Perhaps you'll understand my high level of giddiness when the time came to activate my front yard sprinklers for the first time, and they worked gloriously.
That means we now arrive at what amounts to the concluding post on my do-it-yourself build-an-irrigation-system endeavor. In my last post on this unending topic, I talked about tying in the last of the main lines and connecting to the copper source pipe from the new second meter.
Back on Friday, August 7th, I found myself unable to wait any longer to see if I've done this right, or bungled it beyond reason. After dinner and dessert, I changed into work clothes and headed out into the fading evening light. I turned on my main manual valve. I opened up my secondary drain valves to begin flushing out the main lines; these are the ones that empty into the drain outlets onto the front sidewalk. I turned on the rear yard hydrant and was pretty happy once the water flow established itself and showed it was going to be more than adequate.
I moved on to what I call Irrigation Zone B3, where my third yard hydrant is, and opened it up. Then I pulled up my irrigation controller app and activated the zone...and waited...and waited...and nothing happened. I thought I'd better go to the valve box and see if I could hear the valve activate when I signaled for the zone to do a run...which is when I was reminded I had a manual valve for the back yard that was still closed off! Once I turned it on, I went back to my irrigation controller app and signaled for Zone B3 to run...and run it did! As long as I was at it, I went ahead and pulled the four nozzles from the lawn zone in the back yard, used the app to run that zone, and flushed out those lines successfully. Finally, I also flushed out the rear planting bed drip zone lines. So, the first hurdle was overcome: the water lines are functional. Two of the yard hydrants are functional. And I was especially relieved to see that my automatic valves have been wired correctly and are responsive to being controlled by my smart app on my phone. Hallelujah!
In the front yard, I still had to cement some lateral endline connections for drip irrigation zones, and that was my chore the next day, on Saturday. I also connected the lateral line to the front yard hydrant I'd installed (I held off on it so that I'd be able to connect it to a clean-and-flushed mainline). I let it all sit and solidify overnight so that I could focus Sunday on flushing these front lines and testing it out.
Sunday, August 9th, in the heat and humidity that settled on Winston-Salem from the breaking of dawn and persisting throughout the day: I activated all my manual control valves. I turned on the front yard hydrant and, after the spits and sputters and release of air, was rewarded with a good steady stream of cool clear water. I uncapped the drip line connection points in the planting beds in the front yard and hooked hoses up to two of them (where I didn't want the flushing to wash out around them). I activated my second and third zones in turn, and was glad to see those lines respond and flush out.
As mid-day approached, I was baking in the bright sunshine and sweating up a storm, but I pulled up the sprinkler head risers in the front lawn zone and clamped them, removed the nozzles, and activated the automatic valve to flush those lines. The water didn't shoot up especially high, so my fears and nerves were not much allayed yet. I cleaned all the nozzles and replaced them and removed the clamps from the risers. Then I activated Zone 1 in the front yard using my app...and I got to see some fine rotary sprinkler action. Later that afternoon, I went through and adjusted their arcs and distances to a pretty close approximation of the finished set-up. And yes, a few more times later that day, I turned on that zone just to feast my eyes on the wonderful display of success.
The moment has been quite a long time coming, my friends. It's been a lot of hours, a lot of elements and components, and a weighty overloaded trainload of "unknowns." So I hope I can be forgiven at the irrational glee I was left with at the sight of 12 functioning sprinkler heads gently tossing water out onto my ravaged and scarred clay-filled front yard.
With the irrigation system in place and functioning, I finished filling in the last trenches but also ordered the first of two truckloads of topsoil mix.
The first delivery came Tuesday a week ago and I promptly hauled 14 wheelbarrow loads into the front yard.
Wednesday and Thursday were each a 22-wheelbarrow-load day.
By Friday I had to have a second order because the first pile of topsoil was depleted after I'd run with six more loads.
Pope Sand and Gravel brought that resupply of topsoil by lunchtime last Friday, and I took another nine loads of topsoil into the front yard. (Remember: I'd gone pretty deep when I was removing the old yard out front, so it took a lot to rebuild it all.)
We finally got a much-needed break in the roughly five weeks of hot-humid-stormy days on Saturday, August 14th...it was pretty awesome to get up to a morning where it was 64°F instead of 74°F. And the weekend proved perfect for me to spread and rake and pack the new topsoil.
I wanted to build up but also bring out the front yard while also being mindful that it had to slope down as it approaches the front retaining wall.
In hopes of preventing erosion disasters with the sloping portions, I pounded down every layer of topsoil I spread and brutalized my palms and my back in the process!
As of this writing, I've got the new grass seed spread and topped with a combination mulch and tackifier. I've got the zone set to automatically run three times during the heat of the day in order to keep the seed moist as it contemplates whether it will germinate and sprout and root and grow for me.
It has all so far withstood a few thunderstorms coming through without any noticeable erosion or serious washouts.
Still to do: prepping, filling, grading, and seeding the back yard. But those rear sprinklers are mostly set and ready to help the new grass grow. Then I want to do a small bit of dripline set-up for my other zones, but most of that is going to be held off until next spring, since we are approaching the end of summer. At this point, I've only set up short-range full-arc dripline sprays for the broccoli and watermelon in the kitchen garden, with automatic scheduled watering times.
Plenty remains to be done, but I'm definitely happy and relieved as of this writing. Given the location of the house, my labors last summer and this have been a very public spectacle. Since I completed the rebuilding and finishing off of the front yard, it has been both gratifying and a bit mortifying the range of both strangers and neighbors who've made a point of complimenting me on getting it finished. "Looking good!" and "It turned out great!" and just a passing thumbs-up were potential indicators that the many regular passers-by were not always confident about my eventual success.
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