You're going to hit pipe. You will. Accept it, make peace with it, learn how to repair it, and move forward. A lot of people are terrified of their irrigation systems because they don't understand one simple fact: water is not moving through those pipes until the controller opens the valve for that zone. Worst case scenario, you shut that zone off until you fix the leak (or have a pro fix it). If you get super unlucky and hit the main line from the house to the valve boxes (this is the only line that is always charged) your system should have a main shutoff valve right at the house (may be on the backflow preventer). Since you have nothing going on besides lawn and a couple trees, you will need to move heads as you put in beds. The lawn heads will need to be moved to the edge, and you may decide to add irrigation zones for the beds as well. So no matter what, you're going to want to either develop a relationship with an irrigation contractor or start learning about irrigation. If you do any of it yourself, just remember the irrigator's prayer. "Lord, I know you wanted water to flow downhill. Please look the other way before I flip this switch. Amen."

Buy a ratcheting plastic pipe cutter. You can get them for $8-$100. Mine cost $8. If you need the cutters you'll also need PVC glue and some pipe cleaner fluid. It is often dark purple in color. The cleaner removes the outer surface of the pipe so the glue will melt deeper into the pipe forming a solid piece after it dries. The rest of this I'm doing in steps to make it easier to sort out. I'm not trying to be pedantic. Find a riser you want to adjust the height on. Dig around that riser until you get to the cross connecting pipe underground. It will be 6-12 inches deep. Put all the soil onto a tarp or something that you can temporarily pull away. Measure the pipe diameter so you can speak intelligently with the people at the hardware store. Risers are usually 1/2-inch but rarely a 3/4 pipe is used. Measure the height of the riser from the TOP of the lower fitting to the TOP of the spray nozzle. Lay a piece of wood across the hole and measure from the top of the bottom fitting to the bottom of the wood across the hole. The bottom of the wood is the very top surface of the planet at the location of that hole. You want the TOP of the sprayer to be at that height. At this point all I can say is you are going to get some experience. Adjusting the height of the riser might be as easy as adding a threaded "nipple" to the top of the riser or you might have to do some surgery with your pipe cutting tool. If you have to shorten the riser, you will need to cut it twice and remove a piece in the middle. Then you can rejoin the two pieces with an unthreaded nipple (need the glue and cleaner). Or you can cut off the top fitting and glue a new one on at a lower height. Use the measurements you made to determine the final length of the riser when you are finished. Make all your cuts leaving the riser as long as possible. It's much easier to work at the top of a hole than at the bottom. There are many ways to approach a fix. Go to the hardware store and start memorizing the types of fittings you have available. There aren't that many but the combinations of threaded and unthreaded are important. When you are finished you will have dirt left over that will not fit into the hole. This next part is very important. ALL THE DIRT GOES BACK INTO THE HOLE. That is why the tarp was important so you don't lose any of that dirt. If you do not put all the dirt back into the hole, you will soon enough have a depression around that riser. Even though you have a mound around the riser and the spray nozzle is below grade, all that dirt will eventually settle back to where the edge of the planet was when you started. You will pay for the cutting tool the very first time you use it. The alternative is a hacksaw that usually ends up breaking pipe and fittings as well as delivering bloody hands. The cutter goes through pipe like a hot knife through butter. When I was doing this in the '60s all the pipe was galvanized steel. Hacksaws were required so the hole had to be big enough and deep enough to get a hacksaw in there. If the pipe was old enough you usually ended up replacing the horizontal pipe, too. What a MESS! Life is better with plastic!

That's a good thought, but our in-ground swimming pool is 20 feet away, so I doubt that they're after water. It's more likely that they seek entertainment. Or maybe the pups were teething. And yes, there seems to be a major ecosystem centered around that pool. My drip lines do squeak on startup, and we did hear the neighborhood coyotes howling nearby last week, so it's possible that our local doggies were chasing the noise. That would certainly account for their digging up the buried line. But the damaged lines are on three different valves that are activated 30 and 60 minutes apart, and the start time for the first is at 8AM. The coyotes don't usually hang around very long. On the other hand, we've watched a family of raccoons play with the pool toys for hours. We've also had skunks and possums visit. All are generally long gone by broad daylight. I'd never heard that any of them go after drip lines, so your information is most helpful. This is by no means the worst thing that's happened to this orchard, but it may be the strangest. Again, many thanks for your responses.

I would consider planting drought tolerant plants rather than investing an irrigation system. I planted my garden (the bulk of it) in 2002 after Georgia had been in a 5 year drought. I choose hardy drought tolerant plants and shrubs and I have watered the gardens with soaker hoses just twice since the water restrictions went into place. I don't think my garden has looked happier! Even little sprigs of lavender i stuck in the ground and walked away are thriving. Remember just because you have a system doesn't mean you can water to your hearts content. We all need to conserve right now. I don't know about everyone else but I'm sick of reading and hearing about how to keep the lawn alive - burmuda will be fine, the real ones that suffer are the large trees. Once trees start to decline there is almost no stopping it, and you can't just replace a 50 year old hardwood. Thanks for letting me vent!