Watering help pls, what should I get/do

Hi All,
I've taken it on myself to deal with the garden. I'm fed up seeing neat bedding no taller than 6". So then. This is clay soil, apparently not bad for planting but gee, does the top dry out quickly! To add to this problem, at the bottom just over the fence are huge trees that HIMSELF says take ALL the moisture. Well, that can't be right, cos I've got perennial Geraniums, bluebells and similar that are right near the fence and they're happy enough,

My idea then, is to connect (preferably)to the waterbutts a soaker hose system to irrigate the 26 metre length of cultivated stuff, with the width of the border mostly no more than 18" max. I've been looking at very specific leaky pipe websites, and the cost for this is upwards of £65. OK, not gonna break a lot of banks, but if I can find less expensive then I'll of course get that. The link below::

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/15M-POROUS-GA...yZ139909QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

seems very much cleaper - in fact 1/2 the price, but would it do the job? Can anyone who already uses this system please suggest others or what I can do about this?

Thanks very much in advance,

Springy
X

 

wot might be better is to control the evaperation .

clay apparently holds onto nutriants better than most soils , but is a sod to control the water content
so wot i would do in a heavy clay soil is just loosen it up a bit so air etc can get in . and cover it with a good top soil , but not dig it in for a year . then dig in the old top soil to lossen up the clay . then in the next year repet the proces , lay on top some top soil (or compost).

 

thank you. It's well planted up now, so I can't really add lots of stuff. I have however, read elsewhere that to just keep breaking the top layer helps quite a lot, helping the air get in . I went ahead yesterday and bought the soaker hose from Wilkinsons - EXCELLENT value, had I bought from a well known supplier they would have cost at least double the price. Used last night for an hour - soaked pretty well. Will need to leave above ground however, if I'm gonna keep agitating the soil I don't want to pierce the thing, do I !!

Springy

 

thank you. It's well planted up now, so I can't really add lots of stuff. I have however, read elsewhere that to just keep breaking the top layer helps quite a lot, helping the air get in . I went ahead yesterday and bought the soaker hose from Wilkinsons - EXCELLENT value, had I bought from a well known supplier they would have cost at least double the price. Used last night for an hour - soaked pretty well. Will need to leave above ground however, if I'm gonna keep agitating the soil I don't want to pierce the thing, do I !!

Springy