I recommend DripWorks. If you e-mail or fax them a diagram of your garden or deck, they'll recommend a system and sell you everything you need. I suspect you'll need something like this: a filter and pressure regulator; 1/2" "mainline" tubing to circle the rail or floor of your deck; 1/4" tubing leading from the mainline to each of your planters; one or two emitters for each pot; fittings for the mainline corners; a male hose end and cap; a female hose start and plug; tools and connectors; and some extras. They're very easy to set up once you get the hang of it. I would suggest a timer, too, and a "Y" hose adapter with shutoff valves so that you can attach another hose to the same faucet.

Hi tdscpa, Thanks for your suggestions. I had checked out the rainbird and other websites but I did not see explanations on having the manifold at the water faucet with the lateral lines going 25 feet underground verses having the main line going 25 feet under ground with the manifold in the irrigation area. But see my comments below. Hi homr, Thanks for taking the time to key in all that information. Especially explaining the pressure loss problems. But it looks like my whole plan will have to be revised due to what I learned. See my comments below. REVISED PLAN: Thanks to all who contributed to this thread. I really appreciate it. I talked to a city tech and he gave me a link to city ordinances which deal with irrigation systems. From what I read, it appears that the backflow preventer (BP) has to be installed in the main line prior to any branching. This means the BP will have to be installed near the front corner of our property where the main line first enters our property. This will require longer runs from the BP to the irrigation areas in the front and back yards. I'll have to check with a licensed plumber with experience in irrigation systems confirm whether the BP has to be installed before any branching. But it looks like I have even bigger problems if the BP has to be installed at the front corner of our property: 1. If the BP has to be installed at the front corner of our property, the main line will have to go across our concrete driveway and entry sidewalk to get to our front yard. IÂm reluctant to cut our concrete driveway and entry sidewalk to do this. 2. The path from the BP at the front corner to the back yard is all concrete. That side of the house has concrete from the house to the hollow tile perimeter wall. A DIFFERENT QUESTION: Any licensed plumbers reading this? Is there a universal code that says all main lines have to be buried in the ground? Or is it "generally" permissible to run a main line above ground? (Like attached to our hollow tile perimeter wall above the concrete sidewalk?) Assuming I can get the main line from the BP at the front corner to the back yard, I will have to run the line around the house (buried under ground) to get it to the front yard without having to do item-1. (The other side of the house does not have concrete.) Sorry for the long post. I guess there is no such thing as a simple drip irrigation system if it is to be done right, Sky

From Home Despot - Skip the "kit"; I use the 1/2 inch black pipe. Add drippers using the punch tool. Use the bags of 25 flag style drippers in 1-2gal range. These drippers are less likely to clog, and the flag can be removed and cleaned if they do. Space drippers depending on water needs - most of mine are 12" to 24" apart. There are adapters to connect the line to 3/4" pipe thread OR 3/4" hose thread (slightly different) Connect your dripline to the output of your sprinkler valve. Ideally you would have an inline filter, and a pressure regulator for your drip system. If you place these at the "head" of the setup you will only need 1 for all the drip circuits. A shutoff valve is very handy also for when you need to work on the system. I also use Netafim Techline which has the drippers inline. It uses metric connectors so it's a bit of a pain, and is only available online of from an irrigation supply house.

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