2021 garden season
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good point! i am sure it is. easier to take a dry heat than wet one like we get... hot n humid! but sitting in house by a/c don't get no work done... had to change clothes couple times yesterday. and a T swap out almost routine these days...
looks great! Del... to me, especially all that corn on the cob. enjoyed seeing your garden pix... right out of the ol book by D. Raymong... The Joy of Gardening....
your weed control is top notch!! lol
Thanks man. I am a fan of D ick Raymond and have a couple of Troy-bilt Horse tillers.
I've recently just this year been using a broad fork called the "Meadow Creature".
It has 14 inch tines and is strong enough to work full depth in even the hardest soil
It will work you to death!
I roto till with the tillers but before I plant I broad fork two 20 inch rows centered on where the row is going to be planted. I have permanent steel stakes at each row end. So far I've broad forked about 600 ft. of row 20" wide. The goal with the fork it to fracture the soil deeply but to not disturb the actual layers of the soil. Soil microbes have optimum depths at which the flourish and the idea is to not disrupt this natural layering. After a few years of broadforking no further digging is necessary. So the theory goes, anyhow. We also avoid walking on the beds to reduce soil compaction. The beds are 3ft. wide with 2ft. walkways but looking at the photos the beds you can't tell.
Trying to save a few pie cherries, tree a bit too big to cover even with 2 nets. Hope to save enough from the birds to make at least 1 pie.
Planted some of the home grown sweet potato plants last night --- temps in the 90's today, so wont get much done, cept the daily water toteing to whatever I can carry it to.
second sweet corn planting is a couple inches tall, will do 1 more planting in a week.
need to get second green bean planting done soon too.
Planted some of the home grown sweet potato plants last night --- temps in the 90's today, so wont get much done, cept the daily water toteing to whatever I can carry it to.
second sweet corn planting is a couple inches tall, will do 1 more planting in a week.
need to get second green bean planting done soon too.
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Cant use drip lines here due to the water here plugs the emitters so we have to just haul, carry, and dump by hand.
Did have a idea of hooking up 7 sprinklers to the portable tand and run the 2" pump to power them but not sure that would work either. Only have the 1 pump and it transfers water from big tank to tote.
Did have a idea of hooking up 7 sprinklers to the portable tand and run the 2" pump to power them but not sure that would work either. Only have the 1 pump and it transfers water from big tank to tote.
Now that is a usefull ideal. Wonder if wally world has any for sale.
At my last place, I had 2-330gal totes I loaded in the back of my dump trailer. I would take the totes to the creek and use my harbor freight 2in water pump to fill the totes with water.I had a couple of those tripod style water springlers set up in the garden and would hook them up to the water pump and just let the pump run until one tote was empty and then change out the pump to the other tote and let it run until both tanks where empty. I would do this every other day and it was enough water to make the ground muddy. The garden was 60x100 and 2 springler' set just right would soak the entire garden spot. Most of the time I would just leave the trailer hooked to the truck so when it was time for a refill, I just cranked up and headed for the creek.
We have 30 fifty foot rows all on drip lines.
Drip would have saved you 2/3 of the water you were hauling.
How many can you run at a time Del? Pressure regulators on your headline(s)? I'm only good for about 150-200' at a time. My well is good but I was told it was only a couple a gallons a minute so I'm cautious
No doubt, drips lines conserve water, but try running a 2inch water pump thru a drip line system. To much back pressure on the pump and the pump will run hot. Not to mention the required 1500ft of tube you are using. I used one 100ft garden hose. My creek water source was close and leaving the pump on the trailer and the trailer hooked to the truck, It only took about 15 minutes to fill the tanks and reconnect to the sprinkler system. I also tried flood irrigation, simply droping a hose in the middle of the row and letting the water just drain, controlled by a gate valve. The top of the garden was muddy and the lower end never got really damp unless I really dumped the water to it.
A gravity feed with a holding tank would solve that problem.
Hi Steve,
I'm running right now only 1,100 feet of drip line. It's the Dura-Flo Jr. with emitters on 12" centers. I run the system at between 10 and 15 psi and the drip line is good to 30 psi. I have about 5,000 gallons of rain water that I store up.
What I do is pump from a 275 gallon pallet-ed plastic tank with a 1/3 horsepower jet pump. I run the excess water back into the tank I'm pumping from to get jet agitation for two reasons.
1) To do something with the excess water it pumps and to get the pressure down to usable pressures for the drip line.
2) I add liquid fertilizers like water soluble 20-20-20 or my urine to the tank that then gets jet agitated. I save urine all year around in gallon milk jugs.
I control pressure by reading a gauge on the main trunk like that gets fed just like the dripper lines. If I didn't run off the excess back to the tank I would over pressure the system.
I could be wrong but my understand is that on a jet pump when they get back pressure the load on the motor actually goes down. I'l like to hook up an amp meter to check. But at any rate by adjusting the gate valve that goes to the main trunk line and the feedback valve that runs back to the tank I'm able to control pressure easily. I don't leave it running unattended and spend the time checking out the system and weeding/plant care as the system runs. It runs the 275 gallons out in about 40 minutes so I must be pumping about 7 gallons per minute.
The drip I'm using would need to have the tank about 23 ft. up in the air to get me to 10 psi.
There are lower pressure drip lines though. I've tried the spongy hose type but it likes about 10 psi, too.
https://www.google.com/search?q=wat...rome..69i57.8923j0j1&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
our 'peach orchard' is done for the season. 1st season. one fruited, the other did not. some issues with the squirrels. they seemed to like them better than acorns. lol. nutz... is what the drove me.
might of relocated, but so close and i mite have hit a peach! lol but we got a 2nd batch put up for some peach pies. already made one, was very good!
i got a drip line... my 10' pce garden hose i had been too lazy to move, thot mower would not kiss it. wrong! so i taped it for field expediency. a US Marine thing.... stops most of the leaks... lol, but i still get a wet side to my pants as i water. need to reposition the hose as i use. could get one with no leaks, but this one is so convenient. can water most of my main garden area with it... drips worse when i thumb end to shoot water to other side of tomato jungle...
these days i cringe a bit each time i water. which is often. hand and hose. COH has plan to almost double rates for water.. many against it. me for one. to be up 68 % most likely
i have seen them, but never used one... i put in a new bed the other day. had its share of weeds growing. so i had to remove them first... then i used my mini -Meadow Creature. have tilled my gardens so many times (Horse tiller) now i can hand turn the soil. very friable. garden fork. std. garden variety, lol. new bed is for beans. more beans. this time... blue lake bush, contender bush and some yellow wax. (L-R) i doubled the planting. should get an abundance. always do. first, tilled and vee'd in some rows with steel HD garden rake... scrounged off a curb!
. welded steel end, to pipe and that welded, too. and quite heavy. clods stand no chance. lol. then laid in some compost. (dark is compost not water) and then the bean seeds. then i like to cover them with cut lawn cuttings. i cut lawn section just for this bed. Snapper. then i water in, and tamp with steel rake. sets the seeds to touch the dirt... i think a D Raymond tip! I had my tiller then got his book. glad i did. i use no other reference. may look and read, etc... but i subscribe to Raymond's methods. advice. of course, given his background... always on the $. new bean patch foto essay:
getting a lot of tomatoes. have gotten a lot, too. eaten a lot... many more on the way... this this morning. and lighter one yesterday morning... they ripen fast. vine ripe is ok with me, but i also like to get some color than harvest and let ripen in kitchen. usually, i let them ripen til first spot shows up. that is their max ripenesss.... as they won't ripen any more. catch it at their peak on the curve...
our gardens are many... we are harvesting Texas Bluebonnet seeds from one small corner by house from up at ranch. don't want it to propagate at that location. so got the seeds while in pods. they r in a brown grocery bag, covered... and its always a surprise when they shoot out and u hear it... hits side loud! these will be hand cast out in the Ranch Park bluebonnet area...plenty there. more always welcome! we also do some here in H also. plants.
we also do some here in H also. plants.
