Another drawback with overhead watering is it creates mud which can make getting back into the garden a messy experience. Watering the entire garden also encourages weeds to germinate between the rows. Mulch could take care of the weeds between the rows but many gardeners use plastic much. With overhead irrigation on plastic mulch, little water gets into the bed but instead runs off between the rows, wasting water. Trickle or drip irrigation is an effective alternative for watering tomatoes and other vegetables.
Little water is lost to evaporation.
It is uniformly applied right at the roots. Leaves remain dry, disease may be reduced, and you can water at any time, day or night, whatever fits your schedule. Trickle irrigation is more costly to set up and will take some additional time. But the cost and time is a small price to pay for a system so easy to operate that it requires no more than turning a faucet to water the entire garden. Many of the components can be used year after year so the cost beyond the first year is minimal.