Good thing summer came late this year because it took us until last week to figure out how to get water to (almost) every corner of our compact garden. The solution came, as many have, from the Lee Valley catalogue. I love that place. While this is an unsolicited endorsement, I don’t want to discourage any impulse Lee Valley might feel to send me a gift card. Do what you think is right, Lee Valley.
The most amazing thing about this fence mount system is the price: $32.50. It consists of 50 feet of hose and some nozzles, clamps and other small bits and pieces that you might reasonably think is worth $20-$30. They put it all together for you, provide clear instructions, and then resist the temptation to gouge you for it. Very nice.
Our small garden is an ideal size and configuration for this system, since we have a railing about 50 feet long around our deck and most of the garden is on a slope just below. It took us an hour or so of tinkering to get it just right.
The kit comes with five 180 degree spray nozzles and two ninety degree nozzles. I actually prefer the 90’s as they concentrate the water a bit more. The 180’s are mistier, and since we generally have some sea breeze, they initially gave quite a bit of blow-back onto the deck. But the nozzles are adjustable and we were able to almost entirely eliminate this problem by adjusting the spray.
We are thinking of adding a second fifty foot hose to the line with two or three additional nozzles to get water down to the ’zen garden’ in the lowest corner of the yard. Apparently you can do this without significantly lowering the pressure, though they advise that with 20 nozzles your pressure will be reduced by fifty percent. Now, thanks to a timer, the garden gets a short cooling drink every day.
If you think this might be the system for you, here’s the catalogue link with quite a bit more info.
