Watering using a soaker hose

KJP

I have a long run of espalier fruit trees, alternating with climbing roses.  It's a dry East Anglian garden and the bed dries out quite quickly.  I was wondering whether a soaker hose would be effective watering system for this bed, or whether soaker hoses are better suited to shallower rooting plants.  

K67

They work well but it depends on how long you leave them on for. You would need more than one line of hose though.
You can get larger bore hoses, obviously dearer. Have a look at this website
https://www.waterirrigation.co.uk/hoses-and-accessories/garden-hose-pipes/soaker-hose.html?irrigation_gardhosedia_laynav=4380&isAjax=1

Fairygirl

I think it might be a very good idea. Not something I've ever needed here, but many people on the forum use them for all sorts of planting. 
I expect if you're leaving it on for a decent enough time, it will work well. The longer it's on, the better the water will get down into the soil, where it will do the most good.
If you cover it with mulch, after a good soaking, that will help retain it too, although you'd need to check that holes didn't get blocked.
I wonder if it would help if you made the holes bigger too. Or maybe they come with different sizes 

Pete.8

I bought one of these in 2018

https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01BVVIKSA/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

and I am very pleased with it.
It's best laid out on a hot day as getting the hose to uncurl and stay in the right place on a cool day just didn't work. Being larger than the standard bore, I needed a convertor that I also found on Amazon.

I turn the water on in the evening and by morning everything is watered - bliss
When they're back in stock I'll get another to run along the other side of the garden. 

KT53

You shouldn't need to increase the hole size on a soaker / seeper hose.  The idea is that the slow 'release' of water avoids waste.  I used one this year on my runner beans and it certainly helped. 

When I created a couple of new borders I used one throughout the first summer to ensure nothing got missed. 

Ferdinand2000

If they are well spaced out like a row of espaliers, I would probably go for one of the irrigation kits rather  than a soaker to get all the water to the plants not the ground in between.

I think of a soaker hose as being for relatively dense planting.