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[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

> This year, with the ultra raised beds, my tank isn't high enough for
> this simple gravity system to work.  I have a pump, but I didn't want to
> use electricity to run it, so I mostly hauled water via 5 gallon bucket
> to the beds and watered plants individually.  I did not water as much as
> I should have due to my broken arm at the beginning of the summer and
> the drought finally caught up with me, but had I been healthier, my
> garden would have been just as productive this year as it was in years
> past.

Ah, there it is. Relate your broken arm to my advancing age and you 
have the insight to my perspective. If necessary, today I could haul 
water from the stream in buckets to water the garden. Tomorrow, who 
knows? And there is the ultimate issue of time. Who among us has too 
much of that?

Yes, crud, fish poop, etc., are good for the garden. An open 
irrigation system, which most people do not have sufficient water to 
operate, works fine with dirty water. A more water-efficient and 
time-efficient system uses some type of pipe to deliver the water, 
often very close to the plant roots. Weep hoses/drip hoses, call them 
whatever, work great at low pressure but have the common condition of 
plugging up if the water is dirty.

I have more water than I can use. My suggestions here are to help 
those who don't have enough.