# Spot watering help



## ergray3 (Jun 2, 2020)

I have a tiny spot next to my mailbox with no coverage from the sprinkler system. There is a rain bird 5000 rotor across the sidewalk. Anyone know of anything I could "bolt-on" to this rotor to cover this spot without tunneling under the sidewalk? It dies every summer due to my negligence :|


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

I would just plant a flower / shrub with mulch.


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## ergray3 (Jun 2, 2020)

Yeah that's probably what's gonna happen haha


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## bernstem (Jan 16, 2018)

River rock and landscape fabric. If you really want grass, you can T a micro-spray off the corner 5000 head with a drip line tubing and probably run it between the sidewalk sections.


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## ken-n-nancy (Jul 25, 2017)

ergray3 said:


> I have a tiny spot next to my mailbox with no coverage from the sprinkler system. ...


Yeah, that spot looks like quite the challenge.



bernstem said:


> River rock and landscape fabric. ...


The above is what I'd suggest. I'd dig out the soil to a depth of at least 6", put some landscaping fabric in the bottom, and fill it with at least 6" of rocks of no less than about 1.5" - 2.0" size. Very small rocks will tend to accumulate organic debris in the top inch or so, which will then be a place for weeds to grow. Larger rocks allow blown-in debris to get washed on down to the bottom, where it is far enough away from the surface that most weeds will die from lack of light before growing out to the open.



g-man said:


> I would just plant a flower / shrub with mulch.


A flower would definitely look nicer, but is still likely to require occasional watering during the summer.


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## penright (Apr 6, 2020)

I ran across this thread looking for any tricks on how to irrigate around mailboxes.
Kind of late, but I thought I would post this in case someone else comes across the thread.

Tunneling under that sidewalk is not that hard. Orbit makes what it calls a "Walkway Tunnel Kit". Basically, it is two pieces that connect to 3/4" PVC pipe. The part number is 53333N. You can find it everywhere online and in box stores.
https://www.orbitonline.com/products/walkway-tunnel-kit?_pos=1&_psq=tunnel&_ss=e&_v=1.0

One end accepts the garden hose and the other is a nozzle. I have used it to get low-voltage wires under a driveway that is 25 feet wide. I had to do it twice. Now that was a lot of work and luck. The longer the run the more chance the PVC pipe can make a turn. For those two runs, it took me 7 tries and I had to abandon one pipe. I've done 15' foot runs without too many issues. That 4 foot should be a snap. After you fish the 3/4" just cut the ends off and now you have a conduit for the 1/4" tubing or in my case low voltage wire. I think it was intended to plumb water to it, so far I have not used it that way. 
One tip, have something solid, I used a metal shelf, but a piece of plywood should work. There is lots of water and it can get soggy around where you are working. Now, this was a long distance and took some time with the water running. A 4' length should not be near as bad.  One more tip, get you a couple of 3/4" glue unions. You can add joints if needed. When done you can push the pipe through as far as possible then cut it where you want. You can then reuse the hose adapter and nozzle again.


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## ergray3 (Jun 2, 2020)

Wow thank you for the thoughtful reply. I ended up taping into the zone on the far side of the mailbox in the hell strip (not pictured) . There is about a 2 inch wide strip of dirt between the front of the mailbox brick and the street curb. I dug that out, and ran about 10 feet of 1/2 funny pipe and put a pop up with a square small area head on it from rain bird. I was worried about pressure from that length of narrow pipe but honestly it still has more than it needs for that ~1.5sqft spot. It has survived the summer for the first time this year and it's been a bad summer at that!


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