Watering system for veggie patch?

Hey guys. I'm looking to get my dad some stuff for his birthday that'll help with the gardening. His vegetable patch is in a terrible state, and my mum is *this* close to making him grass it over so something that would help keep on top of that would be good.

What watering systems would you recommend? At the moment he's squirting it by hand with the hosepipe but that one's a bit rubbish, keeps getting kinks and isn't actually long enough to reach the far end. In fact the hose reel's broken too so I was going to get him a new retractable hosepipe.

He's actually got 2 waterbutts next to the veggie patch but they've lost their lids so the water's just evaporating in the summer. If I can find replacement lids is there some way he could utilize them with a sprinkler, or those drip irrigation thingies?

I would really appreciate some advice for people who know what they're talking about!

 

I have 2 sprinklers. One is a fairly expensive hozelock one. It is rubbish. The other was a 2.99 spinning one from Wilko. It's excellent.

But I wonder, is he still interested and able enough to look after the veg patch? Forgive me if that seems insensitive, that's not my intention, just trying to understand the situation. It's a lot of work with a lot of bending down and weeding and pest control etc. This makes me wonder, have you considered raised beds? My dad grows loads of strawberries. For years they were just in the ground but it was getting too much for him with all the bending down. So he built loads of raised beds. Now he can crack on without having to bend down and get back up.