Seep Hoses

[Squirrel]

Have any of you used seep hoses on your veg patches? I was wondering how far the water would spread from a seep hose on sandy soil. Hear tell that it does not go far, but do want to install watering system.

Any info would be helpful!

Kath

[noshed]

Not tried this but I was thinking about it. They have small seep hoses at our 99p shop - with a hose connection. I was considering connection one to my water butt to water my salad crops. But all of this is at the concept stage. Need more schnapps

[andrewo]

Seep hoses need to circle a veg patch and have a maximum of 3' between the loop walls or else you won't get the water. However you can just fit normal hoses and put in water spikes - why? Well, glad you asked, seep hoses on a wram day and unless covered with a mulch will lose alot of water as they 'seep', it will just evaporate - to truly water well, the water must penetrate the soil down to 6" (a neat test is to check this with your fingers about 30mins after watering). You can attach spikes to a hose, the water goes straight down into the soil and if you have greedy plant e.g. courgette you can give it its own spike. Seep hoses waste more water over a wider area and water the weeds as well. However, if for salad crops, the seep hose could work.

[Squirrel]

thanks Andrewo. Am hoping that the planting in the beds will be mulch enough as I am not growing in rows as in an allotment but in little blocks in amongst flowers and shrubs. Your spike idea sounds like a good one though so will look into that next week when I go shopping!

[Jaxom]

I had a seep hose last year which I covered lightly with earth. All the water soaked into the ground as the flowers were so tightly planted over it there was no space for weeds.

[Berr]

Andrew, I'd never heard of these hose spikes. Can you tell me where they can be seen online? I take it that you just push them into your hose at suitable intervals?