When we sheet mulched half of the back lawn last year, we did so with the intention that someday we would convert the sprinkler system (which hiss a couple gallons a minute per sprinkler all over the place) to a much more efficient drip system.
My advice for a project like this:
Take your time
Do it right
Plan it well
Buy the right parts the first time around
I made 7 trips to the hardware store last weekend. I even dared to enter Home Depot and Lowe's when my beloved Orchard Super Hardware (OSH) didn't have the part I needed. Talk about feeling completely overwhelmed! Now I remember why I don't like those places.
Like many of our projects, this one came to fruition kind of last minute. We decided last Friday that last weekend would be the weekend to convert the sprinklers. We also had a broken valve in the front that needed to be replaced, and given that our sprinklers were done when the house was built 10 years ago, the same replacement valve wasn't readily available.
First mistake
I went to cut the broken valve from the water supply and Chris came over and said, "That's not the broken valve." Strike one. Hey, at least I turned the water off! We ended up having such issues replacing the valves that we simply decided to cap them for now. We finally figured out on Sunday evening that they go to areas that are sheet mulched out front anyway, so we don't have any need for the sprinkler to be in working order (for now)! We fought with them all weekend, and the simple answer that could have saved us much time didn't occur until Sunday night? Tis life.
Second mistake
I did not plan this project well at all, and kept having to make trips to the hardware store to continue uninterrupted.
Third mistake
After digging up all of the sprinklers in the backyard, converting them to a drip system/capping them, I turned the water on to find that I had completely missed a sprinkler head in the corner! Drats. When I tried to dig the little booger up tonight, I realized there are tree roots wrapped around the entire thing. Sounds like a job for Chris!
Strike Four
The other mistake I made (duh! I can't believe this one folks) is that I didn't wrap the threads of the converted sprinklers in the back with teflon tape to prevent water leaks. Now I have to unscrew all of them and put on tape before screwing them back in. They leak! Arrgh.
Next time I will find and solicit the help of a local irrigation store in the planning and parts areas in which I so incredibly lacked this weekend. Once it's all finally completed and I'm happy with the results, I'll post pictures to make me feel better. Right now, I'm living in sprinkler purgatory!
Why am I telling you about my sprinkler struggles? It illustrates everything I'm doing wrong.
I've only recently realized that I need to take my time with projects. For some reason, I always put some artificial deadline on myself (we need to finish THIS weekend!) and then rush to get stuff done and at the end I'm not 100% happy with the finished job. I've been inspired after meeting Mark and Linda from Each Little World in Chicago a few weeks ago and reading their adventures since then. They take their time with projects and the finished products are absolute works of art. Their tea house, their fence, oh wow! It makes me want to be a better gardener/project-er.
Tale of the Sun & the Wind
The sun and wind were chatting one day when the wind spotted a man walking down the street wearing a coat.
"Watch this! I betcha I can blow his jacket off of him!" said the wind.
And blow the wind did. He blew harder and harder, but the man was undeterred and continued walking while grasping at the edges of his jacket, holding ever tighter so it wouldn't blow off of him.
The sun said, "No wind, watch this. I can make his jacket come off."
The sun shone brightly, and the clouds began to clear. The air warmed, and after a few moments, the man simply took off his coat to enjoy the warmth of the sun on his skin.
Moral of the story:
Sometimes you have to go slow to go fast
Jun 23, 2009
Sprinkler Conversion
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13 comments:
The missing photo here--wet and muddy Katie glaring at the sprinkler!
Katie — Thanks for that nice shout out! I think changing an existing set-up is always more difficult than just starting a project from scratch. Luckily we have a decent hardware store within walking distance and HD is very close, too, if we get desperate.
It certainly helps to think of the garden as ongoing (or perhaps never-ending projects!). We just started a simple one that we've talked about for a year or so. And even though Mark needs to get started on the tea house again, this is something that can be done in a couple of weeks. We're adding a stone edge to a path and replacing bark mulch on the path with gravel. Everything washed out in recent storms and it seemed like the time to do it — otherwise we have to go buy mulch and rebuild the path anyway. It will help keep me patient with the tea house project to see progress elsewhere in the garden.
Irrigation supply houses near you. Some are wholesale, though. Consider the John Deere Landscaping stores.
http://maps.google.com/maps?client=safari&rls=en-us&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=irrigation+supplies+folsom&fb=1&split=1&gl=us&view=text&ei=gmhCSpioKZHUsgOQpLTLDw&sa=X&oi=local_group&ct=more-results&cd=1&resnum=1
Well done, love the photos and the system looks great. Love the blog too, :-) You may be interested in the work of Send a Cow -http://www.sendacow.org.uk/ourwork - We work with rural community groups in nine countries in Africa, providing small-scale farmers with the skills and means to feed their families and earn an income. It's all about helping to develop sustainable farming methods!
I'm like you, once I decide on a project I want it done yesterday. Lucky for me I'm married to a man with patience and the wisdom to slow down and plan things out. He seems to move at a turtle's pace, but our projects and decisions are, well, almost always, better for it.
But just think how much time you will save, the next time you do this!
Sounds like a great project, and a wonderful learning experience in spite of the frustrations.
Yes, one of these days you will look back on this project as a "learning" experience. Even the best laid plans go awry. Patience is what a gardener must learn. It sounds like you have learned well.
Katie, I completely understand your frustration - I think we've spent the last eight or nine months cobbling together last minute projects because we've suddenly realised that if we don't do 'something' we won't do 'anything' and this weekend we had to repair our cold frame because a botched job on it over the winter resulted in broken glass in our cucumber plants.
It's irritation, not irrigation. Makes a person want to plant only cactus and agaves.
I feel your pain. I live in California so irrigation is a must. I won't even put in a new garden for someone if they don't do irrigation first (learned the hard way). I love it. And I have had many melt downs with it. Since you are starting from scratch I would highly recommend making an irrigation map so you will never question where the line runs when you want to make a change. And also never bury the line too deeply under mulch, trying to find a buried line is really no fun. Best of luck to you. It'll be worth it. Later. Remember beer makes these kinds of projects a little easier!
me too! I so need to take more time with my projects...thankfully I married a man who takes a lot of time and ends with perfection to fight my impulsive tendencies....why do we do that? Just the other morning I didn't have anything to wear and so I decided I'd real quick like finish up a skirt I have been making before getting Margot to daycare. ha. Cut the first piece of fabric to the wrong size and finish it and was late...it never works!
Oh Katie, I'm sorry for all the mishaps...it's frustrating! I do envy your drip irrigation tho. Just 2 days ago I was cursing the front lawn as I watered it. It just takes waaaay to much precious water, and still it looks like crap. I was telling my hubby as he had just come back from work that it ALL needed to go YESTERDAY! He nodded understsandinly, then tld me I need to plan out a front veggie/orchard garden...he's great...lol. We have sooo many projects we'd like to do, but it will definitely take years for many of them to come to fruition. Thank you for posting your struggles.
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