The first step is to measure your garden and draw a rough map of it using the measurements.

Diagram where you want your water lines to go based on your garden set-up, like you can see in our plan above.

Once you have your garden plan, figure out the length of plastic PVC piping and number of parts you will need and make a list to shop for your supplies using the printable shopping list.

Dig trenches 3-4" deep for the PVC pipe, remembering to check for any water and electrical lines and adjust your planed route if needed. (Note: you may want to have deeper trenches if you live in an area where the ground freezes.)

Add sand to bottom of trenches.

Assemble and lay PVC pipe lines, cutting and gluing as you progress: Set a piece of pipe in your trench and with a pencil mark where to cut it (the pipe slides about an inch into the fittings, so allow for that) and put the purple primer on both parts to be attached - it will dry right away. Then smear the glue on the two parts to be attached. This will also dry right away so quickly attach them, sliding them completely together, and twisting a little if they need aligning.

Continue marking, cutting, priming and gluing all down your proposed line. TIP #1: Lay your pieces to be glued on a little patch of cardboard or wood, so you don't get sand or dirt sticking to the primer. TIP #2: Stick a little wad of paper or cloth into the end of the pipe waiting to be glued. This will keep sand, dirt, and rocks from getting into your system.

For any raised bed feeder pipes: When attaching a side line to one of your beds, first glue on the right angle turn that will go up the side of the bed and then attach it to the main line. Cut a piece to go up the side of the bed and glue it to the right angle turn. Then glue a threaded right angle to that and you've got your raised bed feeder pipe set. As soon as you've finished a pipe going into a bed, attach it to the side of the bed to hold it firm with a metal u-bracket, screws and a drill. This will protect the pieces you've just glued from breaking apart as you continue adding pipe. TIP #1: placed the u-brackets towards the top of the beds to provide the most stability when turning hose valves on and off. TIP #2: If you have a bed that can't be screwed into, like our round rock bed above, use a piece of rebar right next to the bed to attach your pipe to.

Attach on-off hose valves to each threaded elbow and turn to the off setting so you can test your pipe lines.

Back at the water source, connect your watering timer to the spigot. Connect the backflow control valve to the outflow on the timer. Now you can see how much length it will take to connect your PVC pipe to the timer/water source. Make the final connection using a mini-hose you can find at a hardware store.

Set timer and test for leaks. Set timer for 3-4 hours soaking on a 5-7 day interval for normal weather, 3-5 days in hottest weather. Test the system by selecting the faucet button on your watering timer and choose 5 minutes or so to bypass your set up and water will begin flowing. Inspect your pipes for leaks. Go to each valve and turn it on and off just to make sure water is coming out.

Once everything checks out leak-wise, make sure your pipe is deep enough in the ground. It should be a little below ground level. You can dig out a little under any sections that need it.

Cover the PVC pipe water line with sand up to ground level.

Lay the path material of choice in your garden. Examples include: heavy duty landscape fabric and gravel (recommended for more permanent paths in flower gardens, etc.) or cardboard and wood chips (recommended for veggie gardens).

Attach soaker hoses, cutting any as needed and using the male-female hose repair kits and hose end caps to create shorter hoses.

Use the faucet button to bypass the timer and run your system again for a few minutes or longer, checking all the soakers and valves. You may need to tighten some connections and adjust some of of the hose repairs. This is also when you can arrange your soaker hoses as you see how the water is running.