I live in South Gerogia, where the summers are brutal. The first year we had our very large garden, I had trouble keeping the tomato plants watered. I solved the problem by slicing off the bottoms of 2-liter drink bottles and burying them spout-side down next to the roots to create a reservoir. Whenever I watered the garden, I filled up all the reservoirs, too. It worked great! moderator's note: removed website link, see point 1.1 of usage rules
I've heard that works pretty well here. I haven't tried it. I have raised beds and in-ground beds. I have everything on drip. I love it. Puts the water where you need it and nowhere else.
I would have loved a drip system when we had our big garden! We had to run a water line to get any water there at all. Our garden was located pretty far from the house. We just fenced off part of the horse pasture and turned it into a vegetable garden.
Our big garden is in our horse pasture and we have a smaller one behind the house. Ours is too far away to use water from the stock tank. We tried it closer for a couple of years but sure didn`t do as well. And we had critters that dined there regularly. Good idea with the soda bottles but I have 71 tomato plants. I would still be digging holes at this time next year if I did it that way. I just use a soaker hose !!
We're trying a new method this year. We line the hole with two layers of newspaper, then circles of newspaper cut in strips and coiled. Just put the dirt in, crushed egg shells, the plant, water and more garden soil. So far the plants look real good. We will have to water, but the paper should keep the mositure longer, I hope.
