In article ,
doofy wrote:

Billy wrote:


Doffy, I don't know what kind of amenities you will have at your
community garden plot but they must have water. With water you may be
able to just run a host to a timer and, using simple drip irrigation,

They won't allow that. I can have a drip system, but it must be
manually switched on and off by me.

I guess it's to keep from wasting water with broken timers.


accomplish your garden watering. If you can't get a dedicated hose you
may be able to set up a manifold of faucets from the water source and
implement the above approach.
I'm sure other gardeners will want to work with you on this because
schedules can change but watering needs don't. Nobody wants to be a
slave to their garden. Gardening is more fun when you want to, not when
you have to.
For gardening, the reservoirs from Australia seem like they may be very
expensive. If you were just watering a half dozen shrubs, then it would
probably be fine, but to water evenly a patch 20' x 10'would be one for
every four square feet would be fifty little reservoirs. One for every
eight feet would be twenty five reservoirs and the watering would
probably be very uneven.
Check out the site before you commit your self to, possibly, unnecessary
costs.

Good luck

I'm already not going to go that route because of the expense, and the
shipping.

There's a trick I've been reading about with unglazed ceramic pots sunk
in the soil and filled with water. Just have to find some pots, or take
a ceramics class and make my own. And plant the plants in a circle
around the pot. You can also take two terracotta pots, seal the drain
hole in one, and glue the other pot inverted on top of it. Lot of work
if you ask me.

Or, 5 gal buckets with soaker hoses.

I have some drip irrigation fittings here right now. I might experiment
with them and see what kind of pressure they need.

Well, who ever is gardening there is in the same position. Hang around
and talk to he other gardeners. Trade watering. Water yours and someone
else's, and they will water theirs and yours. Hook up with a couple of
people and it all becomes very manageable.
--

Billy

Bush & Cheney, Behind Bars

"doofy" wrote in message

There's a trick I've been reading about with unglazed ceramic pots sunk in
the soil and filled with water. Just have to find some pots, or take a
ceramics class and make my own. And plant the plants in a circle around
the pot. You can also take two terracotta pots, seal the drain hole in
one, and glue the other pot inverted on top of it. Lot of work if you ask
me.

An easier way to do it is to just get some plastic downpipe such as plumbers
use. Drill holes in it and fill it with water each time you are there. You
could also just dig holes and put plastic flower posts int he hole up to
their top and fill them with water.

Here is Oz there are heaps of ways of tricks used to keep beds moist in
weeks of above the ton temperatures and in drought conditions. Perhaps the
best thing you can do is to mulch.

"doofy" wrote in message

and mulch like a mutha.

where can I find some weed-free mulch? I've heard bark is not so good.

Find a horse feed supply shop and use chaff on seedlings and use alfalfa hay
on bigger things. That's the easy way but there are millions of other
options - leaves, grass clippings, old rags, shredded newspaper etc, etc.
No mulch is guaranteed to be weed free due to wind blown seeds, but most
will reduce weeds anyway.

On Thu, 29 Nov 2007 21:17:27 -0800, doofy wrote:

doofy wrote:

There's a trick I've been reading about with unglazed ceramic pots sunk
in the soil and filled with water. Just have to find some pots, or take
a ceramics class and make my own. And plant the plants in a circle
around the pot. You can also take two terracotta pots, seal the drain
hole in one, and glue the other pot inverted on top of it. Lot of work
if you ask me.

Or, 5 gal buckets with soaker hoses.

and mulch like a mutha.

where can I find some weed-free mulch? I've heard bark is not so good.

I use grass clippings and hay. Let it 'cure' first and keep adding
thruout the season. Doesn't need to be weed free because the 4 to 8
inches of mulch properly applied will not let weeds grow.

Bury about 15 of those 5 gallon buckets after poking a hole on each
side and stick in an emitter that has been partially plugged up with
epoxy. You can experiment and find the right size hole that will
make the water last 3 or 4 days. Each bucket is then supplying two
plants.

"doofy" wrote in message
...
If all you want is a slow drip feed the fact that it is gravity only
wouldn't
be a problem, you might find that you are crimping the hoses to stop it
all
running out the first day.

However for that area you are going to need quite a few 5 gallon buckets
to
keep that going for a week in summer. I cannot be bothered looking up the
USA
gallon's volume in real units (:-) but my guess is that you are going to
need
about 400-500 gallons to put an inch on the plot. Whether that is enough
depends on what your summer is like and the type of soil and the type of
plants. There are plenty of cases where it would not be enough for good
growth unless it also rained.

I suggest you do your sums and work out what rate would be right. I
suspect 5
gal buckets will not be worth it.

David



I know I'm new at this, but you're the second person to make
calculations based on covering the WHOLE plot with an inch of water.
Doesn't a drip system negate that need?

I was assuming that a small plot would be covered fairly intensively. Yes you
will save water with drippers. But if you only cover a third of the area
that's still a lot of 5 gallon buckets. Maybe a couple of 50 gal drums? You
decide.

David

On Wed, 28 Nov 2007 18:19:20 -0800, doofy wrote:

Anyone know of the feasibility of a drip irrigation system feeding out
of some 5 gallon buckets into some tubing?

If I get this community garden space, I only want to go to it once a
week because of the distance.

Do you think some 5 gallons buckets, maybe 3 feet off the ground, could
supply a weeks worth of water? Mostly, do you think the drip mechanism
would work without the city water pressure behind it?

Any ideas?


One to two inches of water is all that is needed for most vegetable
plants. However the type of soil and the amount of rain you get need
to be taken into account. Sandy soil will need more water and clay
needs less.

It is better to put more water around the plants less often. It soaks
in deeper.

--
Susan N.

"Moral indignation is in most cases two percent moral,
48 percent indignation, and 50 percent envy."
Vittorio De Sica, Italian movie director (1901-1974)

FarmI wrote:
"doofy" wrote in message


There's a trick I've been reading about with unglazed ceramic pots sunk in
the soil and filled with water. Just have to find some pots, or take a
ceramics class and make my own. And plant the plants in a circle around
the pot. You can also take two terracotta pots, seal the drain hole in
one, and glue the other pot inverted on top of it. Lot of work if you ask
me.


An easier way to do it is to just get some plastic downpipe such as plumbers
use. Drill holes in it and fill it with water each time you are there. You
could also just dig holes and put plastic flower posts int he hole up to
their top and fill them with water.

How does the water get out of the pot? Through the drain hole?

doofy wrote:
Anyone know of the feasibility of a drip irrigation system feeding out
of some 5 gallon buckets into some tubing?

If I get this community garden space, I only want to go to it once a
week because of the distance.

Do you think some 5 gallons buckets, maybe 3 feet off the ground, could
supply a weeks worth of water? Mostly, do you think the drip mechanism
would work without the city water pressure behind it?

Any ideas?


It will work if you can get the reservoir 10 feet off the ground, and
put some kind of timer on it to only drip a couple hours per day.

I set up a cheap drip irrigation system for my garden in central Texas
when I lived there; it operated on just a few PSI water pressure
(supplied by city water and a regulator.) I watered about an hour or
two every other day during the early afternoon when it was really hot.
The rows were mulched to retain moisture. That was the best garden I
ever had.

Bob

doofy wrote:
doofy wrote:

There's a trick I've been reading about with unglazed ceramic pots
sunk in the soil and filled with water. Just have to find some pots,
or take a ceramics class and make my own. And plant the plants in a
circle around the pot. You can also take two terracotta pots, seal
the drain hole in one, and glue the other pot inverted on top of it.
Lot of work if you ask me.

Or, 5 gal buckets with soaker hoses.

and mulch like a mutha.

where can I find some weed-free mulch? I've heard bark is not so good.


Shredded office paper. (earthworms love it) It will compete with your
plants for nitrogen, so you'll have to fertilize.

Bob

On Nov 28, 9:19 pm, doofy wrote:
Anyone know of the feasibility of a drip irrigation system feeding out
of some 5 gallon buckets into some tubing?

If I get this community garden space, I only want to go to it once a
week because of the distance.

Do you think some 5 gallons buckets, maybe 3 feet off the ground, could
supply a weeks worth of water? Mostly, do you think the drip mechanism
would work without the city water pressure behind it?

Any ideas?

I use soaker hoses, and they actually require pressure regulators to
get the pressure down to 10-20 psi. (although they worked OK without
it).

On Fri, 30 Nov 2007 14:06:17 -0800 (PST), z wrote:
On Nov 28, 9:19 pm, doofy wrote:
I use soaker hoses, and they actually require pressure regulators to
get the pressure down to 10-20 psi. (although they worked OK without

10psi is more than 20ft of elevation.

sdb
--
What's seen on your screen? http://PcScreenWatch.com
sdbuse1 on mailhost bigfoot.com

On Dec 1, 6:20 pm, sylvan butler
wrote:
On Fri, 30 Nov 2007 14:06:17 -0800 (PST), z wrote:
On Nov 28, 9:19 pm, doofy wrote:
I use soaker hoses, and they actually require pressure regulators to
get the pressure down to 10-20 psi. (although they worked OK without

10psi is more than 20ft of elevation.

Oh; I had been wondering when i posted......