Sprinkler system - advice please-newbie. :)

[unregistered358967]

We moved into a house with one. I've never had one, never needed one. Maybe I'm a control freak but I like watering on MY schedule. We're getting a fence put in the back yard so I had to call the sprinkler people to come out and help me find the heads. Lo and behold a pipe is broken so it can't be turned on (yet). They told me to just have the fence people proceed and work about broken piping later, they will come out and fix.

Is there any reason we just can't discontinue the use? Do things need to be capped? I want to turn our back yard into mostly garden anyway and feel the underground pipes would only get in the way. Rather than having them come out to fix the pipe with the hole, I'm temped to have them come out and just seal things off. Is there an issue with just leaving the system underground or does everything need to be dug up?

What would you do? It's a typical suburban home with the typical "i want a nice green lawn but work all the time, so I got a sprinkler system". We're not like that. I don't mind brown grass and anyway, would rather have a garden that does something rather than a nice lawn to try to impress the neighbors.

[sweetbabyjane]

Think I would look for a way to adapt the lawn watering system to a garden watering system and have the best of both worlds!


SBJ

[Harry Chickpea]

We had a sprinkler system in so Florida. They are super-easy to fix and do serve a purpose (if the zoning allows you to use them without restriction). Florida soil is sand. If there isn't periodic watering, what green is left can revert back to scrub and invasives.

You can get away with minimal watering, by watering around sunrise to limit evaporation (earlier can promote molds), and only doing it a couple times a week when the weather turns dry.

However... On the sunniest hottest days I used to crank ours on briefly around 1 PM. It made the air around the place significantly cooler.

Florida is different plant and climate wise and I suggest that you take heed of what the natives do.

[unregistered358967]

Ironically, our neighbors on each side are old-skool.. with no system. I keep telling my SO I don't mind dragging the hose around but he's dead set on trying to keep the system. I guess I should start and see where the heads are and how to work the garden around them. Oh, the joys of home-ownership..I forgot about all the little things.