Backyard Garden Irrigation Guide

A well-designed garden irrigation system provides efficient, hassle-free watering that conserves water, promotes healthier plants, keeps your garden thriving year-round, and saves you time. With climate change, increasing water costs, and consistent hot summers, efficient irrigation is needed for your plants, your wallet, and our environment. Proper garden irrigation with the right system ensures every drop of water is used efficiently to water your flower beds, vegetables, hanging baskets, and lawn without waste. Want to know how to perfectly irrigate your home backyard garden and add value to your home? This guide will help you start right.

This comprehensive garden irrigation planning guide will help you determine the type of irrigation system that best benefits your garden, design the ideal irrigation system for your garden, and maintain the health of your landscape.

Irrigation Systems for Your Backyard Gardening Needs

The backyard garden irrigation systems can include drip systems, garden sprinklers, lawn sprinklers, and soaker hoses that deliver water to your flower beds, vegetables, hanging baskets, and lawn. These watering systems can be manual or automatic, eliminating the hassle of hand-watering and ensuring your plants receive the right amount of water they need to grow well. So, it's no surprise that more homeowners are realizing the amazing benefits of garden irrigation systems.

Let's explore each system type and determine which is best for your unique irrigation needs.

1. Drip Irrigation System

A drip irrigation system is the most effective way to water vegetable gardens, large gardens, long runs of crops, raised beds, and landscapes. It is a system of tubing and drip emitters that allows you to precisely direct water flow to the plant's root zone, where it is needed most. Drip line systems save water by delivering it only where it's needed and applying it at a slow rate, so none is lost to evaporation or runoff.

These irrigation systems use less water than sprinkler and spray systems, making them an eco-friendly option for gardeners with water conservation goals. In drought-prone areas where water is scarce or water use is limited, drip systems can make the most of a garden's water supply.

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2. Sprinkler Systems

A sprinkler system is another modern irrigation system that delivers water to the specific area above or surrounding the plants. This overhead sprinkler irrigation creates a rainfall effect over an area. This irrigation system is used to distribute water over large areas, making it ideal for watering lawns and gardens. However, they are less efficient than drip irrigation and can lead to water waste.

A sprinkler system consists of pipes, valves, an irrigation controller, and different types of sprinklers. Sprinklers are the primary devices in sprinkler systems that efficiently distribute water over small to large areas. They come in multiple types and designs, each designed for specific irrigation needs. Some types are stationary sprinklers, pop-up sprinklers, rotary sprinklers, oscillating sprinklers, and so on.

Also Read:What type of Sprinkler Heads are Best for my Garden?

Let's break down the types of sprinklers to help you easily choose the right one for your needs.

Garden Sprinklers

Garden sprinklers have a smaller coverage radius than lawn sprinklers. These sprinklers are ideal for watering garden beds, ground covers, greenhouses, and landscaped areas. Many sprinklers fall into this category, such as mini sprinklers, micro sprayers, wing sprinklers, oscillating sprinklers, rotor sprinklers, and adjustable circular sprinklers.

Mini Sprinklers

Ein Dor mini sprinklers are perfect for small to medium-sized garden beds, plant propagation, and small groups of containers. These sprinklers have a coverage radius of up to 13 feet, making them ideal for swiftly and easily covering small to large areas of plantation. They are like micro jets and sprays, but instead of producing a thin spray, they create a flat spray pattern and release water in even droplets, reducing evaporation during distribution.

Press-fit Sprinklers

Press-Fit sprinklers are a type of garden sprinkler that features easy-connect bases. These sprinklers provide uniform and even water coverage and are a good choice for garden beds, greenhouses, and ground covers.

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Pop-up Sprinklers

Pop-up sprinklers are lawn irrigation systems used to water large lawns or disperse water over a large area. The pop-up sprinklers are buried and hidden from view. They rise from the ground when the sprinkler system is activated and then retract back when the system is turned off. They use a large amount of water and allow up to half of it to evaporate on hot, windy days before reaching their destination. However, the advantage of using these lawn sprinklers is that you can adjust the amount of water sprayed and the area it covers to fit the size and shape of your lawn.

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3.Soaker Hoses

A soaker hose is a porous pipe that allows to seep into the ground along its entire length. It provides deep-soaking action, making it ideal for use in vegetable patches, flower borders, or other small areas. Its water conservation benefits are like those of drip irrigation systems.

Soaker hoses can be moved around the garden, left in place, or connected to a timer-controller valve. The problem with using this hose is that it needs to be on ground level to water properly. An uneven ground will cause uneven watering with a soaker hose. Additionally, it lasts only a few years before wearing out, and most hose materials can't handle harsh external elements.

Preparing Irrigation Design for Your Backyard Garden

You should now be familiar with all types of garden irrigation systems. Let's take you to the section of the guide that shows you how to design your irrigation system perfectly for your specific needs.

Measure the Flow Rate of Your Water Source

Calculate the flow rate for your irrigation system to ensure that it works effectively. Failure to perform this step can result in a system that requires more water than your water source can provide, leading to poor system performance.

How to measure it? Measuring the flow rate requires a calculator, a stopwatch, and a container or bucket. Measure the time it takes for the faucet to fill a bucket and then use the formula below to calculate the flow rate in gallons per hour (GPH).

(number of seconds to fill) x (number of gallons) = GPH

Measure Water Pressure

It is measured with a pressure gauge connected to your faucet or water source. If you don't already have a pressure gauge, you can purchase a good-quality gauge here. For an irrigation system to function properly, you must have at least 10-30 psi for drip systems and 30-50 psi for sprinkler systems.

Draw the Layout of your Garden

Now, take the time to draw the map of your garden, as it'll save you a lot of headaches in the future. For this step, you'll need a pencil, a ruler, a couple of sheets of graph paper, an eraser, and a tape measure. Start the drawing with the house and property line. Draw the pathways, terraces, greenhouses, sheds, and other features in your backyard. Highlight the locations of garden beds, lawns, flower beds, shrubs, and trees. Indicate the location of your water source.

Accurately Measure Your Garden Areas

Now, measure the property lines, borders, paths, lawns, garden beds, and everything else because the more measurements you take, the easier irrigation system planning becomes. Count the quantity and locations of raised beds, containers, pots, or hanging baskets.

Take note of any features and obstacles for pipes, such as walls, garden gates, and ponds. This process will help you understand how much tubing or pipe is needed, the fittings required to navigate the tubing, and the number of sprinklers or emitters required.

Read More: Top 5 Easy-to-Use Drip Irrigation Systems for Beginners

How to Choose the Right Irrigation Systems for Your Backyard Garden?

Consider these factors to choose the right system.

• Garden size, terrain, and layout
• Soil type
• Climate
• Plant types
• Water supply

For Pots, Containers, and Hanging Baskets: A drip irrigation system is an ideal choice because you can place individual emitters in each pot or container for precise watering.

For a Vegetable Garden with Crop Rows: Individual emitters or drip lines would be the most efficient option, as it can deliver a precise amount of water to each plant's roots and reduce water waste.

For Large Lawn: Using sprinklers with adjustable heads and timers is ideal, as they can provide uniform water coverage to the entire lawn.

For Garden Wall or Vertical Garden: A drip irrigation system with micro tubing and PC stake drippers is a good choice for vertical gardens, irrigating efficiently without wasting water on the surrounding areas.

For Fruit Trees or Shrubs: A small garden sprinkler system or micro spray system is a good choice for shrubs, as they can provide coverage to a larger area and cover more of the root area. Rings of drip lines around the trees are the best option for efficiently water trees.

For Raised Garden Beds: A soaker dripline is the most efficient method. Get raised bed drip irrigation kits for efficient irrigation.

For Greenhouse: A drip system or a greenhouse misting system would be ideal.

For Flower Beds: A drip system or an adjustable micro spray system is recommended. They'll deliver water slowly and directly to the base of plants, minimizing water waste.

For Slope or Hillside: A pressure-compensating drip line works efficiently on sloped terrain. It delivers water to the plants flawlessly, without blockages, and reduces water runoff.

The Bottom Line

By reading this guide, you should be confident in your ability to select the best irrigation system for your backyard garden. The most important thing is to match the irrigation method with your backyard gardening irrigation needs, whether it is a drip system, sprinkler system, subsurface drip irrigation, spray system, or soaker hose. So, know your plants, know your climate, set up the right system, and give your garden the right amount of hydration at the right time.

Contact DripWorks for Your Backyard Garden Irrigation Needs

DripWorks offers the best-quality irrigation systems of top brands for gardeners, farmers, and landscapers. We carry a wide collection of garden drip irrigation kits, garden sprinklers, lawn sprinklers, sprinkler tools, garden hoses, automatic irrigation tools, and all components you need to set up a successful garden irrigation system. Visit our irrigation store to explore our irrigation products, garden tools, landscaping products, and much more.