i have drip irrigation .... its the irrigator type system offered by john deere landscape .... much more than 30 bucks for sure ..

i have pure sand.. and i love drip irrigation ...

i tried 'mixing' hosta and conifers ... it did NOT work ... the idea with hosta is to try to drown them .... conifers.. deep watering with drying in between ... your plan should be dependent on the stock ... do NOT mix diverse stock .. it will make your life easier all around ...

i used the cheapo soaker hose long ago .. it became very problematic .... if you bury it.. you never know if it is working ... nor is it engineered for a certain flow rate ... obviously it is the easiest.. and cheapest ... you also wont know if it is putting out water at both ends at the same rate ....

no one will be able to tell you how long nor how often you will need to run the system ... on your soil ... you will have to keep a shovel handy .. and run the system for a few hours .... and dig a hole and check out the pattern of water in the soil ... run it more.. and dig another hole ... etc ...

other than that.. its all up in the air ... never forget .. the less you pay ... the less control you have over the system ... you cant buy a yugo .. and complain it doesn't run like a mercedes ...

the other issue .. are you on a well .. and do you need a filter to remove sand from you water supply???

good luck

ken