IF YOU’RE THINKING OF BUYING or installing an irrigation system for your lawn or backyard garden, this book was written for you. Regardless of whether you’re interested in a high-tech, automatic sprinkler system or simple, mobile irrigation equipment, you’ll find answers to your questions.
Lawns and small gardens can be watered in a variety of ways. Sometimes all that is needed is a sprinkler and garden hose. Other jobs call for more sophisticated equipment, such as an overhead irrigation system, underground irrigation system, or a more complex surface system. Each type has its place and its advantages. This book will show them all.
The quantity of water used in irrigation can be staggering. It can, in fact, be of such demand on a well that the well is rendered useless for a while. If a well supplies your water, think twice before using it for your lawn or garden. Extended dry spells put enough of a burden on some wells that the added responsibility as a source of irrigation is just too much for the well to handle. There are ways, however, to avoid this problem, which you will learn as you read through this book.
Reading technical material about irrigation can be a bit on the dry side, but you won’t find that to be the case here. Yes, you will get plenty of technical information, but you won’t get it in a boring, textbook style.
If you’ve ever read instructions for putting together a bicycle or for programming a VCR, you have some idea of how difficult it can be to understand highly technical terms. I have presented these technical instructions in clear, easy-to-understand language, with step-by-step directions leaving nothing to the imagination. You won’t need to read a paragraph three or four times to understand what I’m saying.
Can you install your own irrigation system? There is little doubt that you can — almost anyone can with the help of this book. Assuming that you need an irrigation system, installing it yourself can save you a lot of money, plus you will gain a sense of self-satisfaction beyond financial gain.
Will this book tell you everything there is to know about irrigation? No, but it will give you all the information you need to buy or build and install your own irrigation system. All the equipment and applications covered in this book are directed at the homeowner’s needs, which are different from those of commercial farmers and golf course owners. This book is written specifically for residential and small-scale gardening irrigation.
My own experience — both personal and professional — has led me to write this book. I’ve lived in the country most of my life. As a child, my grandparents took care of me while my parents worked. My father has always been proud of maintaining a pretty lawn, but he was never into gardening. My grandfather enjoyed vegetable gardening and growing experimental (grafted) fruit trees. A rose garden — and I mean a big one — was my grandmother’s passion. During those early years, I received quite an extensive education in gardening and lawn care.
Back in those days, I gave each tomato plant a fresh drink of tap water with a watering can. I planted seeds, pulled weeds, helped run the rototiller, and kept Japanese beetles off the roses. During unusually hot spells, I spent most of my time toting water between the two gardens and running through the sprinkler. This was the beginning of my water career, as I later became a plumber.
As a teenager, I kept a small garden of my own, which was a source of pride for me. I enjoyed working in it until hunting, fishing, girls, and four-wheel-drive trucks became more important. During my adventuresome years, I took a sabbatical from gardening.
After completing construction of my first home in the heat of a Virginia summer, I returned to gardening. It was then that I discovered how quickly a shallow well can run dry. The grass seed didn’t have much chance to penetrate the hard-baked ground, and as a result, I brought out the water hoses and sprinklers. Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for my new well to start spitting sand. The water reserve simply wasn’t adequate. I had no grass that year.
Much has changed since the days of my grandparents’ gardens, when I helped even before I could read the words on seed packages and learned the value of a good watering plan. I’ve continued to expand my knowledge over the years, and some thirty years later, I’m still learning. It seems that every year I find a way to make gardening easier. As a busy plumber and businessman, husband and father, I’ve looked for shortcuts, and the ones I’ve found I would like to share with you in this book.
You will get detailed, hands-on advice. The goal is to concentrate on specific issues in each chapter and suggest methods that may best suit your small-scale irrigation needs. I also introduce some products that you may not know exist. My goal is for you to have fun and learn at the same time. To get started, let’s talk about some of the obstacles you may encounter around your own home.