Featured installation
A three-zone system for a greenhouse, raised beds, borders and patio
Dave C, Bridlington
- 3zones on one timer
- 50mRain Bird drip line
- 50m13mm supply pipe
- ~70adjustable drippers
Introduction
I was a complete novice when I began this project. To give an idea of how novice, I messaged Garden Watering because I was having difficulty just fitting a 4mm pipe into a nozzle on a big-brand kit. Garden Watering were really helpful, even though I'd not bought it from them.
When I started with that big-brand 20-outlet timed system, it became clear that I'd bought something far too small, even for my greenhouse. So I gave that to a friend with a small greenhouse and started again from scratch.
I now have a huge, brilliant, professional-class three-zone system. It takes care of my greenhouse, several raised beds and borders, a garden shelter, plus a patio. All told it has 50 metres of Rain Bird drip feeder pipe, about 50 varied outlets in the greenhouse and 20 varied outlets on the patio. It's easy to use. It worked first time after I'd built it. No leaks anywhere. Fabulous.
The design
I sketched the layout of my garden and emailed it to Garden Watering. They rang me and chatted through my beginner's idea, and explained a better solution with a three-zone timer. They produced an order list and sent the stuff. It matched what I thought my needs were.
They advised laying out all the parts in situ before building it. I'd not included several details in my sketch (small walls round raised beds, walls around borders and so on), so I rang rather sheepishly. They were very cheerful and understanding and helped me with an additional parts list, which they sent promptly.
After building the greenhouse part, which was straightforward with their components, I decided to radically enlarge the system. Not just one raised bed, but three in different parts of the garden, plus a couple of long borders and a shelter with hanging baskets. Again, Garden Watering were great with my change of mind.
Building it all
It was all straightforward, with minimal skills required, but it did take several mornings. The only tools needed were:
- a strong pair of scissors to cut the 13mm and 4mm piping;
- a drill to get through the aluminium base wall of the greenhouse;
- a screwdriver to fit some pipe holders to a wooden fence;
- a flask of hot water, to soften the ends of the 4mm pipe and make it easier to push onto the 4-way outlets and adjustable drippers.
Stage one: fit the three-zone timer
This could not be simpler. It just screws onto a garden tap.
Stage two: lay out the feed pipework
I did it step by step, in lots of small, simple stages.
As an example, to get to the greenhouse the 13mm feed pipe needed to go down to a shingle path, run under the shingle (through some tough conduit) to the greenhouse concrete platform, up the wall to the greenhouse and through the greenhouse's aluminium base wall. Then it's routed around the inside of the greenhouse, with 4-way 4mm breakouts to drippers.
I measured the approximate length of 13mm pipe needed to get from the timer outlet to the shingle, and cut it with scissors. I pushed it onto the no-leak 13mm elbow, then adjusted the length more accurately by cutting a little more off. The picture of the three-zone timer shows the project partially finished. The right-hand pipe goes under the shingle. The central pipe tees off to the nearest raised bed and also down to an elbow taking it to the brick wall, and it then tracks round the raised bed attached to the wall, and from there out to the sides of the garden.
By repeating that method many times, with elbows, tees, 13mm-to-4-way-4mm adapters and so on, the layout was completed. All told it has used 50 metres of 13mm feed pipe, 50 metres of Rain Bird drip irrigation pipe and about 70 adjustable drippers, plus 4mm pipe, various 13mm-to-4mm outlets and 13mm stop ends. All of them are the no-leak variety, with push-on-over-barb fittings. I wanted that kind because the pierced 13mm-to-4mm pipes a friend has often leak. I also wonder whether push-past O-rings will fail after a year or two, as the O-rings on bigger hosepipes perish.
Nothing has leaked. The feed pipe for the raised beds and borders navigates shingle pathways, goes round the outside of the greenhouse, along a wooden fence behind some large hedges, and crosses borders and shingle paths to reach the raised beds. It's all unobtrusive. All it takes is time to do it all bit by bit, methodically.
Testing and adjustments
Once it was all installed, I couldn't wait to try it out. I guessed a flow rate for the greenhouse adjustable drippers and hanging basket drippers. The idea was to set the timer for a 5-minute trial and watch what happened. (The timer has a manual mode, which lets you choose a time period and start it straight away.)
Some of the adjustable drippers were set a little too fast, so I could dial them down individually. I also discovered that, at this stage of the season with small plants, 5 minutes in one go was too much. It's just a matter of suck it and see.
My immediate delight was just how easy it now is to water everything. A few button presses and it's all taken care of! Watering the greenhouse is especially easy. I've found it easier than flooding trays with a watering can, easier than water troughs and capillary matting, and no frogs!
Quality of the components
I am really impressed with everything.
The 3-Zone Water Timer is robust and very simple to program. It's also very simple to override or turn off, and it even has a child lock. The grey-screen digital display is simple to read, and it times out to preserve battery power.
The Rain Bird irrigation pipe has little holes every 33cm, each with some kind of simple flow regulator built in. It looks like they give the same drip rate even to the end of a long 50-metre run.
All of the no-leak fittings really don't leak at all. So far I've used 100 metres of 13mm piping and over 100 of the no-leak fittings of various sizes. Nothing leaks. The pipes push tightly over barbed nozzles, and the threaded tighteners squeeze the pipe firmly against the barbed nozzle. There's no chance of a leak, and no O-rings to perish and fail.