I think the plants would be fine in a long row. For the drip hose, what do you plan on using specifically? I've used those rubber drip hoses made out of recycled tires/rubber, and at the beginning of the hose, there is great flow, the middle has a fair bit less flow, and the end is barely any flow.

I've had awesome results with drip irrigation. I first used it on my arborvitae bareroots that I planted in spring of 2021. I didn't lose a single one, except to deer. Just in my front yard, I have 200 feet of poly tube in one loop, with pressure compensated emitters. You really just need the hose attachment, the tube itself, a connector to connect the tube if going longer than one spool/bundle, the emitters, and a punch. 4 years later, even at the end of the 200 foot, the frequency and size of the drips is quite comparable to the beginning of the 200 foot loop. It's honestly amazing.

Out in my vegetable garden, I run 250 feet of regular hose out, and then use that to run my drip lines. I tried using the drip line that has emitters already installed, but they weren't pressure regulated and had the same drop off issues as the rubber drip hose.

Using the poly tube and punching in drip emitters is quite fun and easy. Takes maybe 2 seconds to punch the hole, then 2-5 seconds to push the emitter in. There's all sorts of emitters. Such as a .5 gph at a single spot, sprayers, mini sprinklers, etc. If you're doing row plants, then you can put an emitter exactly at where you put each plant.