The Garden Gurus Television Program

30 January 2010 - Rain Garden

V.I.P. Garden Maintenance and Lawn Mowing franchisees partnered with Melbourne Water to build a 'Raingarden'. A Raingarden is a simple way to help the environment and the health of our waterways while providing a self-watering garden for the backyard.

The V.I.P. franchisees demonstrated how to build a Raingarden in a suburban Victorian home. To download the 'How To' guide, please click here. If you would like a V.I.P. franchisee to build one at your place, or for more information about a raingarden, please call 13 26 13. Your local V.I.P. Garden Maintenance and Lawn Mowing franchisee will come and provide you with a quote to build a Raingarden for you.

Information from The Garden Gurus Easter Special, 10th April 2009:

To view the video segment of the sub-surface irrigation, please click here.

The Garden Gurus and V.I.P. franchisees teamed up to install an environmentally friendly, low maintenance, attractive and cost effective "V.I.P Waterwise Garden" in a suburban Adelaide backyard. This included the installation of sub-surface irrigation into an existing lawn using Toro equipment, the installation of Maxiplas rainwater tank hooked up to a dripper system for potted plants, the installation of drought tolerant plants and mulching of the garden bed. To view the video segment of the sub-surface irrigation, please click here.

Using the Toro equipment, V.I.P. created an opening for the sub-surface equipment without removing or severely damaging the existing lawn. This technique is the most cost effective way of installing sub-surface irrigation into an existing lawn. The dripline system ensures the water reaches the area of the lawn where it is most required: the root zone. this decreases evapouration, and therefore requires less water than traditional irrigation systems, such as above pop-up's and gear driven sprinkler systems.

V.I.P. franchisees also supplied and installed an Australian owned and manufactured, Maxiplas rainwater tank. The V.I.P. franchisees hooked it up to the gutter of the house to ensure a large capture zone. This was then connected to the dripper system which is connected to potted plants throughout the back yard. The dripper system is connected to an electronic timer to ensure efficient use of the rainwater. The water reaches these plants through the use of a pressure pump, also installed by a V.I.P. franchisee. To view the video segment of the rain water tank installation, please click here, it is located near the end of the segment.

As the tank is not connected to the mains water, there was no plumber required, and it is not restricted by Government imposed water restrictions. It is a perfect time to install a rainwater tank, as the coming season will see plenty of rain.

The combination of sub-surface irrigation and a layer of mulch in the garden ensures that water evapouration is kept to a minimum. Mulching also breaks down in the soil helping to feed the plants with valuable nutrients required to grow.

To arrange a V.I.P. franchisee to give you an obligation free quote for your "V.I.P. Waterwise Garden", please call 13 26 13 or fill out the service enquiry form on the top right hand side of this page.