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Whether you're at home or on holiday, having a garden irrigation system set up in your greenhouse or on your patio can save you a lot of time and effort and keep your plants watered regularly.
They can be bought as a kit that comes complete with virtually everything you need, and this is the easiest way to get started. Most of them include a battery-operated timer, which is attached to a tap and programmed to automatically water at set times, but you can also get kits that use solar-powered rechargeable batteries in timers with integral pumps that can draw water from a tank or water butt anywhere in the garden. The researchers from Which? Gardening magazine thoroughly tested both types.
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Sign up nowOnly logged-in Which? members can view the garden irrigation systems test results below. Join Which? now to get instant access to our test scores and Best Buy recommendations below.
Overall score: 93%
Price: Kit £38.49, timer £46.74
The soft and flexible tubing supplied with this kit really helped to make it easy to set up. All the components were well made and well designed, especially the large, super-adjustable drippers, which could deliver anything from a dribble to a flood. The timer, which we had to buy separately, uses a sensor to water at dawn and dusk, so you only need to set the number of minutes you want it to run.
Overall score: 93%
Price: £76.79
This excellent kit includes 15m of larger-gauge pipe and 24m of smaller tubing to create spurs with terminal drippers. Joints for the main pipe include corner joints which make it easier to tailor the layout, and plugs let you block holes and change the position of the spurs if you move pots around. The timer has two outlets that can be programmed separately, and adjustable drippers with a good range of water flow.
Only logged-in Which? members can view the garden irrigation systems test results below. Join Which? now to get instant access to our test scores and Best Buy recommendations below.
Product name | Overall score | Max number of pots | Time to set up (min) | Ease of setting up | Kit components | Flexibility of system layout | Adjustability of drippers | Even flow over whole system | Timer, flexible programming |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
93% | 15 | 75 | ★★★★★ | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ | |
93% | 25 | 105 | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ | |
79% | 20 | 120 | ★★★☆☆ | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ | |
77% | 15 | 120 | ★★★☆☆ | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ | |
68% | 20 | 75 | ★★★★☆ | ★★★☆☆ | ★★★☆☆ | ★★☆☆☆ | ★★★★★ | ★★★★☆ | |
68% | 20 | 60 | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★☆ | ★★★☆☆ | ★★★☆☆ | ★★★★★ | ★★★★☆ | |
56% | 16 | 60 | ★★★★★ | ★★☆☆☆ | ★★☆☆☆ | ★★☆☆☆ | ★★★☆☆ | N?A |
USING THE TABLE The more stars, the better. OVERALL SCORE Ignores price and is based on: Ease of setting up 25%, kit components 15%, flexibility of layout 15%, adjustability of drippers 15%, even flow rate over whole system 15%, flexibility of timer programming 15%. Ease of use rating includes clarity of instructions and how easy it was to do. Kit components rating includes the range of parts included and their quality.
Solar-powered irrigation systems allow you to automatically water plants that are a long way from a tap as they are connected to a water butt or tank, but they have some drawbacks. The timer with integral pump must be higher than the water butt or tank to draw the water and must be in a sunny spot to charge, which can make placing them tricky. More of a problem, though, is the limited amount of water they deliver. One kit we used in the trial gave a maximum of 600ml per dripper per day and the other gave a very meagre 200ml per dripper per day. The water in your tank will last longer but larger containers will need several drippers to get enough water, reducing the number of pots the kit can cover.