How to Design Drip Irrigation for a Border Landscape Area

Avoid losing water to evaporation by installing a drip system within the border.


Border landscape areas often flank sprinkler-fed lawns, so you can take advantage of the system's overspray to irrigate both spaces. However, grasses and typical border plants, such as shrubs and various flower species, do not have the same water needs. Alternatively, a basic drip system consists of tubing and strategically-placed emitters lying directly on the garden's topsoil. As the emitters seep water, the moisture drips into the soil rather than flying through the air. Designing your own drip system for a border landscape area requires an evaluation of your garden's size and shape.


Locate a water source near the border area, such as a sprinkler head or water spigot.


Attach a manifold to the sprinkler head or a hose bib kit to the spigot. The bib kit should consist of a backflow preventer, pressure regulator, filter, and hose swivel.


Measure the length of the border area using a measuring tape.


Cut a length of half-inch tubing to this measured value using a tube cutter. Do not exceed a length of 200 feet, as you lose significant water pressure after this point.


Lay the half-inch tubing onto the ground in the middle of the border area. Verify that it stretches the entire garden length and meets the water source at one end.


Evaluate each border plant's position to the tubing. Punch holes into the tubing where the length passes by a border plant using a punch tool. Maintain an 18-inch spacing between each hole.


Press an emitter into each hole until you hear it click into place. Orient the emitter so that it sprays onto the nearby plant's soil, rather than facing outward toward a walkway.


Observe your border plants that are not close to the main tubing position. Punch a hole in the tubing where your border becomes wide using the punch tool.


Press an L-shaped connector into the new hole. Press a quarter-inch tubing length onto the connector. Lay the tubing perpendicular to the main tube to supply plants in the wider border area.


Cut the quarter-inch tubing at the end of the border width using a tube cutter. Punch holes into the new tubing using the punch tool and add emitters where plants require irrigation.


Add more quarter-inch tubing to your main line, if you have additional border widths to supply.


Clamp each tubing end with an end clamp.


Connect the half-inch tubing to the water source. Turn on the water. Evaluate your drip system. Add more tubing to the system, if you observe that some garden portions are not receiving enough moisture.


Secure the tubing to the ground using stakes, while verifying that the emitters are still aimed at the border plants.


Place organic mulch over the tubing, so that water is not lost to evaporation.

Things You Will Need

  • Manifold
  • Hose bib kit
  • Measuring tape
  • 1/2-inch drip tubing
  • Tube cutter
  • Punch tool
  • Emitters
  • 1/4-inch drip tubing
  • End clamps
  • Stakes
  • Organic mulch


  • Instead of an L-shaped connector, you may split the main line using a T-shaped connector. By looping a quarter-inch tube around a small tree or shrub and connecting it back to the main line with a T-shaped connector, you provide multiple emitters for adequate irrigation.

Photo Credits

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