Advice on underground sprinkler systems

Nyboy

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White Plains NY,weekends Lagrange NY.
I hate dragging hoses all over the yard. Would like to put in a sprinkler system. What should I be looking for, what should I stay away from? Any tips or advice thanks.
 
Rainbird pop-up sprinkler heads are what i used. They are just a couple bucks each. I used cheap pvc pipe and made a sector valves for each zone. I still have to manually turn the water on and off, but no messing with hoses! We have to water a lot around here. I buried the PVC pipes about a foot deep, using a garden shovel. Saves a lot of time to water. I put no more than five heads per sector. The overlap is about 10-15 feet, less so the farther away from the main. Only very basic plumbing skills are involved, and there is no expensive timer. I water only when i know that the soil is too dry, and i water for at least 30 minutes per sector.
 
Rainbird makes a lot of directional sprinklers such as semi circular or even one that sprays a square pattern that allow you to water thoroughly without wasting water on sidewalks and driveways. The ultimate water saver is still a drip system tough.
 
About 2 acres of our 7.5 are on drip and sprinklers. It only makes sense, even for a smaller yard. The timers are about $30, and usually handle up to 6 stations. Easy to do and once its done, its done.
 
In my garden, now 25 by 50 plus a 300 square foot addition, all of it fully animal protected enclosed, moving hoses was the pits even before these additions. I did a relatively simple thing. I simply bought 4 50 foot hoses on sale, (I need to get one more on payday), and a bunch of those plastic male and female repair parts and splitters. Did some figuring and calculating...(wondering into the sky?)...and cut pieces of hose and buried some sticking up against posts I sank. I made it so that each row now has its own hose that runs from the middle of the walkway row and reaches just past the end of each row. That's 5 hose ends. I was short one piece to bury from failing to calculate right, but I'll get it. I also bought one quick release hose end gadget. Oh yes, I am on gravity flow.
 

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