It's not that you're "not supposed" to use drip irrigation - it's that drip irrigation needs more attention than people realize. You shouldn't just lay it out and run it on a timer and ignore it.
Lay it out in such a way that it doesn't let water pool in places where the it isn't needed and misses other spots leaving them too dry. I use soaker hoses on raised beds by creating a small shallow trench around and between the plants in the raised bed. But in the gap between the raised beds the soaker hoses drips onto the path and allows weeds and grass to grow faster in the path. To make it most efficient I should run it through raised beds in a continuous way so water doesn't pool where it isn't needed. Drip irrigation has many of the same problems as soaker hoses.
Whatever method you choose to get the water there, do it wisely. If you can, water deeply and infrequently (turf, for example). If the vegetable garden needs more water more often, schedule it so the water does the most good - water before dawn so it has time to soak into the ground before the sun hits and starts to dry out the beds.
There is no one right answer, it's mostly that putting out soaker hoses or drip irrigation and ignoring them is the wrong answer. Does that help? Customize your watering to your situation.
_________________ Northwesterner
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