Five zones is impressive, and I love the idea of surrounding plants' roots zones with straw in a trench. Did roots grow into the straw?
I've often wondered about watering pots on a timer, how one would adjust how much water they needed, and how to let them "go dry until they need water". I was thinking that I would either over-water all of them (not very good for the roots), or under-water them with a timer, using either 1/2 GPM or 1 GPM drippers by pot size, and then supplement it every few days by hand. But, then, the pots would never go through a complete wet-dry cycle, which seems desirable for drawing fresh air all the way into the pot.
