The Brain Dump

There are several great reasons everyone should be using drip irrigation compared with simply using a hose or a watering can. Water conservation : by delivering water directly to the roots of the plant there is less water lost from evaporation and less water lost to run-off since the soil has a chance to soak up the water before it can drain away.  We can also use recycled water or captured rain water to further save precious water resources (OK, you can do this in a watering can too). Lower risk of disease : wet leaves can lead to fungus when they can't dry off quickly enough and plants almost always do better when the leaves are dry. Effective Nutrient management : Decreasing run-off also helps to keep the nitrogen in the soil from being diluted or washed away.  Fertilizer can be added to the bucket and distributed easily with less waste. Weed management : Delivering water directly to the plant means less water for weed germination Effective labor utilization : Fil...

There are several key components when it comes to paying for someone to do work for you. education/experience/skill time/labor materials The cost of any job will factor those components in proportionately to arrive at a dollar value for which you will pay to have the work completed. So if you have no idea how to change the timing belt in your car, you are basically either paying for your ignorance or for the convenience to have someone else do the work When I moved into my new house, the Bermuda sod was put down during a dry and hot late August. Seeing how the other houses were built, I know that our lawn started as a weed infested lot which was cleared and leveled with a bulldozer.  A thin layer of topsoil was spread before a mostly dead sod (due to sitting outside for a few days in the sun) was laid down and a hose dragged around to get some water sprinkled. We moved in late September and I couldn't find my hoses while I unpacked.  I was lucky to only have ...

My development has a community garden that has been unused for the last 2 or 3 years.  Without a water source there wasn't a lot of interest to garden down there because it was too much effort for most residents to carry water to maintain their garden.  There is a rain barrel station setup but without a large surface area to catch the water and channel it to the rain barrels, there was never enough water captured for more than 1 bed. This year I out grew my home garden because I wanted to grow pumpkins and watermelons and lots of tomatoes and peppers.  Luckily, the POA decided to run a water line down there and do some rudimentary trimming of the weeds. I'll be using the rain water until that supply runs out because the untreated water provides more nourishment and less shock to the plants With several years worth of weeds, there was a fair amount of work to clear the beds before anything could be planted. A few ambitious gardeners  tilled their bed and pulled ...

There is some concern about using rain water to water vegetables due to potential chemical leaching from asphalt roof tiles (the most popular roofing material in the US). Most people seem afraid of any lawsuits if they state that water collected from an asphalt roof is safe to use on edible fruits and vegetables and it turns out it's not safe at some point down the road. Until someone can step forward and take that responsibility of declaring the water safe, it makes sense to try and take some precautions even though there are plenty of people who have been doing it for years without any adverse effects. A first flush contraption is supposed to divert the first bit of water that washes off your roof (presumably containing organic contaminants and non-organic contaminants such as melted/leached asphalt based chemicals) and capture it. DIY First flush holds about 1 quart of water parts list: 3/4" slip X 3/4" slip X 3/4" FPT 3/4" galvanized nipple ...

Several people have warned me that using a rain barrel to drive a drip irrigation system is not possible due to insufficient pressure.  I didn't want to believe this so I decided to try it for myself on the off-chance that I do something that those other people have not tried. My drip irrigation test will use ONLY drip emitter tubing because it is cheaper than any other type of emitter available and because wetting the leaves of my plants with a spray or mist only wastes water and increases the chances of disease on the leaves. Reality check: 100 1/2 gph drip emitters  = $25 100 ft roll of 1/2 gph drip tubing with 6" spacing  (200 emitters) = $22 Since most drip irrigation requires a pressure reducer to work properly, why not use a 0 psi rain barrel?  As long as the water source (rain barrel spigot) is higher than the end of the tubing, gravity will ensure that water comes out the other end.   Since the rain barrel is very close to 0 psi, we nee...

We're probably all guilty of doing this.  You walk into Home Depot or Lowes and spot a plant that looks really nice but you don't know anything about it. For just a few bucks you buy it only to have it die before you could do anything about it. Those early season tomatoes that are set out in March won't make it because it's still too early to plant tomatoes for a few more months.  That fruit tree that probably won't see it's first fruit because your region is too hot or too cold. Last week, I walked into an Home Depot and then an Atwoods and I could not resist the temptation to purchase a $13 pear tree and an $8 grape vine.  The package markings were suspiciously devoid of detailed plant hardiness or even the type of grape I was buying (red seedless was not enough information to go on). I knew if I was going to buy it, I had to act quickly because these plants are delivered in a dormant state and stored inside near the cash registers where they hope p...