I'm tired of dragging hoses around the garden so am looking for a type of irrigation system that meets the following criteria: -simple -inexpensive -will work w/ pressurized municipal water -automatic would be a big plus as we're often times out of town on the weekends I don't want to spend the time/money on anything too elaborate as we will be moving in the next 2-3 yrs (saving our pennies/energy to build a new place). It doesn't have to be pretty either. Just functional! My background is in gravity irrigation (large farm scale) and the ol' hose dragging sprinkler placement method (small yard scale). I have little idea of design methods or available parts for more sophisticated sprinkler systems for family sized gardens. My beds are mostly of the keyhole variety and I'm envisioning a combination of drip and sprinkler heads. Would love to see some illustrations or actual pics of varying systems. Any ideas? Thanks!
Re: Irrigation ideas for municipal pressurized water? Hello Rusty, A couple of suggestions for you. 1. Check your water pressure at a time you intend to water. I am not sure about the USA but water pressure here can vary widely over the course of the day. Put a bucket [say 3 gallon], the bigger the better and time how long it takes to fill. This will calculate your gallons per minute or gallons per hour. Be conservative and when purchasing your gear say something like, ''in my area we are getting around 10 gallons per minute [or 600 gallons per hour]''. He/she will have some idea. Time is very important as you wont get this pressure if you start to irrigate and then use the washing machine, shower and fill the pool at the same time. 2. Do a rough sketch of what and where you want to water, ie lawn, garden beds, trees. You may be able to do the lot with one hit over an extended period or break the yard into 2 or 3. Try to do your irrigation in rings so the pressure is self compensating. If you have a low spot that is where all the water will drain to so make sure you have your thirsty plants there. 3. Always fit a filter even on domestic water, a simple one will suffice. 4. Don't expect to get it right in one go. Ask for some 'goof plugs' when you are purchasing and play round with it. 5. Sprinklers are sold as 'gallons per minute' with a throw radius at optimum pressure. So if you can get 600gpm plan on using say 500gpm. This would allow you 25 x 20gph sprinklers and a bit left over for inhouse use. Remember though if your sprinklers throw an 8' diameter circle you should put one sprinkler ever 4' to allow overlap and even distribution. 6. I would recommend you build yourself an irrigation system now, a cheap simple one. You will have a lot more idea of where to start with your new house. These days I put the system in first and then build the garden bed to the edge of the sprinkler system but I live in the dry tropics so the normal rule of thumb is ''no water, no plant''. In the early days my wife often planted things on a whim subsequently they didnt survive if there was no water to them. 7. Automated technologies are very cheap these days. I would incorporate an auto start system [preferably only a single valve]. This is great technology and makes for hassle free gardening. Do not be oversold when you purchase. Get something simple you can tweak and play with. Lastly, lawn and garden beds require different watering and should be on seperate lines. PVC black poly comes in 3 basic sizes 1/2inch, 3/4inch and 1inch. 3/4inch is general purpose. 1/2inch is for microsystems but will successfully do a domestic garden. Here in aussie you can buy garden kits for about $20 that include 30' of 1/2inch pipe and a variety of squirters, sprinklers, emitters, misters and drippers. It might be the way to start. PVC lasts indefinitely so you can take it with you to the new house. cheers,
Re: Irrigation ideas for municipal pressurized water? Alot depends on your soil type. _________________________________________ The miracle hose https://www.earthgarden.com.au/coverstory.html Soil type will help you estimate water holding capacity The greatest difference in water use is due to tree size. https://homeorchard.ucdavis.edu/general-irrigation.html Bioswales Planted depressions that collect stormwater that runs off surrounding areas. The plant species in bioswales are selected for their ability to tolerate both wet and dry conditions. Rainwater that falls on or flows into a bioswale is retained in the soil (a special soil mixture is used to maximize retention), evaporated, absorbed by plants, and allowed to infiltrate back into the water table. https://www.queensbotanical.org/gardens_ ... #bioswales
Re: Irrigation ideas for municipal pressurized water? some pdfs https://www.portlandonline.com/bes/index.cfm?c=dfbcc a high tech bioswale https://web.mit.edu/facilities/about/fea ... _10_07.pdf some pics https://images.google.com/images?q=+bios ... um=1&hl=en
Re: Irrigation ideas for municipal pressurized water? Thanks, you two! Good info! I forgot to mention that I utilize swales now...though there are areas in which I could implement more. The article on soaker/miracle hoses by Wendy Bartlett is interesting. I hadn't given those hoses consideration due to my experience with one 15-17 years ago. I don't recall why but I remember thinking to myself "I won't do that again". Well, I'm thinking I will give it another go as it seems the logical choice for my particular situation. Whatever the reason for my bad impression before, I'm sure the hoses themselves have gotten better plus, I now have the Internet in which to draw knowledge from. Thanks again and if anyone else has some input, lets hear it. rusty
