A manifold sounds like a great idea! These are the 3 beds I want to put soakers on. (Pic from last year) They seem to dry out and need more water than the stuff planted in the ground.
They would use more being that they elevated, which would have more gravity making them drain. The type of soil plays a big part in it too. Very nice photo and raised beds too.
You could bury the green hose and lay the soakers around each bed. You could put a timer on it as well and only water at night when there would be less evaporation. When I gardened in the heat, I laid the soakers, covered them with plastic, and put mulch on top to keep the soil cool. It worked great. I disproved those who said "You can't garden in the summer here".
I'm thinking if I bought a manifold (thanks, Don!) similar to this... I could place it on the end of a regular hose, then put it in a slightly raised spot so that the "water running downhill" would assist in keeping higher pressure in the soakers. I was planning to put the watering on a timer.
They look good. Ours is in need of some serious attention, It is too much anymore. Bugs are bad here already, tics and chiggars. I have about 25 chiggar bites and 2 tics off yesterday, after they bit me a dozen times first. Seed tic are hard to see till they get bigger by then they have had a feast. Yet I can't stay inside all the time.
I use those at main faucets, but I put faucets into lengths of PVC water pipe and space the faucets at the distance of the beds or rows. I would send a picture, but everything is either under snow or put to bed at the moment. Similar to this but I use PVC and space the fittings further apart.
I'm trying to figure out an easy and inexpensive solution. Right now I'm cross-eyed trying to figure out a good layout. Plus I'm thinking "faucet splitter so we can use the regular hose, timer, hose to go to manifold, manifold, then soaker hoses. Sheesh. Maybe I'll just stand there and water them.
Here's another thing about raised beds/containers. Most of them need a looser soil mix for drainage, so that you don't end up with a mud hole in a box. So when you go to buy "garden mix" or "raised bed mix," be prepared to suffer extreme sticker shock. One 40 qt bag of Bacto is about $35. So far this year I have bought 12 bags, plus fertilizer and dolomite. I don't remember what it cost to fill the metal raised beds (pictured above) last year, but it doesn't seem that it was so expensive. Project startups are always more $$ than I anticipated.
I've done it both ways on watering, and they both work, Beth, prices have gone up on everything, and you're right; it's always more starting a new project than it's anticipated for sure. We try to use compost mainly with peat moss, perlite, and sand, so we don't buy all the expensive stuff. Sometimes when a project is getting to me; I take a break from it for a while, and it seems to help me solve it.
Go to a real garden supply place. I can't believe you don't have any in the Houston area. Like I referred to earlier about the "impressive woman", I bought 10 bales of "potting mix/seedling mix" for $55 each. You can probably get it much cheaper and each bales is 3.3 cubic feet. Each bale is 82.24 quarts of soil. It will save you money, and you may be able to get your amendments cheaper there as well. I tried looking online. Maybe I was wrong about finding it cheaper there.
I have one of those and you can switch it to short hoses with 'sprinklers' on them if it hasn't reached dry season yet. I am still amazed how we go from bog season to dry season, each can screw up the garden in their own way here.
As usual with me, I started out wanting just a "couple" of raised beds to grow a few tomatoes. Now I have expanded so much with Earthboxes and such that it is getting to be too much for me... I don't know why I never learn to stop biting off more than I can chew. We don't have any ticks or chiggars but as the weather warms the mosquitoes will be swarming.