by Marta Meggiolaro.
The offer of sprinklers is wide: to choose the most suitable one for your garden, however, it is advisable to refer to some general criteria, without forgetting the help of a professional, to obtain results tailored to your needs.
Irrigation is a fundamental aspect of garden maintenance, which requires regular, almost daily intervention and careful evaluation of water and electricity consumption. The best system is the one that allows you to optimally combine the simplicity of management, consumption and needs of the plants. The first sprinkler was invented in 1935 by the American Rain Bird, designed specifically for agriculture. Today the proposal is wide and varied, and it is possible to find the best system for your needs, following some general indications, but the advice of an expert – the employee of the garden center or DIY center where you will make the purchase or , even better, the gardener to whom you will entrust the installation – remains irreplaceable. Photo ©Akhriddin Mamadaliyev
What are the criteria to consider when choosing a garden sprinkler?
- Size of the area: the larger the garden, the more necessary it becomes to install an automatic system.
- Type of plants: if it is a lawn, underground irrigation is better, but if there are flowering plants, to avoid damaging them, drip irrigation is better.
- Climate: in a region with frequent rainfall, an artificial system is almost superfluous. In dry and very hot areas, however, it is essential, unless you have opted for cultivation choices that can avoid it.
- Characteristics of the soil: if it is clayey it retains humidity, if it is sandy it disperses it.
- Presence of pets: they could frustrate the intervention by ruining it.
- Costs: the most advanced systems are economically demanding and generally require major work in the garden, but it should be considered that they are more efficient and increase the value and aesthetics of the property.
DRIP IRRIGATION Drip irrigation is a system that can be added to the garden even after the planting, and it works well in small and medium-sized gardens: it is a pipe to which some dispensers that are inserted into the earth near the collar of each plant. The quantity of water and administration time are decided thanks to a control unit, usually already set up with different programs. Drip irrigation is the system that allows you to reduce water waste as much as possible. Gardena’s Micro-Drip-System distributes water directly to the roots of the plants. The set contains a 20m hose and 15 drippers from €35 – gardena.com
UNDERGROUND IRRIGATION Suitable for large spaces, it is regulated by a control unit to which the pipes placed under the surface of the garden are connected. Sprinklers are connected to the pipes which come out a few centimeters from the ground (static) or which come out only at the time of irrigation (pop-up). It is a system that allows you to differentiate the flow of water depending on the area, reducing waste. Furthermore, the appearance of the garden remains impeccable and cleaning operations are simpler, because there is no risk of damaging it.In-ground irrigation system with Rain Bird long-range rotating diffusers; single speaker from €21.49 – rainbird.com
RAIN OR SPRAY IRRIGATION It is the most common system, also used extensively in agriculture: the hose is connected to sprinklers which, placed in the lawn, spray the water upwards which falls onto the ground with a rain effect. Precisely because of this dynamic, it is not recommended in the presence of ornamental plants and flowers, which would otherwise be damaged by the drops. In the spray one, the delivery method changes, but the principle remains similar: the water is projected into the air in the direction of the plants and the lawn. Their advantage is that they can be easily moved where needed.Grüntek automatic oscillating garden sprinkler, nozzle and adjustable heads for fan or straight spray, from €27.90 – grüntek.de
On the cover, photo ©Maxim Tolchinskiy
