And then taking the simplicity idea even farther, as brother Tim and I started to move all the outside plants to the trays, I thought it might be easiest to only have the top trays receive water and then let gravity do the rest.  I cut small slits about 3/8″ up on two sides of the trays.  Not only will this allow the drip irrigation water to drain to the trays below, but it also would keep the trays from filling up too much during the wet season.

So, after all the plants were in trays (and there are some pretty cool plants that I’ve started and somehow kept alive), I opened the package and looked over all the pieces of the drip kit.

The concept is pretty simple and my gravity idea made it even easier.  I was able to hook up about ten feet of 1/2″ hose and  inserted four nozzles with the nifty installation tool.  The hardest part was figuring out how to “cap” the end of the  hose.  There was a figure-eight looking part that was supposed to be the tool, but it didn’t make sense until I figured out you just put the hose through one opening of the figure eight, then bend it in half and back through the other opening!  It worked like a charm!

So, I think I have successfully installed the drip system.  I have ordered a timer, too, so I’m waiting for that.  In the meantime, this will be a good (sunny) week to run the drip nozzles to see how long it takes to completely water the 16 trays of plants.

Next, I plan to order more trays for the greenhouse.  I will splice the hose and pass it under the gravel through the greenhouse door and then set up something similar to what I’ve done on the outside shelves in there along the top shelf that can drip down to the bottom shelf.  3/8″ of standing water seems about right to allow the pots in the trays to absorb enough, but not get too waterlogged.

Once all that is done, I likely will install some drip systems around the yard, too, that will make it easier to water everything.  We’ll see.