The Results Are In!

Hello all! I want to thank everyone who completed the survey. I also appreciate all the emails and suggestions I received. It’s clear to me that it’s important to most of you that the newsletter remains a free service. I went over every solution available to me, and was finally able to find a way to continue offering it at no cost.

You will all continue to enjoy the newsletter for FREE thanks to my husband. He subscribes to a service and has offered to let me piggy-back at a fraction of the full cost. The best way to show your appreciation is to visit his website at www.gettingfinancesdone.com. He will be submitting guests posts there every now and again and I’ll be adding him as a sponsor on the sidebar. Finally, I may highlight him in the newsletter on occasion.

The only catch is, I will need everyone to resubscribe. This new service is very good about protecting people from spam, so it requires double verification. You first submit a request, then verify by clicking on an email you receive. It’s pretty standard practice for newsletters and memberships.

In the immediate future the newsletters will look much the same, but once I have everything set up it will allow me to spend more time making fun improvements. I can’t wait! It sure beats copying and pasting everyone into a spreadsheet and manually sending out 6 emails every week!

So please visit the website and subscribe–you will find the form on the right sidebar of my webpage.

Thanks so much. I look forward to getting going for the seasion!

Happy gardening!
Emily

PS Red and Orange groups, I apologize. I realize I’m already behind! I promise to get things moving this week!

It’s Time! A Call to Action!

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Can you believe it’s time to start your garden for 2010? Okay, it’s not time for ALL of you, but those with early frost dates (Red group) should be planning, starting seeds, etc. As I look outside at snow that hasn’t melted in weeks and check the thermometer (it’s about 27 degrees F), I can’t believe it myself! I promise, even though my gardening won’t start for a month or two, I won’t leave you Red and Orange groups on your own. I will start thinking green along with you!

There are several changes I have to make this gardening season. I hope many of you found my weekly email newsletters helpful as a reminder of when to plant what. This year I hope to add a fertilizing schedule (both organic and chemical) so your garden can be as green and prolific as possible.

The problem I’ve run into is this–I have over 500 requests for email newsletters. Thus far I have been sending these out manually (groan!), but gmail only allows me to send 500 per day. I’ve accepted the reality that I need to upgrade to a service that will automate the newsletters and allow me to send it to an unlimited number of people.

I hope you believe me that I do not run this site for money (the advertising just covers my costs), and I’m not trying to make a buck off you. But if I want to continue this service I can’t afford to absorb the cost myself. So, I’m asking for your help–please take the following survey so I can figure out if I can continue the newsletters and how much to charge. Just be honest!

Click here to take survey

On a more personal note, this is what I’ve been growing this winter:

Baby Pumpkin

This is baby Jacob in October. Check out how big he is today!

Baby Bumbo
The good news is, he’s starting to sleep through the night, which means my brain is slowly thawing and I’ll be able to think and write coherently again!

Happy upcoming gardening!
Emily

Click here to take survey

Sorry for disappearing

I apologize for disappearing with not even a word. Here’s what’s been happening at our house:

Baby

We just adopted baby Jacob! We first heard about the situation on September 1, met the birthparents on September 5, Jacob was born on September 9, and placement was September 14. Most people get 9 months to prepare, we had just 14 days start to finish.

On top of it all, Jacob was in the NICU for 9 days, so I spent my days and nights with him until he came home.

I will be getting back to this blog–I have a lot of ideas and changes for next season. In the meantime I will post about my harvests, fall planting (just garlic!), and recipes when I have time.

Thanks for your patience!
Emily

Harvest Update

I’ve been enjoying some great harvests, and wanted to document it so I know what to expect at this time next year!

Peas
I planted 2 squares of snow peas and 2 squares of sugar snap peas. Just like last year, I had a HUGE harvest and loved every minute of it! The peas grew well until mid-July, when the super hot temperatures hit. In all, I probably harvested 2 gallon bags full of peas. It’s hard to say, because we seemed to eat half of them straight out of the garden. I had enough to snack on, cook with, dip in ranch, and bring to a neighborhood party. The only thing I didn’t do was take a picture of them!

Broccoli
broccoliI harvested three HUGE heads of broccoli this year. I loved the variety I planted, Burpee Green Goliath. Last year the brocooli was more tender, but much smaller. As those plants take over nearly 4 squares each, it’s nice to feel like you harvested something big! I was too impatient to wait for side-shoots because the plant was taking over so much space in my garden.

This gave me plenty of broccoli for curry, stir fry, dipping in ranch, etc. I’m definitely going to plant this as part of my fall garden.

Cilantro
CilantroI had a scanty cilantro harvest. I think I will start this a lot sooner next year. It just bolts so quickly when the weather gets even a little bit hot.

I probably harvested at least twice this much, but in June. I need cilantro in August, when I’m making salsa! Perhaps I should try growing some in the shady part of my yard in a small container. I have left the plants to go to seed so I get coriander, and to see if it will grow during the fall and early spring.

Parsley
parsleyI planted two parsley plants, and it has been WAY TOO MUCH! I never believe in the spring that these tiny plants will get so huge and produce more than I can ever use.

This is just a sampling of my parsley–I probably could be harvesting 4-6 times this much. Note for next year: ONE PLANT IS ENOUGH!

Peppers
peppersMy peppers struggled all spring, I think because it was so cold and wet. Then they took off like crazy! Two things happened, and I don’t know which to credit, or if it was a combination of the two. First, I kept all my eggshells for a while, until I had at least 8 dozen. I crushed them up, put them in a 5 gallon bucket and filled it with water. I let it sit for a day, then watered my peppers with it. Second, it got really hot.

Either way, I have been harvesting peppers way sooner than I expected. Check out all these anaheims (had zero success with these last year)! I will definitely grow these again–they were Mountain Valley Seeds (a local company) Anaheim Chili.

I have TONS of japalenos as well. These have been prolific, but the peppers are very small. The package says they will grow to 3″, but mine are more like 2″. Again, it was Mountain Valley Seeds, Jalapeno. I will try another brand next year.

My bell peppers seem way behind the others. I have harvested the ones pictured, plus about 3-4 others we already ate (sorry!). I planted Burpee Kaleidoscope Mix, which seemed fun at the time, but the peppers are all quite small. Next year I will look for something that grows large bell peppers, so I have the quantity of peppers needed for salsa!

Cucumbers
cukescukes_picklingI planted two types of cucumbers this year.  As you can see, the regular kind (top photo) have been FANTASTIC! They are so delicious, small seeds, and the skin is not bitter.

And of course, I have NO IDEA what they are. I planted the whole package and threw it away. I do suspect it was a hybrid. I know I spent $1.50 to $2.00 on a seed packet and planted ALL of them in 2 squares, which usually only happens when I buy more expensive hybrid varieties. I hope I can figure out what they are, because I really want to plant them again. Next year, I will just do 2 squares of these. That is PLENTY of cucumbers for our family.

I’ve decided that, though I like the idea of making pickles, it’s just not worth it. Pickling cucumbers have to be harvested at just the right time and size (which eludes me), otherwise they grow big and fat and ugly. They aren’t great to eat. I will not grow this variety again.

Tomatoes
tomatoesThese are the tomatoes I have harvested so far. They are just starting to ripen in quantity. I am really hoping for “more tomaotes than I know what to do with,” but I’m not very hopeful. Some of my fruit still on the vine has blossom end rot, which is caused by over- or under-watering. Next year I will put all my tomatoes on the same sprinkler line so I can control this better. Also, my tomatoes on the east side are ripening faster than the ones on the west. I think they do better with the hot-afternoon sun.

Carrots
carrotsThis is about 1/3 of my carrot harvest. I planted Burpee Sweet Treat Hybrid, and they’ve been awesome. They are not very long (about 5″ at most), and it took me a while to realize they weren’t getting longer. I have loved using these in stir fry, pasta primavera (recipe coming soon!), curry, and just for snacking with dip. They are small and sweet and delicious.

Onions
onionI’ve harvested about half of my onions. I let them sit outside for a week, cut the tops off, then brought them inside where they continue to dry. They are STRONG! I planted yellow onions from sets (little dry onions), and next year I want to also plant red and sweet onions. Perhaps a few more as well.

Thai Green Curry with Rice

This dish is one of our family’s favorites! I’ve made it this spring so I can serve all my home grown veggies.

Ingredients:

coconut_milk 1 can Coconut Milk
Try not to disturb the can very much (don’t shake it!), since it separates into cream and milk. The coconut cream will be on the top, and the watery milk on the bottom. You need the cream for step 1 (see below).If you want a healthier choice, you can add 1 tsp coconut extract to 2 cups whole milk. If you do this, you may want to thicken the sauce with about 2 teaspoons of cornstarch.
curry_paste 1/2 to 1 1/2 teaspoons Green Curry Paste
Use less for milder flavor, more if you like it spicy. The brand I picture here was purchased for about $2.50 at an international foods store. You can find this in grocery stores, but you will get about 1/4 as much, but pay double. Also, in my expereince, brands carried in the grocery store are less potent, so you need to use more (more like 1 Tablespoon)
chicken 1 Chicken Breast
Cut into chunks
veggies 2 1/2 cups Veggies
I used broccoli, carrots, snow peas (all from my garden), and celery. You could also add green peppers, sweet onions, eggplant, or anything else you’ve grown!
rice 4 cups Jasmin Rice (cooked)
You can use plain white rice, but you’ll really be missing out. I read once that you should first put the rice in a fine colander and run it under cool water until the water runs clear. I’m not sure what this does, but I always do it. Also, this probably makes more rice than you need, but I always like to have some leftover for rice pudding.
Step 1–Heat about 1/2 cup coconut cream (the creamy top layer when you open the can) in a large skillet. Add curry paste, and mix thoroughly. Bring to a simmer. skillet_curry
Step 2–Add chicken and the rest of the coconut milk. Cook until the bottom of teh chicken is barely cooked and white, about 2 minutes. Flip it over, and cook another 2 minutes. The chicken will be cooking along with the veggies later, so you don’t want it fully cooked at this stage. skillet_chicken
Step 3–Add veggies. Cover and cook 5 minutes or until veggies are barely cooked, still firm with bright colors. skillet_veggies
Step 4–Serve over rice. curry_final

Garlic Harvest and Storage

garlic_harvest

After 8 months of growing, I was finally able to harvest my garlic! Isn’t it beautiful?

As the tips of the garlic got yellow and brown, I decided it was time to start harvesting. First, I tipped over all the stalks and left them for a week or so:

garlic_tipped

They got even more yellow as they sat. I dug them up with my hands, but I would recommend a small trowel. The trick is to get under them and carefully lift up. You really don’t want to damage the bulbs or skin if you can avoid it. Honestly, this is my first time harvesting, so I didn’t do a great job.

Leave the garlic outside in a dry, shady spot. This “cures” them–it takes about a week. Now brush off the extra dirt and they are ready for storage. You can either braid the leaves, or cut them off about an inch above the bulb.

Store in a cool, dry location. The ideal temperature is about 40F.

My (Square Foot) Gardening Therapy

I have come to realize that for me, gardening is therapy.
I love it when, in the middle of February with the snow piled high and winter winds blowing, I pull out my pots, soil, and seeds and begin the next year’s garden. There is something wonderful about getting up to my elbows in earthy soil and watching as tiny plants pop up and begin to grow.

Some people start seeds indoors because it’s cheaper, others because they grow special varieties. I do it because I need to combat the winter blues and remind myself that Spring will come again, probably sooner than I think.

manure It’s not long until we start having deceptively warm days in March. They fool you into thinking Spring has arrived, but I know better! I just hours we’ll have inches, sometimes feet, of new snow on the ground.

I love to take advantage of those days–after being pent up all winter, it feels so good to bend, stretch, and strain as I refill my beds and prep them for peas and onions. I generally avoid exercise (unless you count chasing an active 5 year old boy), and I end up being sore for a week. But, it’s a good, happy kind of sore.

Soon comes April, and I get so excited to buy new seeds, spending hours trying to decide which varieties will grace my gardens again, and which will make their premier.

Even after planting seeds and starts, it can be hard to believe anything is really happening underground. Gardening takes a little faith. A great gardener I know once told me “Don’t worry, those plants want to survive. You don’t have to DO much, just LET them grow.” And it’s true–every little seed comes programmed to become a plant, and will do all it can to get there.

In May, gardening begins in earnest. Of course some seeds, starts, and transplants are already in, but they are still small plants and nothing is producing yet. But week after week a new type of seed can be planted (so exciting!), and this is when I switch from hand watering to irrigation. I love the hours I get to spend outside, getting freckled, and working quietly while my son plays nearby. Hands in the dirt, sun on my face–it’s hard not to feel more grounded and connected to the earth.
chickens Now, one thing you need to know is that I have farmer blood in my veins, but I’m living in the suburbs. That’s the reason I do square foot gardening–I simply don’t have room to do more.

But there is a part of me that wants to till up my entire .20 acre and really go for it. I planted two peach trees this year, but we don’t seem to have the space for the raspberry bushes, grape vines, apple, pear, and cherry trees I want. And that doesn’t even consider the chickens (yes, I want to build a chicken coop and eat the eggs).

horse I come from a long generation of farmers. My grandfather was a farmer, and so was his father. And his father, and his, and. . . well, you get the picture. Gardening is in my blood, and somehow it connects me to the generations of my ancestors who grew all the food they ate, and kept chickens, a horse, and a few goats. My mom used to make me help weed the garden, and I hated it. I swore that when I was older. . . which reminds me of a saying, “Make your words sweet and tender, for someday you may have to eat them.”
cabbages My grandfather passed away just shortly after harvesting all his potatoes and cabbages. He had recently put a bunch in my mom’s car to take to the local soup kitchen. A few hours later he had a sudden heart attack. As my mom drove around making funeral arrangements, she could hear the cabbages rolling around in the back seat. I can’t tend my potatoes or water my carrots without thinking of him. I just realized that he is why I grow cabbage. Who eats cabbage?
carrots Now it’s June and I’m in heaven as I harvest peas and spinach. I love visiting my garden every day, stopping to check on every plant to see how it’s growing. I poke around my onions to see if the bulbs are growing (they are!) and I’m amazed that my garlic shoots are looking less green and from what I can tell, there are full heads of garlic under there! My son is ecstatic when I let him pull a half-grown carrot and eat it.
water I must admit, in July my devotion wanes. It’s the heat. So hot. I still visit (in the evenings, while my son jumps on the trampoline and my husband plays guitar and sings quietly), but often it’s just functional–to harvest, support, water, replant. Gardening is just less romantic when you’re pitting out (that’s a really refined way my sisters and I describe when you sweat until you have big rings of wetness under your arms). I love my garden, I do, but by July I’m getting tired of it. And I don’t even have to weed! I can’t imagine the poor weed-garden people.
potatoes August comes and I force myself to plant some fall crops. It’s still really hot, and I’m officially “burned-out”. The good news is, harvest is in full swing–I’m bringing in arm fulls of tomatoes, peppers, and green beans. At some point we get to get to eat the carrots–they are so, so sweet and delicious. And we start digging up the potatoes for a family delicacy, potatoes-tomatoes-and-mayo. Fresh potatoes cut into chunks, boiled or steamed, topped with home-grown tomatoes, and smothered in mayonnaise.
salsa-veggies Soon I am canning salsa! My cousin and I work together and divide our spoils–it reminds me of the “olden days” of quilting bees and barn raisings. Women, getting together while the children play and get hotter than Hades as they chop, mix, boil, and seal up the jars. Man, I HATED doing all this stuff when I was a kid, and now I can’t resist it. This year I hope I can do some pickles. Pretty soon I’m going to be entering stuff in the county fair!
peaches September is one of my favorite months. The heat subsides, and the peaches are on. I can at least 2, sometimes 3 dozen jars. Nothing is better than my mom’s peach pie recipe, made with home-canned peaches! The squash and pumpkins are almost ready, and I get a little sad, as, square by square, my garden is pulled up and the harvest is over. It’s a relief, but I know I’ll miss it soon. Because soon the snow will come, the ground will freeze, and I won’t be able to wait until it’s February again.

Summer Fun

No, I have not dropped off the face of the earth, and my square foot  garden is not dead. But last week we were on vacation, so I’ve been busy getting ready, enjoying our family reunion, and recuperating! I was going to post before we went, but I decided not to let the whole world know we were away from home.

My garden is growing! The day before we left I was able to put up my tomato trellises. Of course, I went to take pictures and my battery was dead. So here they are, one week later:

small-tomatoes-june-22
You can’t see it very well in this photo, but some of the tomato plants are already taller than the firs tlayer of netting. I was hoping to “upgrade” from PVC to aluminum, but time and money didn’t allow. There’s always next year!

Along the left-hand side is parsley, cabbage, and broccoli. They are getting really big, but so far not competing with the tomatoes. The tomatoes are Better Boy and Early Girl, both indeterminate.

This is my garlic and determinate tomatoes. There are 3 Roma, a Celebrity and a Champion. Also, I have a vertical trellis along the left for my Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes, which are indeterminate. small-garlic-tomatoes-june
small-peppers-june-22 Here are my sad looking pepper plants. I pulled out one dead one and another infected one this morning. They are just not thriving. We’ve had a cool June with a lot of rain, so perhaps they are waiting for the heat. Any pepper experts who have advice–please comment!
Last year my tomatoes had disease, but I still got about 20 pounds out of them. This year my tomatoes are absolutely flourishing! There is supposed to be a row of beans between the cukes on the left and the potatoes. They aren’t doing so well–a little crowded by the potatoes and totally chomped on by roly-poly bugs. small-potatoes-june-22

I’m tempted to do a whole box of potatoes next year, since they practically take up the whole box anyway!

small-peas-june-22 My peas, onions, carrots, and spinach have been FANTASTIC this year. I think the cool temperatures have helped. I poke around the onions, and they are starting to bulb and get bigger. The peas have been producing a TON, but we eat most of those fresh off the vines. They’ve grown so tall they are above the trellis now.

The two blank spots were spinach. I had a nice harvest the week before we left (made a spinach salad), and then we were gone for a week. When I came home they were all flowering and going to seed, so I pulled them up and harvested every last leaf. This is the best success I’ve had with carrots as well. They seem to love the shade provided by the onions.

Here are the peas I harvested as soon as we got home. I’ll post a yummy recipe later this week. small-harvest-peas-june-22
small-harvest-spinach And this is my spinach harvest. This filled one gallon and one quart-sized bag. I’l post my spinach recipes too!

Organic Solutions for Pests, Disease, and Fertilizer

Although square foot gardening reduces 99% of weeding, it doesn’t control all those pesky pests and diseases. While I am personally not averse to occasional use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers, I always try an organic method first.

Fertilizer

In his book, Mel talks about the necessity of using multiple kinds of compost or better yet, making your own! If you spend the money on good compost, you reduce the need to add extra fertilizer at all. By mixing and matching different compost you create a nutrient rich environment for your plants. Since you add compost every time you plant, you don’t even have to worry much about rotating where certain plants are grown. If you have been cheap about it, and only used one type of compost, you may need to supplement with fertilizer.

My cousin introduced me to the books by Jerry Baker. I will say, they aren’t well organized, but they contain mountains of organic solutions to gardening problems. For example, here is his recipe to promote growth of tomatoes and melons:

Energizing Earthworm Elixir
2.5 pounds earthworm castings
1/4 pound Epsom salts
2 tablespoons instant tea

Combine and put 1 cup under each transplanted tomato or melon before planting.

Pests
I have personally struggled with cabbage worms, spider mites, and aphids. Here are a few solutions to these common problems:

Spider Mite Fighter
1/2 cup wheat flour
1 tablespoon buttermilk
2 quarts water

Combine and apply with a spray bottle. This suffocates the spider mites.

Cabbage Worm Killer
1/2 cup flour
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper

Combine and sprinkle on cabbage. After they eat it, the flour expands and kills the worms.

To fight aphids, I plant a little basil nearby. I have 10 times less aphids on my lettuce when I do this.

Disease
There is nothing more frustrating than watching your plants suffer and die from disease. Even though I live in an arid climate with almost no humidity, my zucchini and squash always suffer from powdery mildew. I think it’s because the leaves get watered by the irrigation from the lawn and nearby park. This concoction works, but you have to be regular and diligent about applying it.

Powdery Mildew Manager
2 quarts water
1 tablespoon Murphy’s Oil Soap
2 tablespoons baking soda

Combine and apply with a spray bottle. Catch it early or you might need to resort to stronger chemical methods.

These are just a few of the many many “recipes” found in the book. If you are interested in chemical-free gardening, I highly recommend purchasing it!

Happy gardening!

How to Build a Drip Irrigation System

First, I am going to cover several other options for watering your garden.

Bucket Method

The simplest of all watering methods is this:

bucket
A bucket of sun-warmed water, with a cup or pitcher to pour. This is the method I use until I turn on my irrigation system. In his book, Mel Bartholemew suggests using a cup, and watering one cup per plant. That is a little too much tedious dipping for me, so I’ve upgraded to a pitcher. He recommends “sun-warmed” water because it gives the soil and plants a little heat boost, which is nice during cooler weather.

The advantages of this system–it’s cheap, and anyone can do it! It also keeps you in your garden on a regular basis, tending those plants. You are more likely to notice early signs of damage or disease. The disadvantage is, when it gets hot you have to water every day, and I get tired of sweating it out just to give my plants a drink. Also, you have to find a friend to come water if you go on vacation.

Hose Method

Another option is to water your garden with a hose. Again, this is inexpensive and easy for all, but like the bucket method, you have to be around to do it. Some plants don’t do well with a lot of water applied to the leaves. You are more likely to have problems with mold and fungus. Also, it’s hard to ensure a very even watering. Also, some plants require deep watering, which is difficult to achieve with a hose.

Combination Method

In between spraying with a hose and having an automated drip system there are lots of options.

  • Soaker hose
  • System of PVC and spray nozzles that hooks up to the hose
  • System of drip irrigation that hooks up to the hose
  • Timer connected to the hose to automate watering
  • Automated irrigation using spray nozzles

All of these share some of the advantages and disadvantages described above.

Automated Drip Irrigation System

If you can, using an automated drip irrigation system is ideal. You can adjust the amount of water for each type of plant, it only needs to be managed a few times per season, and it allows you to go on vacation and know your garden is being watered on schedule! The ONLY disadvantage is that it does not make you visit your garden so often, so you might miss early signs of disease or distress among your plants.

Building your own irrigation system is not for everyone, but it’s not as hard as you might think! All you really need is determination and a good plumbing/irrigation supply store. I love my local BJ Plumbing–they are experienced, helpful, and they carry quality parts. While you can buy irrigation supplies at a discount home improvement store, I don’t recommend it. The quality of some of the products is not as good, and the advice is hit and miss.

The first part in your irrigation system is a valve dedicated to your garden. If you don’t have a separate valve, you’ll have to use one of the methods described above. This is because you cannot put a low-pressure drip system on the same line as a high-pressure sprinkler system.

Here’s what a valve looks like:

valve-box

You can see I have four valves in this box. The middle right valve is for my gardens on the west side of my house. The next part is the pressure reducer. Here is one of those:

pressure-reducer
This particular part includes a filter in it–if not, you’ll need both a pressure reducer and a filter. Every spring you’ll want to clean out the filter. To connect from the valve to the pressure reducer, I suggest you get some advice and parts from the plumbing supply. It’s a little complicated to explain it (though easy to do) and depending on your equipment you will need different supplies.

Now we get into pipe. There are three kids of pipe I use in my irrigation system:

pipes
Funny pipe is really strong and thick, and it would be used somewhere before the pressure reducer, depending on how you built your irrigation system. You may not use it at all.

Drip pipe is the same diameter, but it is much thinner. Finally you can see the small drip pipe with emitters built in.

Other parts:

parts
So, after the pressure reducer you put the drip pipe, to a drip pipe connector. They can be elbows, or tee’s like this:

t-connector
Then, you create a network of pipe to cover the garden. I’ve done two versions of this. With the first, I ran drip pipe across the top of the bed, and then down the sides, and finished with a figure-8.

figure-8

In between the drip pipe I used small pipe with built in emitters, connected with small connectors. I used the punch to poke a hole in the drip pipe, then popped in the connector. It helps to wear gloves when putting all of this together. Just a little easier on the hands! It looks like this:

small-to-big

Here is a picture of the finished product:

onions-peas-spring-2
If you look closely you can see my valve box, then pressure reducer, drip pipe, t-connector, drip pipe down the sides ending in figure-8, small drip with built in emitters running between. You don’t see the bottom left connector–it is also a tee that uses drip pipe to connect to the next garden.

I found with this setup it was hard to get all the small drip pipe even, and they don’t like to stay where they are. It also felt like the corners and edges by the large drip pipe were not watered evenly and predictably.

So, this year I “upgraded” to this system. I didn’t use any small drip pipe (which saved $), but ran 3 drip pipes, one down the center, and the other two centered between that pipe and the sides of the boxes.  At the bottom I connected them with elbows, so it’s a closed loop. I punched holes, and popped in my drip emitters:

emitter
You can choose different flow for the emitters–how many gallons per hour. By choosing different emitters, you can provide for the different water needs of each plant. It’s not easy, but it is possible to remove these and switch them around.

The final product:

south-west

I love this system because it’s rigid and stays in place fairly well. If I do need to anchor it, a few key spots is all it takes. I haven’t tested it (I just built it!) so I don’t know how well and evenly it waters. I’m hopeful, though!

If you have built an irrigation system for your garden, I’d love to hear about it! Describe what you use, and the relative advantages and disadvantages.

Happy Gardening!