once a week watering, how to do?

Discussion in 'Designing, building, making and powering your life' started by zydeco, Nov 29, 2007.

  1. zydeco

    zydeco Junior Member

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    I might be getting a community garden plot, but it is 20 miles away, so I only want to go there once a week.

    Two plots share a single spigot, but I'm suspecting they won't let me hook up a drip irrigation system to the spigot.

    I've read about sinking some ceramic pots into the soil to seep water out. Would something like that handle a week's worth of water, particularly in summer? I would assume I'd use several of them.

    I'm assuming I'll need a mulch cover too, so conserve evaporation.

    I was also thinking about trying to rig a drip irrigation system from some 5 gallon buckets, but I don't know if the normal drip hardware will function properly without city water pressure behind it.

    Any ideas welcome.
     
  2. beherit

    beherit Junior Member

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    how about a wheelie bin raised up off the ground a little, weight of the water plus a little gravity assistance would hopefully provide enough pressure for a dripper system or soaker hose.

    its hard to say exactly how much water storage would be required, guess it all depends on the size of your plot, quality of the soil and how well it is mulched...really a case of suck it and see.
     
  3. Tamara

    Tamara Junior Member

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    Have you heard of wet pots? You can use them in the ground.
    https://www.wateringsystems.net/
    not too cheap but very effective. I use them here. You fill up the water source once a week and away you go. Remember to mulch heavily.

    love T
     
  4. PDB

    PDB Junior Member

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    I use wephose like that. I cut polly pipe inbetwen where I don't need to water and polly is far cheeper. I am also trying the tercoter (can't spell) idea at the mo to. some old pots with a cork in the hole and a tight fiting plastic drink bottle upside down in it. Am trying this for when we go camping. Hope that helps??
    Paul
     
  5. PDB

    PDB Junior Member

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    I use wephose like that. I cut polly pipe inbetwen where I don't need to water and polly is far cheeper. I am also trying the tercoter (can't spell) idea at the mo to. some old pots with a cork in the hole and a tight fiting plastic drink bottle upside down in it. Am trying this for when we go camping. Hope that helps??
    Paul
     
  6. zydeco

    zydeco Junior Member

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    Thanks for the link

    That wateringsystems.net link looks like a great one. THanks.
     
  7. gardenlen

    gardenlen Group for banned users

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    something like the wet pot system but it will need to be connected to a water supply, or do as the asian indians do and get some say 2 gallon sized urns maybe round squat shape with a narrow neck that you can cover to keep frogs etc.,. out, they need to be unglazed.

    and of course mulch, mulch, mulch and even more mulch.

    once you get your plot going won't you need more than once weekly visit, i pick produce on a daily basis from my gardens, and then there is bug control we look for caterpillars daily etc.,.

    a seemingly unattended garden plot may bring other issues??

    i'd suggest look for a garden closer than 20 miles that is a fair distance to travel.

    len
     
  8. zydeco

    zydeco Junior Member

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    Closer gardens

    Regarding getting a closer garden than 20 miles away, there are none. I'm in the process of trying to organize an effort to start some, but that could take a couple of years. So, in the meantime, I'll get lots of practice with developing a low maintenance garden.
     
  9. 9anda1f

    9anda1f Administrator Staff Member

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    zydeco,

    My property is 200 miles away and I visit once/week. Our goal is to hold moisture in the soil by using significant mulch to prevent having to water during the five day's we're away. This is in an area of 10-14" of rainfall per year, lots of sun and wind, which tends to dry unprotected soil. We are mulching 4-6" with straw and adding any green "choppings" we can get. It appears to work well so far (although it's now winter here) and the mulched soil is holding it's moisture very well compared to the surrounding bare areas. Any chance that heavy mulching could work for you?

    9anda1f
     
  10. zydeco

    zydeco Junior Member

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    mulching

    yes, it could. I've been thinking about that a lot. Finding decent mulch material could be an issue though. I live in an urban environment. There is an organic farmer very near me who has some hay bales for sale (he used them for a harvest maze), but I've heard hay bales contain a lot of weed seeds. So, I don't know if I can go that route.

    What do you suggest for mulch, that I could obtain in an urban setting?

    Right now, I'm thinking of signing up for a ceramics class so I can throw my own unglazed amphoras. Then I could bury them and fill with water. Maybe bend the neck at a 90 degree angle, so the length of the body could stretch out, instead of making a circle garden.
     
  11. gardenlen

    gardenlen Group for banned users

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    our only option is sugar cane mulch so that is what we use (but we have used spoilt luceren and pasture grass hays as well as raked and collect slashed grass from public areas in rural)not sure if what sprouts is a weed we've never had a weed problem!! germinating seed also seems to just fizzle away and has never been self perpetuating , it is also easily pulled and tucked under the mulch to may more nutirients available.

    nothing much to learn about water wise than doing raised beds we use mushroom compost and heaps of mulching, vege' gardens a productive garden on a continual basis, so unless you are growing pumpkins or spuds which have a long maturation period then any other food plants would need more than a once a week look at.

    by the sounds of it you don't have any space around whereyou live, maybe in a unit or home with no yard?? you could learn just as much by doing container gardening where you can avail readily of the produce as it is available.

    if you are doing a ceramics course maybe you could make your own wet pots like the sub-continent uses and the gardens would not need to be round, the ones i saw in use where in normal rectangular gardens.

    len
     
  12. zydeco

    zydeco Junior Member

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    no room

    I have a 6x10 concrete patio with about 4 hours of sunlight a day. I have been working that angle, but need more room and sunlight, and want to work on "building the soil."

    I'll just have to see what pans out with this other garden, if the guy ever gets back to me.
     
  13. gardenlen

    gardenlen Group for banned users

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    soil building is a farily simple process and all we mere mortals can do is add organic matter and feed the soil ie.,. using green type mulches eg.,. sugar cane and mulch hays etc.,. and also feeding our kitchen scraps (anything that will rot) to the gardens the worms and bacteria do the rest.

    many of us here have web pages we have one, as there are many threads on soil building the use of all these resources should shed a lot of light on the subject.

    since i converted to raised no-dig, water-wise garden beds life has gotten simpler gardening wise and i found it all too easy realy, so i make that all available on our web page again as many others do.

    wonder if available garden space might be a community issue if sharing your space with someone who is closer so you have a well looked after supply of produce and you do your bit once a week and maybe supply the bulk of mulches etc.,?

    once plants start growing then we need to develop pest management into the system or the bugs will eat everything (so it might not matter how good the soil is if the bugs destry the plants?), and that all happens on an almost daily process. but i would expect unless everyone using the community space has the same ideas on bug control that could raise issues of successes, say if you wanted to use a more natural organic method as we do.

    len
     
  14. zydeco

    zydeco Junior Member

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    pest control

    These gardens are supposed to be organically grown. I suppose over time I might develop some relationships with the other growers there, who might check on my plants.
     
  15. rhancock

    rhancock Junior Member

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    If you're in an urban area, what about shredded paper? Newspapers or office paper maybe? Won't last for ever, but should be plentiful. Newspaper you could put down fairly coarsely shredded, even whole sheets and weigh down with something a little heavier like a thin layer of sugar cane or hay.

    Or what about recycled plastic? Black plastic would be great, but even bags would help.
     

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