Juli Lawrence – Rakish Gardening

Good tutorial on installing soaker hoses and any kind of irrigation system.

The regulator and filter I ordered did arrive, but turned out it was sitting at our mailbox at the UPS store we use. It had been there two weeks!

That’s not the Drip Store’s fault, although they really shouldn’t be putting two addresses on the shipping box. The fault lies with the post office, which apparently can’t read SHIP TO. One of these days I really need to let go with a big harangue about the US post office. But I’ll save that for another day and a different website. This site is for gardening mostly, not my rants.

All of our financial stuff, credit card statements, etc., go to a private mailbox (not a PO box) at a UPS store. Several reasons for that, but most importantly hubby, CPA and financial analyst, is paranoid about identity theft and doesn’t like the idea of mail sitting in a mailbox for thieves. So billing address for a credit card is different than our home address, and sometimes I even use a friend’s address to ship stuff if we’re not going to be home.

Years ago I sent one of those cheese/salami packages to a friend out of state for Christmas, they left it with her neighbor while she was at work, and the neighbor apparently ate it. Oh, the neighbor said it was spoiled and she tossed it. Um, yeah. That’s why I don’t shop Swiss Colony anymore, because they gave me a lot of grief about replacing it. And I advise people to avoid Swiss Colony.

Anyway….steering off topic here. I promised myself I would not rant on this blog, unless it’s a rant about cucumber beetles.

So the Drip Store put both billing and shipping addresses on the box, but it WAS clearly marked SHIP TO with some kind of UPC code that clearly stated where to ship to. And yet, the postal service mucked it up.

But I have the parts now and am getting ready to install today. This sure turned out to be a lot more complicated than I ever dreamed. Hardly the “buy a roll of bulk soaker hose and some connectors” and hook it up.

The truth is, it’s worth it because it has made watering life so much easier, and frankly, a lot healthier for the plants. They have loved that deep soaking as opposed to me standing around with a watering wand and shallow soaking. It’s also nice to turn it on, set a timer and forget it. I did not buy an attachable timer. I use the microwave timer for everything!

So now I have: hose spigot/backflow valve/heavy-duty pressure regulator/huge contraption of a filter to keep the crud out of the hose. As long as I was ordering from the Drip Store, figured I might as well spend the extra 10 bucks and get that too, given that in addition to super heavy water pressure, we have a lot of ick stuff in our water.

It’s a lot of contraptions on the hose spigot and next year I’m going to even expand it more. The plan is to buy a roll of plastic tubing and interconnect all my soakers hoses with that tubing buried under the turf. At the spigot, I’ll have one of those splitter deals, with a regular hose running off one, and all the contraptions for the soaker hose system on the other. That way I can still have a regular hose for the watering can.

I’m looking forward to that. As it is now, I hook up the garden hose to the start of the soaker hose in one garden, do the time, then repeat on the next garden. It’s just another time saver to have it all connected, plus it’s kind of cool.

I really wouldn’t have considered all of this had it not been for Paul James and his HGTV gardening show. He was the one who kept impressing on me that it’s better to do once a week deep soaking instead of every other day shallow watering. And last summer, during the real heat, I was spending an hour to two hours a day standing around watering with the hose and water wand.

I guess considering the adventure with the water pressure reader and various doodads I’ve bought, the eleven dollars it was gonna cost ran up to about 30-40 dollars total. But still, I consider it a worthy investment.

BTW, the Drip Store is really nice, good customer service, and their prices are the best. On top of it, if you’re just wanting to order a little doohickey, they don’t kill you with shipping and handling like most places. They will use priority mail or even first class mail…if you’re willing to chance it with the post office. I was and am aggravated at the post office, but that’s not the Drip Store’s fault. I just really appreciate not getting hosed (pun intended) for shipping and handling for a change.

I recommend the Drip Store and I will very likely order my plastic tubing from them next year….plus whatever other crazy doodads I think I might need.

I should add that their sales guy was very helpful in helping me figure out which filter to buy and didn’t steer me towards the most expensive.

Tags: soaker hoses
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I’m still waiting on a mail order pressure regulator. In fact, I’m worried that the order is lost because it should have been here days ago. Maybe tomorrow, but I’m getting ticked off.

If you’re using soaker hoses, it’s really important to make sure your pressure is low enough, or your hoses will start springing leaks. In my case, it looks like someone sliced them with razor blades. To their credit, Orbit has been more than generous and has replaced the bulk hose TWICE.

Shop Orbit, shop Orbit.

However, it took my own detective work and lots of Googling to figure out the problem wasn’t defective hose, but too high water pressure.

Ladies and gentlemen, I would suggest buying a cheap water pressure gauge, or better: borrow one from a friend. The bad news is that the installation booklets don’t stress how important water pressure is. And I think most places will have “normal” pressure, which is apparently 30-60 PSI. Mine clocked in at about 100. The cheap little regulators you buy at Wal Mart or Home Depot just aren’t built for that, and I had to search the net to find one that would handle such pressure, and take it down to an acceptable level. A level that won’t blow up my soaker hose.

This regulator I’ve ordered was about seven dollars, so still cheap, but I don’t think you can buy them in a store unless you happen to have an irrigation store nearby.

I also suggest buying the backflow valve, which is about three bucks. (At Wal Mart, which carries Orbit brand, and I think that brand is just fine.) You don’t want water backing up into your home supply; it’s worth the three bucks.

For an average garden, here’s your shopping list:

• a roll of bulk hose (I got 100 feet and that exactly fit my vegetable garden; then I got another roll for flower gardens) This was 11 dollars and change
• a connector that slips onto the bulk hose and will connect to your garden hose. This was about a dollar and a quarter
• an end cap for the end of your soaker hose. This was 94 cents.
• a few odd and end connectors. I got an elbow to go around a corner, and a t connector to send hose left and right. These are all about a buck a piece. Because I had exploding hose, I also ended up buying several simple connectors. They’re good to have for leaks: cut out the leaky part, connect the ends. But these hoses shouldn’t leak for years.
• I also suggest buying a doodad that makes hose connection easier by turning. I don’t know what these things are called, but it was about three or four dollars

To get started, you could really get buy with a roll of hose, backflow valve, pressure regulator (I think this is a must!) a connector and an end cap, and then buy more crap as you need it. That’s what I did, but I keep buying doodads.

Next year, I’m going to buy a roll of rubber tubing (this is all half inch stuff) and lay some lines under the surface of the yard so that everything is connected, yet out of the way of the mower boy. They sell rolls of the tubing for under ten dollars, though shipping is almost as high. I’ve looked at Lowe’s and they have it for over 25 dollars in the pond kits! Surely it’s cheaper somewhere else. But I learn as I go.

Most important lesson: water pressure. That’s been a real headache.

Tags: soaker hoses
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So I go to the trouble and expense of laying soaker hose everywhere. I just love it because watering is so easy now and a slow drip is better for the plants.

But all of a sudden I’m springing leaks. From the little bit I can find around the net, I’m thinking the water pressure is too high, and these soakers are built for lower pressure. I did put one of the pressure regulator things on the faucet and I know it reduced the pressure. I know that because I use a three gallon bucket to mix up my fertilizer soup (fish emulsion and seaweed) and it takes longer to fill the bucket.

But I think I’m going to go to Lowes, spend the six dollars and get a pressure gauge so I can measure the PSI exactly. If it turns out the pressure is higher than the regulator said it would be, I’m calling the company and insisting on all new hose. I have the receipt for the pressure regulator, and I’ll return it. Then I’ll use the gauge to figure out how far to turn the handle on the faucet at the house to get the correct PSI.

I’m kind of aggravated.

Addendum: I went to Lowes and the gauge was ten dollars, not six. Their website said six, but unless you go in with a product number, they can never find it. I think Lowes does some bait and switch. Anyway, the hose WITH the pressure regulator reads FORTY PSI. The regulator was supposed to take it down to 20. Then when I was in Lowes, this guy I was talking to asked where I lived and said our village water pressure is around 100. WTF?

My whole life I lived in the country with well water and crap water pressure that took 20 minutes to rinse your hair, and then I wish for high water pressure. You sometimes get what you wish for and then it’s too much.

Tags: soaker hoses
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