A 20-point patio kit with a proper ½-inch mainline — not 4 mm spaghetti
The 20 brass risers in this box are 20 planting points — not 20 Hozelock-style spike drippers. The pipe is a visible ½-inch mainline, not discreet 4 mm spaghetti, and hanging baskets are awkward unless you convert them later.
If you typed “20 pot watering kit”, you were picturing the B&Q box: a Hozelock 2803, a timer, and a spike in each pot. That kit is real, often cheaper, and the right Saturday buy for containers around one table. This page is for the patio that has already outgrown 15 m of 4 mm — an L-shaped run, troughs as well as pots, and a last container that never quite fills. The job is 30 m of ½-inch, 20 planting-point risers, a tap timer, and a Y-splitter so the hosepipe stays on the tap. It is not a 20-pot spike kit, and it will not look like one when you open the box.
What people mean by a 20-pot watering kit
In UK garden centres, “20-pot” is a Hozelock product name, not a universal specification. The 2803 ships with a Select Controller, a pressure reducer, 15 m of 4 mm micro-tube, and 20 pressure-compensating stake drippers at 4 litres per hour. The tube snakes. The stakes hide in compost. Street price is typically £50–£70. If the pots sit in one huddle, a few metres from the outdoor tap, buy that kit and stop reading.
The number on the box still feels like a plan: 18 mixed pots, two troughs, three baskets — “about twenty”. That arithmetic fails on a long patio. You run out of 4 mm before you run out of plants, or the far end starves. A ½-inch mainline is the other plan: twice the length, far more bore, and a pipe you can see. Visibility is the trade, not a defect to sell around.
Count planting points, not spikes
One brass riser is one planting point: a twist-adjustable head that sits in or beside a pot and moves from a slow drip, through a mist, to a stream. It is not a classic 4 mm micro-dripper on a barb. It does not pressure-compensate. It does not climb 1.8 m into a hanging basket, and it will not vanish in compost the way a Hozelock stake does.
Count before you cut:
- An ordinary patio pot is one point, aimed at the compost, not at the neighbour’s table.
- A long, thirsty trough is two points if it dries from both ends.
- A wide planter is one point if the crown is tight, two if the compost face is wide.
- Herbs can sit nearly closed on drip. A hydrangea can be opened toward stream — knowing that stream is spray, not drip.
- Three hanging baskets still want spikes or dedicated laterals. They are not a free extra on the twentieth riser.
Eighteen mixed pots plus two troughs can spend the whole 20 points before you look at a basket. The box is 20 points, full stop. Spikes and pencil tube: that is the 2803. Twenty points on a longer, fatter main: keep going.
Fifteen metres of 4 mm is what you have outgrown
4 mm tube hides well and carries water poorly over distance. On a patio that turns a corner — house wall, fence, second row of pots — you meet either an empty coil or a last pot that never recovers after a hot afternoon. Adding more 4 mm rarely fixes that; it adds friction in a pipe that was never a mainline. Thirty metres of ½-inch is the point of this kit: down one wall, across the patio edge, back along a second row, with the last head still fed. Clip the pipe along the skirting or fence, behind the back row. Do not pretend it vanishes.
How four patio kits actually compare
Prices below are typical UK street figures, including VAT unless noted; they move. Count planting points in the box, not “20 spikes” for the ½-inch kit. Hozelock is cheaper and better at “spike in a pot”. Gardena is the kit to beat on architecture. Access wins hanging baskets. This kit wins tube length, bore, a timer and a Y-splitter on ground-level planting points.
| This kit | Hozelock 20-pot 2803 | Gardena Terrace (30 plants) | Access baskets (25-dripper) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Typical price | £85.53 | £50–£70 (often around £60–£70) | About £60–£90 | About £82 ex VAT / about £98 inc; 10-dripper from £49.20 inc |
| Timer in the box | Yes | Yes (Select Controller) | No — sold separately | No — add a tap timer |
| Mainline | 30 m × ½-inch push-fit | 15 m × 4 mm only | 15 m × 13 mm (½-inch) plus 20 m × 4.6 mm laterals | 40 m × 5.5 mm OD (pencil pipe) |
| Planting points in the box | 20 (one brass riser ≈ one point) | 20 stake drippers | Up to 30 (10 adjustable end-line + 20 inline 2 l/h) | 25 pressure-compensating drippers + stakes |
| Emitter | Brass riser, drip → mist → stream (not classic 4 mm micro-drip) | 4 LPH pressure-compensating spike drippers | True drip heads | Ultra-low-flow PC drippers into compost |
| Look | Visible ½-inch | Discreet 4 mm spaghetti | ½-inch spine, then discreet laterals | Purpose-built discreet |
| Hanging baskets | Awkward unless converted later | Marketed for them; 4 mm will snake up | Laterals can be run up if you plan it | This is the job |
| Hosepipe ban | Do not treat as approved. Mist and stream are spray. | Hozelock markets the 2803 as ban-approved drip | Drip kit (timer extra); still check the water company | Drip plus timer may be allowed; Access says check locally |
| Y-splitter / keep the hosepipe | Yes | No (the tap is the kit) | No | No |
| Honest one-liner | Longer ½-inch run, adjustable pattern, ground-level pots | The default: cheaper, spiky, short | Closest ½-inch architecture; more points; timer is DIY | Baskets, height, hide-the-pipe |
Gardena Terrace is the architectural peer: a ½-inch spine, 4.6 mm laterals, up to 30 true drip heads. It often looks cheaper until you add a timer. Access is the specialist for hanging baskets. This kit does not beat either at their own job. It is the one-box option with 30 m of ½-inch, 20 brass heads, a timer and a splitter. There is no listed pressure reducer or filter; if your tap is fierce, that is a real gap.
How to lay the ½-inch on a patio
Start at the outdoor tap on the house wall. Fit the Y-splitter first: one arm stays a hosepipe, the other arm takes the timer, then the ½-inch main. You are not surrendering the tap to irrigation.
Run the main along the house skirting, the fence, or behind the back row of pots. It will show. Clip it. At each planting point, cut in a T and stand a brass riser in or beside the pot, aimed at compost. A long trough is two points if it is thirsty end-to-end. A large planter is one point if the crown is tight, two if the compost face is wide. Skip hanging baskets on this first run, or note a later microtube conversion — there are no spikes in the box for that. End the run with a plug.
Thirty metres is there so the line can turn. Fifteen metres of 4 mm is what this layout has already outgrown. Flush with the end open before you plug it. Twist each head shut, open the tap, and bring pots up one at a time so you are not soaking the seating on the first test.
Who this kit is for
- Ground-level patio pots, troughs and large planters — roughly 12–20 planting points, not 12–20 spikes plus extras.
- Patios where 15 m of 4 mm would run out: two walls, an L-shape, pots away from the tap.
- Mixed thirst: herbs on drip, a hydrangea opened toward stream, knowing stream is spray.
- Anyone who wants the hosepipe kept on a Y-splitter and a timer in the same box.
- Anyone who will accept a visible ½-inch backbone in exchange for a pipe that actually feeds the last pot.
Who should buy something else
- Anyone who wanted 20 Hozelock-style spike drippers and hidden 4 mm — that is the 2803, and it is often cheaper.
- Patios that are mostly hanging baskets — look at the Access 25-dripper kit.
- Shoppers who want ½-inch and discreet drip heads and 30 plants — Gardena Terrace plus a separate timer.
- Anyone who needs a hosepipe-ban or drip-only claim. This page will not give you one.
- Tiny herb forests where a brass riser looks absurd, or seating right next to mist and stream.
- Anyone counting “20 pots” as 20 spikes plus baskets plus troughs as free extras. The box is 20 points.
Do not buy this for a hosepipe ban
The brass heads travel drip → mist → stream. Mist and stream are spray. Even closed down to a drip, this is not a certified pressure-compensating dripper, and the kit is not sold as hosepipe-ban approved. Water companies write their own rules. If you need a ban-legal drip system, buy a kit specified as such — Hozelock markets the 2803 that way; Access tells you to check locally — then still read your company’s wording. Do not open these risers to a mist on a banned day and call it drip.
What you are actually buying
The DripSystem UK 30 m ½-inch garden drip irrigation kit is £85.53. In the box: 30 m of ½-inch push-fit mainline, 20 planting-point brass risers, a tap timer, and a Y-splitter so the hosepipe stays put. It is not a 20-pot spike kit. Batteries (2× AA alkaline) are not included. There is no listed filter or pressure reducer. It wants a pressurised outdoor tap, not a water butt on its own.
If that is the patio you have — ground-level points, a run longer than 15 m of 4 mm, and a tap you still need for the hosepipe — this is the honest box. If you wanted spaghetti and spikes, the 2803 still matches the picture in your head.