Posted on 08/31/2011 1:08:20 AM PDT by EnglishCon
thanks for posting
Thanks a lot for this. July this year was unusually dry for us, as well as unusually hot. We use our air conditioner water, and spring rain water saved in barrels, to avoid using the well water, but we had to prioritize the perennials, and didn’t have enough for some of the vegetables.
This is a very useful idea. Thanks again.
I moved to SC where we have sand down as far as I can dig. No good dirt whatsoever. It was 95 100 degrees for days on end with not much rain. I used 4 gallon pots (like the thin pots you get plants in ordered online) buried in the sand. I cut the bottoms out of the pots and put about a foot of compost below the pot then potting soil in the pots. I put the pots only about an inch apart in a row. I then cut ¾ pvc pipe into 5 sections and set them on two sides of each pot so that I had a row of stakes on each side of the pots. I put T connectors on the top of each stake and cross pieces to make a top that I could attach a shade cloth to on top. It worked great and I had tomatoes all summer. I hope I explained this well enough.
Never thought I would learn to hate trees! Trees, concrete, blacktop, weeds that grew in solid matts, root eating critters, and rats that invaded my garage in broad daylight!
For all that, one of the best gardens I've grown was in the heat and sand of El Paso, TX !!! Fun stuff, huh!?!
LOL Dont give me more credit then I earned. I was still at ground level so the hole was only a shovel handle deep. But yeah its been interesting. A much different gardening learning curve then where I grew up in Iowa. I lived for 20 years in Orlando so learned a lot there.
The thread - which as mosesdapoet pointed out is not nylon but cotton or jute - is just tied around the pipe at the site of the hole. One thing I did find is having the plants offset from the hole slightly, so the thread is about 5 degrees off vertical works better in terms of water delivery. You can always hang more twine for the vines to climb!
The pipes run the length of the bed, so North to South, and are, if memory serves, half inch diameter. Filling up the whole thing - pipe and reservior - takes about a gallon and a half of water first time, and about a gallon a day there after unless it is incredibly hot and windy or you forget to put down the side shades morning and afternoon.
If you make your frame using PVC connectors rather than tying the frame together, the shade frame should survive wind gusts. In Kenya, they get similar sudden strong winds and the frames normally survive just fine. If you have a high frame, you may want to anchor it, but setting the poles in 2 feet of concrete is normally enough to hold them.
Here's something simple that might work for you. I've got 24 water carrots, and it took some fiddling to get them to work. AND I didn't bother setting them up the last couple of years. First I learned not to jam them down into the soil but take a very large screwdriver I have and ream out the hole in a circular motion a little deeper and wider than needed for the carrot.
When I say carrot, I mean they are just orange plastic cones that screw onto bottles, the bottles being upside down facing the ground. The carrots are the cheapest but others are available.
Next I learned to put a little sand in the bottom to act as a filter thanks to a tip from someone. That kept the drip hole from getting clogged so much.
Then I screw them to a 2-liter bottle with a hole cut in the bottom (used a woodburner tool with the hot knife tip), purpose twofold. No hole, water won't flow. The hole lets the water flow. Also I can go along with the hose and fill them up again.
And I could have cut pieces of nylon screen to filter out junk getting into the 2-liter bottles and secure it somehow.
I found this easier than a too heavy, too long soaker hose my neighbor loaned me. My smaller soaker hose with laundry tube attachment for correct reach worked well but you can't turn it on too strong or the bottom of your plants will get scorched.
Water isn't rationed here, drought is but not like TX, but dragging the hose got to be such a pain I don't bother.
I used to grow tomatoes just fine on the east side of the house. That shielded them from the afternoon sun and conserved water; one cherry tomato climbed 15 feet at least. On the beefier tomatoes, maybe the yield wasn't as good but it worked. Now too many trees shade where I used to grow them so that limits what can be planted there.
The only thing about the carrots is they require close monitoring for stuff that still drops in there, bugs, clogs, but maybe better than other solutions. Sometimes I had to ream out the drip hole with a needle, they are a bit of a pain, too, but helped getting some perennials a good start their first year.
I learned the hard way with a milk jug, can't remember how I set up the drip in the pouring part. But I noticed it caved in on itself if I didn't punch a hole in the top. How did I set those up, didn't have the carrots then? Oh, I remember. They had the drip holes in the bottom of a gallon jug with the cap OFF. I forgot I did that. In a way that's easier and more portable than the carrots, but had to haul them arount to a faucet to fill them. They do work fast to save plants.
I have to do everything myself or hire it done, so making raised beds would be too hard for me. I'm learning the lasagna method. I'd like a rain barrel, a couple actually and not gonna get them. I also need to rig up more stuff plants can climb on without being too unsightly, I guess the skinnier rebar teepees would be the easiest for most stuff.
Also I use an awful lot of chicken wire in my gardening. It's ugly but plants soon hide it.
Moisture crystals are so useful, especially in hanging baskets, that I’d encourage every gardener to at least think about using them for every plant they put in.
I tend to use them in pots and hanging baskets only, as it is handy if I get working and forget to water them! Our garden soil here is heavy clay that rarely dries out. Been conditioning it with compost, lime and a lot of digging for 20 years so far, and the good stuff is still only about 18 inches deep!
As far as the heat goes, you just get used to it. Light and loose clothing and doing the midday siesta helps a lot!
I have used a similar product to the carrots you described, though mine were home made, and was told to fill them with pea gravel to stop the seep holes getting clogged. They are a handy way to provide constant water. In the south of Italy, where my in-laws live, people use pieces of drainpipe - 4 inch diameter, driven 4 feet into the ground, to water in new olive trees or grape vines for the first two to 4 years. Just go along with a hose (or buckets, which isn’t too good for the back!) and fill up each pipe.
Have you thought of using tree branches for your climbers? They look very nice, especially for peas or sweetpeas, and can be had for free from most people.
Luv, Master Gardener might be interested in looking at this.
Valuable thread, many thanks.
Yes, I've been saving my white birch bark branches, but they aren't tall enough or strong enough. But reinforced with skinny rebar, maybe I could make something attractive with those. I never thought of using rebar to make them tall enough; they'd cover them in no time. And I'm not as creative as some what I've seen on the web.
No nice straight branches for me, have to go to some woods to find some strong enough.
I'll see what I can put together with that this winter. Thanks for clarifying my thoughts.
I might just use the gallon jugs again. When all is said and done, I think they're easier than the carrots. Only drawback is they don't deliver water down deep.
Thanks Taz! Maybe he’ll read it if I ping him! We need all the help we can get!
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