A garden irrigation system is a fixed installation usually consisting of pop-ups in the lawn and standpipes in beds. It is often controlled by a computer that switches the system on and off at appropriate times. A properly designed and installed irrigation system gives even precipitation and applies exactly the right amount of water where it is required. A sprinkler that you attach to the end of your hosepipe and move around the garden is not considered an irrigation system.

In Johannesburg, in summer, the average garden requires about 25mm of water per week, assuming that it has no special watering requirements and no rain falls. If we take a 400m² garden as an example, this amounts to 10 000 litres of water per week, spread evenly across the landscape. It sounds like a lot, but remember we have assumed no rainfall and this is not a water-wise garden.

Would you like to extend your leisure hours in the outdoors and enhance your enjoyment of the garden? Garden lighting, or nightscaping, is an excellent way to lengthen your time spent outside, and it can also add a new dimension to your garden.

Properly installed, garden lighting offers both added security and enhances the aesthetics of your property. With the correct choice and placement of lights, new focal points are created. Trees that provide a canopy and shade above colourful shrubs and plants by day, may seldom attract the eye, but at night when their trunks and branches are illuminated by “uplighters”, they are transformed and the gardener is able to appreciate the form and structure of these trees.