I think I have decided to go with a drip system, mainly since I already have many of the parts for it, including lots of unused 1/2" mainline (couple hundred feet) and lots of emitters (about 100, many have been used), along with many of the fittings we have accumulated over the years. I have one more question about emitters. Many of these are partially plugged. Has anyone had luck cleaning them. I thought about soaking them in a bucket of warm water and dish soap, agitate them good and then blow with an air hose in a reverse direction. Has anyone done this or used other methods to clean emitters? Typically these are plugged with moss and other organic stuff, not sand. Here is a link that might be useful: DripWorks

Cactus Joe, I too am interested in your rock/water feature. It's very beautiful! Did all those smaller rocks come from your yard too? Do you get a lot of wildlife visiting this area? I don't know what I would do over. My gardens here at this house (oldest bed is 4 years old) are constantly changing. I think a great deal about the "bones" of my borders, which consist of shrubs and small trees, and a few large grasses and perennials. What to plant, where to put them. I take into consideration sun, soil, moisture, privacy and wind screen, wildlife value, native range, etc. Even so, I've moved and changed the bones! Last year I moved the Miss Kim Lilac over 5 feet. Dug out a forty year old Burning Bush and replaced it with a gorgeous Amelanchier. This year the Viburnum dentatum is being moved - because it's just gotten too big for it's location. The only thing growing in this yard that isn't subject to change are the established trees - kinda hard to move a 50 year old tree (however I've removed some of them, namely scraggly pines and Norway maples). It seems to be the nature of gardening and creativity - continually creating something new! I'm pretty comfortable with that.

Hi GTN, Very good question. I'll bet your 3/4" spigot has a 1/2" copper line feeding it nor is a spigot 3/4" through out it's length. Smaller to bigger or vice versa doesn't matter. Size affects velocity at that change point, but very briefly. Length of pipe is what affects the system efficiency (loss of pressure) the most. Water flows faster through the smaller diameter pipe and when water velocity gets high enough turbulence in the pipe is reached and your friction loss per foot of pipe increases as well as noise. This friction loss robs you of pressure as the water travel along the system. Your system has high pressure so this not a big concern in your system. It becomes a design issue depending on where you reduce your pressure for your garden. 1 1/4" pipe was sized by a formula that calculates flow versus velocities in various size pipe. A standard design criteria for non-turbulent flow is less than 5 feet per second velocity(noise reduction). Using that criteria the 1 1/4" was acceptable, 3/4" would be less acceptable but still can be utilized with no real problems. It then becomes a cost issue. It makes no difference what size the source pipe is, but hooking up to your house affects the velocity of water traveling through your house pipes. If you turn on your hose, how noisy is the flow in your house? Does it affect the flow of other water using appliances being used at the same time? Turn on the washer, shower, kitchen faucet, etc an listen to the sounds of the water. If the answer is no to these questions your house water system doesn't pose a constriction to your garden water needs. The more items being run the noisier it gets. Did you ever call your builder and find out about the pressure regulator needed for your house water system? Just curious. GL. Aloha

We'll have to come up with a better solution I think. The sod is Marathon II which I believe is a fescue blend? Many others here will be of more help with that--I know Kentucky bluegrasses much better. If it is, I can see that you'd have to water it very, very often near LA. Twice a day sounds a bit excessive, but three times a week, yes. It's fairly drought and heat tolerant, but there are limits. My friend from there (well, off kilter a bit in Malibu) never had grass. I do know that fescues tolerate shade (far better than KBG, anyway). If you could put it in a place where it gets good morning sun but is protected from noon to sunset (and not under a tree that will suck all the water out of the soil) that would probably help. It still may or may not survive, but you wouldn't have to pour water on it constantly. I'm guessing you have sandy-ish, porous soil there (just a general guess from the average in semi-arid conditions) that sucks down any water you give it and drains it through. Going overboard, digging down 6 to 8 inches and mixing in some good, heavy, water-retaining top soil in that area would also help it hold water. It's not going to be perfect and you do have to go fairly deep (roots tend to dislike crossing soil boundaries), but it would help to acclimatize a grass that's not built for those conditions.