Passport – check, credit card – check

T minus two days and counting. Got my passport, got my credit card, got my ticket … what could go wrong? NOTHING, NOTHING AT ALL. No, I am not tense.

Let’s talk about irrigation. In the last post, I showed how I set up a wonderful long string of drip emitters about, oh let’s say about thirty or more of them. Bad idea, and I really should have known better. A 1/4 inch tube has way too much resistance so the emitters at the start have much greater output than those at the end. Duh!

Realizing that the string of emitters were not functioning well I played the Mother’s Day card and asked my physicist husband for help (after all he will be home babysitting this whole affair anyway). We ran a 1/2 inch polyethylene tubing down the center of the bed and connected 1/4″ tubing to the 1/2″ tubing, teed it off and hung the emitters into groups of pots, as shown in the diagram below (please excuse my artistic inability).

We also used plumbers tape. It would have been better if we had thicker tape but it worked fine.

Here’s a tee at the end of the 1/2″ tubing (notice the plastic double rings at the top of the photo and a bit to the left that crimp the tube to block it off at the end). The tee, middle of picture, connects the 1/2″ line to two 1/4″ tubes on either side. Using two shorter 1/4″ lines rather than one long line of 1/4″ with emitters in serial results in more even discharge. Several emitters, not visible in this picture, tee off the 1/4″ lines and are set in the pots. (And no, the drip of water on the cement does not indicate a leaky system – all is tight as a ship! And no, I am not tense!)

1/2″ poly tubing running through the center of the bed with groups of 1/4″ tubing coming off either side.

And finally the timer located on the spigot. The antisiphon and pressure regulator are at the end of the garden hose before the 1/2″ poly tubing.

Tomorrow I will photograph all the other pots sprinkled throughout the yard and try to provide simple and clear directions for my husband on how and when to water. I doubt that I will have time to post, but who knows.

T minus 1.5 days and still counting. Eye mask – check, ear plugs – check, book – check. It is still raining in Scotland and the highs are steadily dropping into the mid 50s through the next five days. Raincoat – check, long underwear – check.