There are so many flavors of irrigation to choose from and most spring times finds me installing and designing some system or another and always fixing the existing ones which broke over the winter. We are always trying out different ways to irrigate crops and always learning which crops prefer certain methods.
    As a farmer here this also means you are an irrigation manager, as the little rain we get doesn't really mean anything. As a farmer here, you are the rain. That means you have to have all of your ducks in a row before you put a seed or plant in the soil. Just yesterday we planted our first rotation of salad mix, cilantro, dill, arugula, and spinach with head lettuce, kale, collards, chard to go in very soon and of course the snap and snow peas are already in the ground. In the spring before the irrigation ditches start to run(they usually start in May) we use a combination of city water in drip and micro overhead irrigated crops such as peas and garlic and the hoophouse greens we have been enjoying all winter. We also use  a little bit of pond water to get these direct seeded crops going until the ditches run.  In the field during the main season we use a combination of drip irrigation ( the shangri la of water efficiency) and over head (sprinkler) watering. There are specific crops which do best on drip and others which pretty much require overhead irrigation.  All of these systems have their pros and cons of course but the main tenet I have found is that once you try to control water, pressurize it, and move it around for your purposes you will quickly realize that you are not in control.  The water will find a way to escape no matter what you have done. This irrigation manager position is a humbling experience as you learn that things just break no matter what and you no longer become surprised or upset when they do, you just spring into action and fix it, until next time.
    Water is the life blood of the planet and this is especially true on a farm here. It is interesting to think that we are not necessarily limited by the short growing season here but by the very short irrigation season here. This season the big snow pack in the mountains and the dry conditions here mean that we may get water a bit earlier than normal years, which would be great.
    Irrigation on a small vegetable farm in northern Colorado is usually an interesting patchwork of sources and systems and each farm has it's own way to get that water onto their crops.

Well I gotta run and fix our irrigation system.....

See ya at market!
Nic