Every home owner enjoys having a healthy green lawn and attractive plants growing and thriving in their planters. For many years the problem of watering the lawn has been resolved by the lawn sprinkler. These systems due to popularity became a standard addition to new home construction. However the planters need for moisture usually occurred by receiving some over spray from the lawn sprinklers, a separate garden hose, or by lugging around and using a watering can. Unlike the lawn sprinklers which had the convenience of using automatic timers the planters suffered often from neglect brought on by the nuisance of requiring manual upkeep of its watering needs. Fortunately thanks to new low pressure drip irrigation systems watering planters has joined the automated age.

The materials used to create a low pressure irrigation drip system are easy to find in most Home Depot type retail outlets and inexpensive too. Before purchasing any materials one should grab a pencil and some graph paper and do some simple sketches of how the planters fit the homes landscape. Draw the picture as if you were looking down on your property from above. Be sure to indicate where concrete sidewalks are located along with markings showing where the external water spigots exist. Then take a tape measure and get the lengths of the planters. The width is not necessary to record unless the planters are over three feet wide. Draw small circles in the planter's part of the sketch to note plants present and also where new ones are intended to be placed. This information is important to have order to design your drip irrigation system properly. It will also prevent you from purchasing more materials than needed.

After gathering all the data mentioned above take a colored pencil and draw lines starting at an external water spigot and determine how you want to run the plastic water supply piping. Weave the line in straight lines with 90 degree turns around corners thru the pictured planter locations. Once this is done draw circles around corners and place X's next to each plant that needs watering. After getting all this information drawn and gathered it's time to determine what supply's to purchase.

Drip irrigation systems parts break down into elbows (corners), straight coupling (for extending length by connecting two straight pieces of piping), 1/4"-3/8" tubing (used to branch off of the main 1/2" piping, drip nozzles, end caps, and the smaller tubing connectors. Taking your measurements and sketch record information add up how many corners (elbows), drip nozzles (one for each plant), and determine how many feet of tubing you'll be using. With this information tallied you're going to be able to know exactly what amount of each drip irrigation parts will need to be purchased. Also take your sketch and parts list with you to the store. This will help the trained sales personnel to answer any other questions you may have more correctly. Because drip irrigations systems are low pressure you will need to attach a pressure reduction fitting to the outside water spigot being used for a water source. Don't worry this item is ready made and very easy to install.

Now that all the drip irrigation supplies have been purchased and any additional advice gleaned from the store experts has been accomplished it's time to install the system. If you wish to hide the tubing from view it will be necessary to dig out a trench about 6" deep to lay the piping in before assembling. Having taken the time to sketch out how you wanted to install your new drip irrigation system is going to pay off now. Unfortunately the 1/2" plastic piping is sold in a rolled up manner. Because this is done trying to lay the piping in the straight lines as sketched will be an aggravating experienced. It is recommended to unravel the 1/2" piping and to stretch it out first. Tie the ends to something to keep it in a stretched manner and preferably on a nice hot day. This will help immensely to remove the curl in the piping. Another trick is to cut small 12" pieces of wire clothes hanger and bend in half. Then as you lay out the piping slip the "U" shaped wire over the piping and into the ground in short intervals. Other than the drip irrigation piping's curling problem the rest of the installation is simple and easy. Oh by the way because the drip irrigation system uses low water pressure to operate you can leave it on and make repairs or changes. You will get squirted a bit as you add fittings or change them but on a hot day it's a quite welcomed distraction.