Looking for a way to automatically water my flowers

I was researching ways to automatically water my front porch flowers. I was discussing this with my neighbor. I was going on vacation and I needed a solution. He volunteered to water my flowers while I was gone. My neighbor is a retired fire chief. He was heavily involved in the firefighter community. He did water my flowers while I was gone. His wife sent me a proof photo. My wife and I could not stop laughing....

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Do you have drip irrigation around your front porch? If yes, you could easily tie it to feed your potted plants. I did that with mine.

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That was part of the discussion. I do have irrigation heads on either side. I would have to add the drip irrigation parts. Should be easy to add this spring. But I want to control those independently from my irrigation system, so I will need to put more thought into it.

I use a Rachio Hose Timer connected to a hose bibb. Instead of connecting the timer to a water hose, I have it connected to the drip system.

Last year I used a SONOFF Zigbee Garden Hose Valve to regularly a large area I'd put new grass seed (I was shrinking the vegatable garden by a few hundred sq. feet).

After that, I had it regularly water the vegatable garden itself.

I use a Zigbee Hose Valves and Ecowitt moisture sensors. I water on a timer for regular daily watering, but I check the moisture sensor to be sure it needs it (it may have just rained). No need for a rain delay if you know soil moisture is already wet enough and doesn't need the daily watering. I also start an additional watering if the soil dries out enough on a hot day.

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Nobody thinks about what if a pipe breaks when you're away on vacation?

The only water I have available when on vacation is for irrigation (so the house is covered) and, if there is an issue, my neighbor's or association will shut off the outside water. Worst case is the yard gets flooded and they shut off the main at the street.

The only other way I can think to monitor a break in irrigation is to install a flow meter.

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I have a Zooz Titan valve on the outside spigot valve. I use Hubitat to turn it on, and the well pump if away, to drip water the 8 hanging baskets, then turn it (them) off. That is, I used to. Since my domestic arrangement has changed, I've segued to artificial petunia baskets. Short payback. Hey, they look real enough to me. :slight_smile:

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