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Drip irrigation systems - any advice / how easy are they to set up?

gilla.walmsleygilla.walmsley Posts: 339
edited 29 February in Problem solving
I'm not very DIY savvy (though do try!) but I really need some kind of drip irrigation system for my flower beds. I live in the driest county in the UK and have a south facing, no shade, stony / free draining soil, and the amount of watering I need to do from May onwards is ridiculous and not environmentally friendly (even with drought friendly plants). I've got a couple of quotes from 'professional' companies who deal with domestic properties, but they are thousands of pounds, and I'm wondering how easy it is to lay something basic down myself? Has anyone done this in their garden?

I have a circular shaped garden with flower beds on either side. The outside tap is awkwardly located at the front of the house, for most of the summer now I live with the hose 'thrown over' the top of side gate into the back garden; not sure if low pressure wise that will still be ok with a drip system? If not I could organise the hose being drilled through the wall or gate perhaps.

With no knowledge of how these work, I'm a little concerned at the thought of my outdoor tap being switched on all the time, as the noise of the water running through the pipes is quite loud - but with a low pressurised / timed irrigation system might this potentially not happen?

Is a system relatively easy to install? Any advice / experience welcomed!
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  • steephillsteephill Posts: 2,841
    Can you fit an outdoor tap at the back of your house? That would make it easy to install a drip irrigation system, either seep hose or individual drippers. Kits usually come with a timer and pressure reducer and should be fairly quiet in operation. They are reasonably easy to put together, basically plug and play and shouldn't need expensive professionals.
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    I an hear the valve of my timer opening and closing if I happen to be in the kitchen when it opens or closes, with nothing noisy operating, but I only hear the actual water if the connector pops off and the water hits the paving slab below at full force. The connector that sometimes pops off is after the timer so the worst that could happen is if it happens when I'm out there's 10 minutes of water wasted. The timer itself is screwed onto the outside tap and pretty secure so there's no water running through the pipes when the valve is off, just the same as when the tap is off. My water timers have always "failed closed" if the battery runs out, but if you prefer not to leave your tap turned on you could connect your seep hoses etc to the tap without a timer and turn the tap on and off manually when you want to water.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • purplerallimpurplerallim Posts: 5,287
    I suppose the other suggestion is a water butt. Fill it up from the tap when needed, then attach the drip feeder to it and turn on when you want. That is if you have the room for one.🤔
  • gilla.walmsleygilla.walmsley Posts: 339
    We don't get anywhere near enough water here in the summer to use water butts - it frequently doesn't rain for months on end  :(  And then rains EVERY day between Oct-April! I do already have three water butts for offhand watering though  :)

    @JennyJ thank you - that is really handy/reassuring to know! Can I ask what brand of system you have? It's such a minefield. Are the timers powered by normal batteries you buy?

    Seep hoses are another option - I wasn't sure what the benefits/drawbacks were of each type!
  • gilla.walmsleygilla.walmsley Posts: 339
    edited 29 February
    @steephill unfortunately not on the tap - at least not easily/cheaply. All the pipework in the house (kitchen) is at the front of the house, there is no plumbing towards the back at all  :s 

    But I do currently "live" with a hose attached to the front tap and dragged over the side gate and round the back all year from an aesthetic POV so not too worried about that - the only possible problem I thought of could be with using a low pressure system and getting the water in the hose "up" over the back gate, but if that does happen I could somehow organise for a hole to be drilled through the gate at floor height to fit the hose through. Not a pretty solution, but would do as an interim until I can afford to have proper plumbing at the back of the house!
  • KT53KT53 Posts: 9,016
    I don't think a drip feed system would work very well from a water butt as the water pressure wouldn't be high enough.  I've used a Hozelock drip system for a number of years for pots and baskets but they seem to have stopped production.  Gardena do something similar.
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    edited 29 February
    How big is the area you wish to irrigate? Water pressure is key to these tap systems working and low pressure can cause a problem.

    I have this type of thing, and it works pretty well but is close to the tap and timer, with decent pressure.


    Perhaps a hose attached to a "leaky pipe" type system might work better for your set up.

    Or investigate Gardena's


    Perhaps try a second hand system out so you can get a feel for how things might work.

    I'm looking at getting a second system for my back garden.
  • gilla.walmsleygilla.walmsley Posts: 339
    Thanks @Fire - I actually have the opposite problem, I have very high water pressure! What I meant in my post about low water pressure was that I thought (from my little internet research) that the pressure with these systems had to be automatically adjusted by a piece of kit that you buy in order to be lower than normal as otherwise it wouldn't "drip" feed? But I'm possibly misunderstanding!

    The actual area of irrigation isn't super large (perhaps 15-20 sqm in total?) but it's in an awkward shape that will mean some stretches of hose without the need for any "holes" in it, including the initial stretch from the outside tap to the first flower bed, which would be approx 12 metres.

    I think I'll do a bit more research and then invest in something and hope for the best!!
  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    edited 29 February
    I bought an irrigation kit with a timer several years ago but never really got to grips with it (it seemed to drip in all the wrong places and then didn't where it was supposed to.
    It was for pots when I was away on holiday.

    It's been in the shed for the last four years.

    Drilling a hole in a wooden gate is a comparatively easy job if you've got a drill or know somebody who has. If you haven't got a big enough drill bit, then you simply drill lots of small holes around the size hole you need, then hit them out.
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    gilla.walmsley

    Sorry, I misread. Are the watering areas all beds or some pots too? I think some kits come with a pressure adjuster.

    Maybe Lizzie could sell her kit to you to try out. 

    There is a lot of info on Youtube about setting up and adjusting kits. In my experience it took a while ( a couple of months) and checking to fiddle with it to get it all just right. But then it was my first time with them. Now I wouldn't be without it - it's a godsend.
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