This morning my wife asked, “What’s the blog article about today?” I told her that I was going to tell about a micro mister. She said, “Ooooh, I want one of those. Could I carry him around in my shirt pocket?” I exasperatedly told her that I was talking about an easy to install and relatively inexpensive watering system for flower beds and pots.
I’ve been using this system for several years, and I have found myself using it more and more these days. I put in a nice system for Mabel Milner the other day and I thought I should share it. All of the parts for this project came from the Home Depot irrigation department.
I measured from the faucet on the house around the beds and decided that a hundred foot roll of drip irrigation tubing would do the job.
We next laid the pipe out in the general area of where we would want the watering heads. This tubing doesn’t need to go in a deep ditch. It does well just under the ground, or, in most cases, we tuck it up under the pine straw or other mulch. The open end of the tubing, away from the faucet is sealed up by bending it and using a ‘figure eight closer’ (not pictured). It can also be closed by folding it over and taping it with a waterproof electrical tape.
Micro tubing is attached to the drip tubing with a coupling. The coupling may be pushed into the drip pipe by hand or you may wish to use a pair of pliers. After the first one or two, it’s easy. You will probably want to put these stakes about ten feet apart. A bit of experimentation is usually called for.
The tubing is hooked up to a special stake that will hold a special nozzle. The stakes cost 99 cents.
I like to use the ½ circle nozzles. They cost about $1.25 and they even have a flow adjuster. These nozzles are screwed into the top of the pipe on the stake.
The item in the picture below is an adapter that features a hose thread hook up, a pressure reducer, a back flow preventer, and an adapter to fasten on the drip tubing. All that for about ten dollars!
I found a wonderful, easy to install, easy to program battery operated control clock from Orbit. This controller will cut the water on, run it as long as is desired, and then cut the water off. The timer may be set with intervals of one to several days between waterings. I like it and it’s a bargain for about $30.00.
I turned on the water and got this picture of the nozzle in action. Those hydrangeas are going to think they “done died and went to Heaven.” (as my redneck friends would say). There is a limit to the number of sprayers that may be put on a “circuit” I think that I was able to get about 10 of them on this one. The water pressure is low in Mabel’s neighborhood. You will need to just install a few and see what happens. Next week I will show you how to divide your irrigation project into different circuits.
As I was leaving, I got a picture of these begonias being watered. They will love it and will thrive. I think the micro misters do a much better job than hand watering.
As usual, I would just love for you click here to go to Amazon and purchase the ebook edition of my wonderful book, Requiem for a Redneck to go on your Kindle. I have also noticed that Amazon now has a free Kindle app for iphones and tablets. Is that cool or what?
If you want a consultation in your yard in N.W. Georgia, send me an email at wherdepony@bellsouth.net
johntheplantman--Gardening 
I can spot a plant expert when I see one 😉