Yard cabling.. how to keep it safe and neat?

[marmalade]

so this year my display will have some nodes and arches and other usual stuff.. but my front lawn grows so fast it's needs mowing almost every weekend (10-15mm is pretty typical!)


How does everyone else handle this?



I'm thinking of digging conduit trenches to each element out of desperation!


Or is there a better way?

 

[scamper]

What I do is only put elements that are removable on the lawn. The first year I had my megatree in the middle of the lawn, and mowing around that was ridiculous. Since then, it is only spiral trees, north poles etc, and everything else is neatly positioned around the edge.


however.... you can buy a spray that will slow the growth of the lawn, and anything else you spray it on, I believe it is a little pricey but if you have a lot of items on the lawn and don't want to spend the first quarter of the next year trying to bring it back, it may be worth it.

 

[SmartAlecLights]

i just try an run all the leads in straight lines bunched up, easy to do.. an less of a trip hazard or eyesore

 

[Benslights]

im the same as alec and i put tent pegs over them in a few places to keep them in place

 

[fasteddy]

Ensure elements are designed to be easily moved if placing in the front yard. Use tent pegs to hold in elements. I designed my Mega tree so I could easily cut around it

Bundle as much cable together as you can as this will make it much easier to handle, just don't leave cables randomly placed all over the place or you are going to create a bit of extra work

When cutting the lawn all you need to do is just move the element a few feet, you may need to lift the cable to cut under it. but its all in how you place and bundle your cables that can make the task easy. Once you cut that section just move the element back to its place.

 

[battle79]

Scamper,

Is this spray by any change called roundup?

 

[scamper]

Scamper,

Is this spray by any change called roundup?

No! But i did use plenty of that where I started to grow lawn, but have changed the plan and now have a train track running through there ;-)

Some of them are....
Mefluidide, Paclobutrazol, Ethephon, Trinexapac-ethyl

 

[Wolfie]

so this year my display will have some nodes and arches and other usual stuff.. but my front lawn grows so fast it's needs mowing almost every weekend (10-15mm is pretty typical!)


How does everyone else handle this?



I'm thinking of digging conduit trenches to each element out of desperation!


Or is there a better way?

I hide mine under 2'-3' of snow. That way I don't have to worry about seeing the wires

But, yea, I guess yall on the other side of the ball have different issues at Christmas

Before I poured my driveway (bout 2 decades ago), I buried 2-1/2" PVC pipe under it, across it, along it, etc. I used sweep Ls so no hard corners. I also used 180 sweeps on top of the pieces as they came up out of the ground. Using a shopvac I sucked a pingpong ball which I had hot glued a piece of surveyor's twine to. I looped it at the other end and sucked it back through forming a 360 loop and knotted the ends together with some slack. I put a eye screw inside the 180 sweep at either end and looped the string through and pinched it shut. That way the string would never get accidentally dropped in.

In the years since, I have used the string to pull in low voltage wiring for lights, cat5 for networking, and even small 1/4" tubing for drip watering of the O/L flower pots. by forming a loop you can pull stuff in from either end.

I am thinking you could use a similar system in your yard but use floor boxes or something recessed below grass level at strategic points. Lawn sprinkler housings maybe? Then put disconnects there so you can quickly disconnect and move things for a grass mowing session and easily reconnect and drop them back in place.

 

[thecrazylightlady]

redid our front garden about 6 years ago with raised garden beds, then used stones to cover the lot, one colour in garden beds and another on the ground, much easier, only have pine trees in the raised beds... for decorating of course and they dont need watering, then just weed spray when needed

 

[marmalade]

Thanks for the ideas Guys (yes wolfie, snow would be nice for a few days in summer down here )


One solution is to bundle the major cable runs within corrugated tube, terminating these in anderson connectors (or other high current plugs for those amp sucking elements!) and then branching these out to pigtails. This way I can unplug one anderson connector and tie it up somewhere out of harms way when snipping/mowing, and just move the heavy cable conduits around.


Oh...if anyone builds a house, don't forget to chuck down some conduit under paths and driveways. Had this in mind but totally forgot, and now kicking myself