Summer project

[brewerbob]

With the end of the holidays, and the arrival of the gardening catalogs, thoughts turn to the outdoors. We've lived in our house for two years now, and slowly but surely getting things like we want them. This summer I am planning to put in a lawn/garden sprinkler system. Our garden is 2000 square feet and I want to be able to water it as well as sprinkle the lawn and shrubs. It would also be a resource in case of forest fires which are fairly common in this area. My plan is to extend the water line from our house to our outbuilding. We're on well water, and our pump puts out about 7 gallons a minute. I will buy a holding tank probably 500 plus gallons, and pump. The tank will be filled by a garden hose, so there's no way it can cross connect with drinking water. That way I can put liquid fertilizer in the sprinkling water. Our lawn is quite large, and the soil is very sandy. I'm figuring to sprinkle every other day. Anyone done this before? Any suggestions or advice are appreciated.
Bob

 

[MossRoad]

I've always heard that it is better to water less often, but water longer when you do. If you water often, the grass will get used to not having to grow deep roots looking for water. If you give it a good soaking less often, it promotes deep root growth and makes for a lawn that is less prone to drought and disease.

Also, you should check your pump when watering to make sure that it is not cycling off and on. It is hard on the pump. You can solve this by putting in a water line that is big enough to take the full flow of the pump.

When they install sprinkler systems around here, they are required to put an anti siphon device, also called a vacuum breaker, in the line between the sprinkler system and the drinking water system. This prevents backflow and contamination that you mentioned.

Of course, your way would completely eliminate that possibility /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif unless you left the hose from the house in the tank /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif.

Drip irrigation in the garden would be very water efficient. I am considering it. Right now I use soaker hoses, which work pretty well also, but there is always some pinhole leak that squirts me in the eye when I walk by /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif.

 

[brewerbob]

Because our soil is very sandy, the moisture doesn't stick around long after you've watered, and we live in a high desert area where the humidity is always very low. I plan to water every other day for about ten minutes per zone. We always use sweat hoses in the garden, and I know what you mean about getting sprayed.
Bob

 

[MossRoad]

Another thing that the sprinkler people suggest is to place pie pans all around your yard and measure how much water your sprinkler system puts down in a given amount of time. Around here they recommend about an inch of water per week. For instance, I measured mine and found that it takes several hours to lay down an inch of water. Ten minutes 3-4 four times a week wouldn't give me 1/3 of an inch. I think our pump puts out around 8-10 gallons per minute. You might want to consult with a local sprinkler contractor. We have a do it yourself sprinkler center here that I used at my old house and they were very helpful.

 

[Bird]

MossRoad, many years ago I read an article in The Reader's Digest on how to have a perfect lawn, and it, too, said about an inch a week, which at that time they said would take about 4 hours with the "average" lawn sprinklers. Now I don't know just what an average sprinkler is, but about 4 hours once a week was what we did when we lived in town.

 

[dmccarty]

BrewerBob,

Have you thought of catching water from the roof and storing it into a tank instead of running the well? This is one of my ideas for watering in the future.

Later...
Dan McCarty

 

[MossRoad]

One of my neighbors did that. He also put some kind of spin on filter on it to take the dirt out before it enters the hoses so that the drip holes won't get plugged up. He used an old diesel storage tank, the kind that sits up on legs about 6 feet high, so he gets decent pressure to the drip system.