Permablitz #183 – Clayton – the sequel!
It was a beautiful sunny winter’s day – the second weekend in a row of beautiful weather – and Terry, Thais and Seila had returned to Mei’s freshly blitzed garden in Clayton after the previous week’s blitz to finish off the irrigation.
Normally the irrigation would be done before the planting, but with a bit of care around the digging nothing is impossible! With the help of Pooja, Natacha, Den and three of Mei’s own children, trenches were dug from the tap point to each garden bed (not too deep due to the underground pipes that run beneath Mei’s front yard – a mitigating factor in the design!), and 13mm polypipe set down.
Terry’s design included a four-outlet manifold*, which allows independent water flow to different areas of the garden. Once the polypipe was in, it was simply a matter of connecting the weeper hoses* to the polypipes and placing them where required, ie around the new plantings!
Improvements to the system that can be made in the future is the addition of one or more tap timers – these are great for households that find committing to water the gardens challenging for various reasons (long working hours, etc).
The other focus of the day was hooking up a solar panel to a pump that was to push water up a 1metre length of pipe into a pot (shown above) to create a fountain. Unfortunately, the pump present on the day wasn’t strong enough so this will need to be replaced – the solar panel presented also needs to be upgraded as it wasn’t capable of generating the required power. Live and learn!
When looking at pumps, factors that need to be considered include the amount of water present, the distance the water is to be pushed and the water pressure available. It can be a bit daunting for those dipping into pond creation for the first time, but there are some local resources that can help.
Are you thinking of doing some irrigation at your place? Sustainable Gardening Australia have some great tips definitely work checking out.
* Please note that these were the fittings chosen on the day; we’re not really committed to any brand one way or another!
