Installation of irrigation pipes

We have recently installed new planting at this house in Cambridge. there are two distinct areas, the new formal section on the main lawn area, and the woodland area.

In the woodland area we planted a few Taxus baccata and Ilex aquafolium. As these are newly planted we are installing an irrigation system around them until they become more established.

Woodland area

Irrigation pipes

Some of the irrigation pipe was previously used but perfectly good enough to use for this job, it also saves waste and cost.

I firstly ran a black pipes, that is a lead pipe and not perforated, so i was able to select the exact areas that need water, and not water a large area unnecessarily.

Irrigation pipe around Taxus

Heat gun used to fit connection points

Tool boxes with connection points

Each pipe has a certain type of connection depending on where the next pipe will go. As the lead pipe ran along the back of the site, i used a tee connection to run off for the irrigation pipe, some times i had to extend a pipe, or just turn at a 90 degree angle, these are all catered for in the connection tool box.

Time lapse of me installing irrigation pipe in the woodland area

Once i got to the end of the line of plants that needed irrigating, i used an end piece to finish and close the loop. At the other end i fitted the tap connection piece.

The next step was to test that there were no leaks and that everything had been fitted correctly, this was just a matter of connecting to the tap and turning it on. After waiting for a few seconds, i could hear the hissing of the air escaping from the perforations as the pressure built up in the loop. I was very glad to see that there were no leaks and that the water was dripping out of the irrigation pipe evenly and as planned.

I then laid out some more pipe on the newly planted bed on the top lawn. This bed is very open to the wind from the neighbouring field, this speeds up transpiration of the plants which in turn makes them need more water than a sheltered site.

Top lawn bed having irrigation laid out

I was glad to see that after finishing this bed and testing it for leaks, the installation had been done well and there was no need to re-fit any connections or pipes.

While i was on site, i retro fitted a timing unit for a seperate part of the site where irrigation was laid down a few weeks ago, this was a simple install at the tap. Once again, every thing worked out well and now that area will get 30mins of watering every 2 days.

Timing unit used for existing irrigation system

This was a very enjoyable project for me and i was extremely happy with how it all turned out. There may be a couple of different types of fittings i would use on a couple of the connections, but nothing that would really effect the system as a whole.