Specialty Gardening: IRRIGATING Containers and container gardens?, 1 by Katlian

Katlian wrote:
Our system is on a big computerized timer with five valves and underground pipes all over the yard. I don't recommend it as a weekend project. Here is a photo of some of the parts from my irrigation box. The mister and sprinkler are set up on stakes to water a small patch of lawn or groups of small pots. The valve can be added to a line to control the flow of water to a group of sprinklers or a stretch of soaker hose.

The inline dripper has two barbed ends and lets most of the water pass through while dripping a little out the side. Several inline drippers can be connected in a row and the end of the line has to be capped or connected to something else. The button dripper has one barbed and one straight end. The barbed end connects to the water supply and the water drips out the other end. Buttons can only be connected at the end of a line.

The two connectors connect pieces of tubing and plug fills holes that are made by mistake or if you want to change something. The clamp nails into wooden fence posts or deck rails to hold tubing off the ground. Stakes are handy for holding a piece of tubing with a dripper in the right spot of keeping it from falling out of a pot.

The spaghetti is solid tubing that carries water and the dripper or soak hose leaks water along it's length. The half inch pipe can be used to deliver a larger amount of water and smaller tubes are connected by punching a hole and popping in a connector with small tube on the other end. Half inch can also be connected to a hose by adding a special connector to the end of the pipe.

The 4 port manifold replaces a sprinkler head (you might have to add a piece of pvc pipe to the sprinkler pipe) and small tubes connect to each barb.

Whew! That's a lot to absorb but the system is very flexible and you can buy all of these parts separately or in packages.

A good website with tutorials and a wizard to hepl you figure out parts is http://www.dripirrigation.ca/

I hope all that helps,
Janel