How many sprinkler/soaker hoses can be hooked up together effectively?

The last three weeks have been rather busy. I took comfort in knowing that with my set-up of one soaker and one sprinkler hose in the little side garden, I could turn on the faucet at the side of the house, set the timer inside the house for the number of minutes needed, and all would be well. A cup of water on each of my container plants, which takes about ten minutes, and my plants would do well even on hot and dry days.

My son made the last change to the hoses. We put a split/Y coupler on the faucet so one hose was moved to the front of the house for the sprayer head, leaving  us one hose short in the back. I told my son that the next day, I would bring home a new solid hose, but he found a second sprinkler in the garage and decided that it could run through the back of the house. This would water the four potato plants set between those ugly round bushes (that are coming out this fall!) but it also wastes about half the water on the lawn (yes, I said waste — I’d garden it all for vegetables if I had the time, and next year just might). I agreed, thinking that at least four potato plants would then be preserved if for some reason I didn’t get beyond turning on the hoses on some evenings.

Well, today, I turned on the hoses, watered the containers, and happened to walk around to the little garden patch along the side of the house. Beyond the first three or four feet of the soaker hose, nothing was being watered. The hose behind the potatoes and bushes and along that stretch of grass was going gangbusters, leaving nothing for the two lengths of hose along the side.

This is what has happened for three weeks. So far, it hasn’t impacted the veggies on the side negatively, for we’ve had regular rains, but it does answer a question as to why the potato plants are so tall and lush.

I know that the two hoses on the side will work together if there is solid hose all the way to the soaker (the original sprinkler then follows), so tomorrow I will bring home the solid hose that I intended to get in the first place, and all will be well.

Truly, I hadn’t considered that all the water pressure might get out in the first hose and leave nothing for the last two. Another lesson learned.