Watering System

The automatic watering system is essentially installed and operational. 
Not covered are the Cottage garden, the plants around the shed, the 3 sisters bed, the hanging baskets and the herb garden.  Future plans may include them and the 3 sisters is reportedly covered by the fairgrounds' lawn watering sprinklers. At this point, most of the need is to monitor the water delivery and see where insufficient/excessive water is being supplied.  We can, and will, adjust the water to meet the needs of the various beds.

There are 3 control stations: each side of the windmill in the center of the garden and next to the compost bins.  Each controller has up to 4 circuits to control. These circuits have been piped to the various beds where a shut-off valve is available to turn it off.  Diagrams are attached.  Note that at present we are using drippers, drip tape, sprinkler heads, and 1/4 inch soaker hose.  We need to evaluate these types and see what works best for us. Depending on the soil type and drainage characteristics, a drip water may just percolate down and not spread out to where we need it or the application of water may be too fast for the soil to absorb it.  In either of these cases, the plants do not get the water they need.  Please keep an eye out for the watering (use the full finger test) and talk about it so we can learn where changes need to be made.

The controllers keep track of the day and time.  Just now I have them set to water 'every 2 days'.  That can be changed.  Each of them can turn on any of the circuits (meaning beds) up to 3 times per day and on specific days or at some interval.  They can also be set to operate manually either on the programmed durations or on some timed interval.

A full explanation of the operation is kept in the box on garden paperwork.

The following diagrams show what is installed where.



Jim

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