time as it T's off for the cedars - don't be concerned. Drip irrigation is designed to run for a long time. Regular sprinklers are measured in Gallons per Minute. "drippers" are measured in gallons per hour - just for this reason. Also - the "drippers" are really called emitters.

Drip emitters come in different flow rates. What you need to do is 1st establish how long you're going to have that zone on for to adequately water your cedars. Then decide how much each plant should receive in that same amount of time and purchase the corresponding emitter.

Sounds like you've got a weed problem. It's hard to tell from those pictures, but if was you I'd seriously consider buying some landscaping fabric to cover that bed as much as possible, and then putting some bark mulch or landscaping rock on top of the fabric. It'll make things look nicer and will go a long way to keeping the weeds under control.

[bazinga42]

Thanks.

About that last bit... landscape fabric. I did buy some actually, and then I went online and started reading up on how to install it. The overwhelming answer to that was, "don't". Most (seemingly knowledgeable) references seemed to say not to use it at all, but certainly not in a garden setting. And it makes sense to me for the same reason you wouldn't use it under, for example, pavers. The weeds come from the top, not the bottom. So as dirt, detritus, etc builds up on top of the fabric and mulch... weeds grow.

Granted, I can accept that they help prevent them from spreading and taking strong root... but Googling it results in story after story of people that had a huge mess to deal with years down the road when roots of weeds, as well as the intended plants, are intertwined in the fabric.

Now, with that said, our front garden has almost no weeds in it. There, they used landscape fabric covered in rocks.

So my research says not to use fabric. My own experience says to use it (which is why I bought it). Not sure which to believe. So then I throw in your advice... and believe me, its appreciated, but I have to ask: "are you sure"? I don't want to cause myself long term headaches.

Thanks.

[TylerM4]

Sorry for the late reply. Forgot about this thread.

I've planted many beds using fabric and not using fabric. Based on experience, I'll always use a good quality fabric (not the cheap stuff!) whenever possible.

What you have read is correct...sorta. Landscaping fabric doesn't stop all weeds. But it does 3 things for you.
1)Immediately prevents all weeds underneath the fabric from coming through. No matter what you do, there will be existing weeds in your soil that will re-sprout. To really get them good you'd need to aggressively till that ground. Tilling that ground like that will kill your existing plants by damaging their roots. Best to just pull the weeds as best you can then throw fabric over everything.

2) While new weeds will grow on top of the fabric (dust will blow into the rocks/bark mulch and weeds can grow there) they won't be able to root through a good quality fabric. They'll be MUCH easier to pull, and won't grow as well. Roots are forced near the surface so the weeds will be very susceptible to drought, etc if you go a couple of days without watering. While the other plants with deeper roots will be OK.

3) Lots of weeds spread through a root system (not via seeds on top of the soil). Fabric does an excellent job of stopping these types of weeds from moving into your beds.

Fabric isn't a weed preventing miracle. But it's relatively cheap and certainly helps a lot. I can't think of any downsides to it.

[bazinga42]

Thanks, but after doing quite a bit of research and asking on gardening-specific forums, I decided not to use fabric in the garden. Basically, the consensus among most of the professionals is to NOT use fabric underneath organic material (soil or mulches) and only use it in rock gardens. They say otherwise its short term gain, long term headache.

Moot point now. I've got things settled. Whether or not I did it right... time will tell. I just ran drip lines to each plant and covered in a heavy layer of mulch. Its been a week and so far there's no weeds, but its only a week.