Follow this simple supply list to help design your DIY drip irrigation system for your raised bed to design. Learn about the common supplies as well as get our Printable Drip Irrigation Supplies and Planning Guide!
Having a drip irrigation system can significantly minimize the amount of time you spend doing chores in the garden! Plus, it can help minimize water usage and ensure your plants are getting the right amount of water directly to the root zone.
But getting a drip system installed can be expensive and a DIY irrigation system can be confusion!!
If you’ve decided to tackle the design and installation of your own DIY drip irrigation system for your raised bed, keep reading because it’s easier than you think!
Just follow this simple supply list and refer to our Printable Drip Irrigation Supplies and Planning Guide and you’ll be running your own system in your vegetable garden in no time!
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Drip Irrigation Supplies
Keeping our vegetable gardens well-watered is one of the most important parts of maintaining a thriving garden! Drip irrigation has a host of benefits for your garden including:
- Enhanced watering efficiency
- Decreased water bills
- Reduced time spent on watering
- Minimized water splash on leaves from the soil surface, lowering the spread of soil-borne fungal diseases
- Diminished runoff and evaporation
But for all it’s benefits, the confusion that often comes when trying to set-up a system has many beginner gardeners skipping this watering option altogether!
Irrigation supplies can often be found in your local hardware store but the supplies are often individually sold or sold in kits with instructions that are less than comprehensive! So I want to walk you through exactly what you’ll need to buy so you can create an accurate supply list before you go to by your drip irrigation supplies!
I have divided this supply list into three categories: Water source supplies, Tubing, and Fittings/Connectors, which together will help you connect your irrigation system up from your faucet to your garden.
*A note on drip irrigation kits. While it can seem like a good idea to purchase the drip kits in your local hardware store, I want to caution you from making this purchase! Often these kits provide a mix of items, but not the right mix of things that you need for your garden!
If you are interested in purchasing a complete kit from an irrigation company like Drip Works.
Connecting to Water Source
Let’s start with the items that will help you connect to your water source! Most of us with smaller backyard gardens should be able to direct water from our home faucet to our gardens. If your garden covers a large area, you may want to consider adding a water supply faucet closer to your garden. (this mainly is for convenience because I recommend you also have a garden hose attached to the faucet to water plants you may add in containers.)
Faucet Splitter
A faucet splitter is a good idea to add to your faucet even if you do not use all of the spigots right away. This will allow you to connect multiple drip irrigation zones to your faucet without having to constantly switch these out.
I recommend this 4-way splitter, which allows you to set-up 3 irrigation zones along with connecting a garden hose to the 4th split.
Backflow Preventer
A backflow preventer helps to prevent dirty water from going back into your fresh drinking water. While this is not a required item in all municipalities it’s still worth considering if you are concerned about the quality of water that may be coming out of your tap.
Timer
If you are like me, you may want precise control of the timing of watering of your garden, and a irrigation timer will do just that! This is another item that is not necessary, but for truly hands-free garden watering, it is key!
Water Pressure Regulators
A pressure regulator will help to regulate the amount of pressure being pushed through the irrigation system. Having a consistent and even flow rate is important for the efficient operation of your drip irrigation system.
Garden Hose Converter
In order to connect drip tubing to the faucet threading a hose converter is necessary. These come in many different styles depending on the center you are at and all work well.
Drip Irrigation Tubing
Irrigation tubing comes in various sizes and has different purposes. Some are not needed at all, but I have included them here for you to consider.
Mainline Tubing (also called distribution tubing)
The mainline tubing is the backbone of your system and this is what will connect directly to your spigot or faucet. The most commonly used sizes are 1/2″ and 5/8″. The easiest to get is often the 1/2″ while the 5/8″ inch will allow slightly more water to flow through to your garden beds.
It can be made of flexible PVC(vinyl flexible tubing) or Polyethylene (poly tubing). Both have the same function, but vinyl tubing is slightly more flexible, and poly tubing is slightly longer lasting.
Micro Tubing
This is a much smaller irrigation tubing and can be used for distribution or emitting. Emitter tubing has small holes predrilled along the length of the tubing at differing intervals. This tubing can be snaked through your garden beds (similar to the way we do with drip tape or soaker hoses) and connected to the larger distribution tubing.
Additionally, you can use distribution micro tubing and insert your own emitters with varying styles we will discuss later in this article.
Drip Tape
Drip tape is very similar to micro tubing, except that it is flat and wider. It has pre-drilled holes along its entire length and can be used in large gardens or fields for even watering along longer distances.
Hole punch/tube cutter
While not tubing, this tool is necessary to do anything with your tubing. From punching holes to cutting tube down to size this is absolutely needed to complete your drip irrigation project.
Fittings and Drip Emitters
The last supplies you’ll want to consider getting are the fittings and drip emitters. Fittings are the “glue” to your irrigation system and connect tubings to each other as well as allow for sharp turns in your irrigation plan. Emitters are what emit the water from the system to your garden.
Spot watering emitters
These pressure-compensating emitters drip water at different flow rates and allow you to apply water specifically to individual plants. This is a great way to connect containers to your irrigation system.
Sprayers
These emitters often give you the option to change the amount of water you are delivering with adjustable flow rates.
T, L, and Straight fittings/connectors
These connectors allow you to easily direct your mainline and micro tubing where you want it with different configurations for your specific design needs.
Tube closures
These are used to seal the end of your mainline tubing.
Goof plugs
These are used to seal the end of your microtubing. You will need one for every cut end of your micro tubing.
While there are a lot of options for irrigation supplies, mapping out your irrigation plan and knowing what supplies are possible can help you create a design and build an irrigation supply list for your garden.
But maybe you don’t want to buy the individual components. That’s where I found myself this year, and why I invested in my garden and purchased the Garden in Minutes Garden Grids, and I couldn’t be happier with this choice for raised bed irrigation!
These grids come in a variety of configurations for both square and rounded corner raised beds and provide a consistent stream of precise watering directly to the base of your plants! What I find really cool about these grids is they also help those of us with Chaos gardening tendencies to stay within the square foot gardening spacing!
As a low maintenance gardener, I’ve also connected my grids to a timer which allows me to keep my garden watered without thinking about it! Which is a win win! Check out Garden in Minutes and use the code Gardenthings for 7% of your entire order just for being a blog reader!
Also Read: Ep. 15 – Easy Step-by-Step DIY Garden Irrigation System
FREE DIY Irrigation Buying Guide
If you’d like this list handy in the hardware store, or need a bit more guidance on connecting your drip irrigation system, I’ve made the perfect companion for this project!
The DIY Drip Irrigation Cheat Sheets helps you plan your drip irrigation system, create a personalized supply list, and install your own irrigation system for your vegetable garden.
Check off watering the garden from your to do list once and for all! 🌱💪 Get Your FREE DIY Drip Irrigation Cheat Sheets today!