Love/hate relationships with sprinklers

This has been the week of the sprinklers.

I realized last week that a sprinkler in the front, southwest corner of the yard was puddling -- a usual sign there is a cracked or broken pipe below.   Not only that sign, however, because at a spot about four feet to the south was a large bubbling source of water.  Could it be emanating from the aforementioned sprinker?  It was time to get to work.

Digging out a sprinkler head anywhere is no easy feat after up to 30 years of root growth in the soil.  After digging and chopping through probable maple roots, I unearthed the pipes almost a foot below ground level.  As suspected, the fitting over the lower pipe had cracked.  That was a a reasonably easy fix.

When I turned on the sprinklers for that section, however, the water pressure had not changed and the secondary bubbling was still active. 

I had considered that might be another buried sprinkler there as there had been last year up the slope on the same side.  Finding that break had taken 2 days of digging and I envisioned the same difficulty.  One dig with the shovel, however, uncovered a sprinkler head lying on its side (not my doing). 

Further investigation revealed the pipe on which the sprinkler had previously been attached was now beneath an oak tree root at least 2 inches in diameter.  Remember the 30 years' growth?  When the sprinklers were laid, that tree was a sapling.  And, in fact, the sprinkler was/is at best on the property line, if not actually over it.  For that reason, and the difficulty in getting beneath that root, I decided to simply cap the pipe.  That involved a trip to Home Depot to get a cap, of course.

Cap in hand, I tried for nearly half an hour to screw the cap on.  The difficulty was the root above it.  The cap was a hair too tall to fit directly over the pipe.  I finally resorted to enlisting my husband's aid to saw through the root.  Success, the cap easily twisted on.

Another check of the sprinkler action in the section showed the leaks were stopped: Full water pressure was restored and reaching the two areas of grass that had died.  Perhaps now the new grass plugs will take hold. 

I have hope.

I will have further sprinkler maintenance as my lawn mower (man, not machine) is having difficulty maneuvering his machine over/around some of the heads, so I'll be digging again.  But not this week.

Below is a glimpse of the hanging baskets flanking the gardenia in the long garden of the front yard.  I used hot pink portulaca to replace the waning pink petunias (which still show a little color on the ground).

Living life and loving it; I wish the same for you.