Hi, I am brand new to this board and fairly new to gardening. I grew up in New York City all my life and now I have a weekend home with 1.5 acres. We have just excavated our property and in the fall we are planning to plant grass seed (perenial rye). We are also planting some privacy shrubs and I have plans for a vegetable garden. I already have a few perenial gardens. I have calls out re. installing an automatic sprinkler system. I am worried that this is going to be too expensive. I have two working outdoor faucets and one that I can probably have fixed. What do you think of installing multiple hoses and using timers? What about the Accurain system? Do you think this is a good option for weekenders? Thank you in advance for your advice. Jennifer

I'm not a lawyer, and didn't even stay at the Holiday Inn last night, but I've dealt with enough product liability claims to suspect that you are being jerked around. If the pipe is in fact defective, I believe an attorney would inform you that you have claims against both the installer and manufacturer of the pipe. Many jakeleg "licensed professionals" will not report claims to their insurer until you force them to, by certified mail. Defective PVC springing leaks. This just doesn't "feel" right. Other than their sayso, how can you be sure the leaks are occurring in the pipe? And I doubt they bought the pipe directly from the maker. I'd get a written estimate in hand, then see how much of this they are willing to put into writing, and follow up to contact the maker directly, to see what they have to say. In the meantime, you can Google up your rights for defective products under the laws of Michigan. Shouldn't take long.

if you are actively irrigating, the pump will run all the time since you are before the pressure tank. i wonder if you well/pump has enough volume to support the house and irrigation at the same time?

Hi Teeka: I just recently installed a drip/micro system and still have some of the receipts. Our home came with an inground sprinkler system but in the interest of saving water and selectively watering flowers, I just installed the drip system. Initially I bought 1/2" poly with in line drippers. However, it's stiffer and I found I had gaps because the "bends" had to be large to make turns, etc. But, all is not lost. I've since bought regular 1/2" poly and drippers and misters to use with it. Where there's a gap that I want to remedy in the in-line dripper system, I've just added misters or extra in-line drippers and am happy. I'm using components of the "Mister Landscaper" system available at Lowes because there is a Lowe's very near me and, as expected, I've had to run back there for "more" of various parts. Ignoring the poly with inline drippers, let's say I started with just regular 1/2" poly (which is what I did convert to). I ran this from my water source around my house just laying it on top of the ground (my beds are along the house). I didn't want to blow out the drippers because of high pressure and wanted to keep the line clean so the drippers wouldn't clog, so at the head of the line I installed a filter (about $10) and a 25 PSI pressure regulator ($7.56). Whereever I wanted to water a plant I either installed an inline dripper ($7.56 for a package of 10) or a stake assembly ($3.13) with a small full circle spinning mister ($3.77 for 5). The stake assemblies are above ground and come with a small amount of 1/4" poly so you can attach them to the 1/2" poly feeder line. There were places where I needed more 1/4" poly line than was provided on the stake assembly so I bought a small roll of 1/4" vinyl tubing (? price) and connectors (again, receipt gone) to extend the secondary line and place the stake where it was needed. The stake assemblies do not come with any type of mister so you must buy these separately. There are various types (depending on the spray pattern you wish). The one thing I did which I would advise against was being too quick to mulch so as to "finish" the job. It's easy to see where the elevated misters are watering because the mulch is wet. But the inline drippers and their wet area are covered by mulch so I've had to probe through the mulch to find the drippers and see where it's wet. I should have waited on the mulch, run the system and evaluated the water pattern, corrected whatever needed correcting, and then mulched. I did not attach a timer to the system, thinking I would just turn it on when the plants needed it. However, now that I'm going to be away for several days I'm sorry. I'll revert to the regular in ground system to keep my garden alive. When I return from my trip, I think adding a timer will be in the cards. Home Depot also has these type systems from DIG corporation. Their web site is http://www.digcorp.com I also read that irrigation supply stores have components for drip systems. I didn't do comparison shopping. I hope that the gas money I saved by only having to go to the nearer store, compensated for whatever I may have saved elsewhere. June Here is a link that might be useful: Mister Landscaper