Drip irrigation is the way to go with tomatoes and most things in the garden. I prefer Drip tape.

Jay

No question drip is the very best method, but it does take a bit of investment in materials, equipment, and time.

My largest garden is at the shoreline of a lake. There is a gentle slope to the lake. I have black plastic over most of the garden surface. To water I have a sump pump in the lake which pumps through a hose to the top of the garden. The water then runs down through the garden (under the plastic) watering all as it goes. I do have to move the hose every now and then to get good coverage over the width of the garden.

I am a big believer in watering the soil while avoiding wetting the plants, thus minimizing infection of foliage from soil born baddies. Drip irrigation works in the same manner. Some years back I used oscillating sprinklers to
do the watering. The ground was very flat with no slope
and I had at least 1/2 acre in garden as I was supplying
3 restaurants. I had a terrible time dealing with foliage
crud and had to use chemicals to do so.

That home and garden are now in the past (but only 13 miles
away) and my gently sloping garden enables a much better method.

Agree with the above - drip irrigation is best. But soaker hose is almost as good and allows for more flexibility in set-up. Why won't soaker hose work in the location? Incline?

Dave

Here in Colorado we have to water regularly. One time I built an array of sprinklers about waist high that covered the whole garden, Boy, was that the absolute wrong thing. But I learned.
My best is drip, but I modified it a bit by using the largest dripers I can find so they don't plug up. Since they are large, I time the application. Like 30 minutes to put on 1 gal of water to each plant. I think my best was with 2 dripers to each plant, one on each side, spaced about a foot apart. Plants were about 3 foot apart. Can I call it a "dribble" system?