I think a decent rain gauge would be a very useful gardening tool. I
plan to put one right where my irrigation system (soaker hoses) begin.
With the rain gauge, I can keep a log of the rain we get each week and
determine how long to water my vegetables using the soaker hoses. I'd
like to see my garden have between 1" to 1 1/2" of water a week. I not
a very experienced gardener but I want to try and do it the right way.
I been putting a lot of money into equipment and doing all the research
I can on every aspect of home vegetable gardening. My neighbors on both
sides of my property also have vegetable gardens BUT they are unwilling
to invest hardly any money or time in their gardens. It sure does have
a negative effect on the crops they grow! I had the one neighbor coming
over to my house last summer asking if he could buy a few tomatoes from
me. He put out a dozen tomato plants of his own for just him and his
wife. I said: NO, you can't buy any but just help yourself to all you
want! I'm a very firm believer that you only get out of anything in
life what your willing to invest in it. If your going to have a garden,
then invest time and money in it and do it the right way. I'm in this
fine discuss group because I'm quite new to gardening but I want to
learn from others and enjoy getting their opinions on all aspects of
gardening Thanks for sharing your experience with soaker hoses.

Happy Gardening............ Rich

In article ,
(EVP MAN) wrote:

I think a decent rain gauge would be a very useful gardening tool. I
plan to put one right where my irrigation system (soaker hoses) begin.
With the rain gauge, I can keep a log of the rain we get each week and
determine how long to water my vegetables using the soaker hoses. I'd
like to see my garden have between 1" to 1 1/2" of water a week. I not
a very experienced gardener but I want to try and do it the right way.
I been putting a lot of money into equipment and doing all the research
I can on every aspect of home vegetable gardening. My neighbors on both
sides of my property also have vegetable gardens BUT they are unwilling
to invest hardly any money or time in their gardens. It sure does have
a negative effect on the crops they grow! I had the one neighbor coming
over to my house last summer asking if he could buy a few tomatoes from
me. He put out a dozen tomato plants of his own for just him and his
wife. I said: NO, you can't buy any but just help yourself to all you
want! I'm a very firm believer that you only get out of anything in
life what your willing to invest in it. If your going to have a garden,
then invest time and money in it and do it the right way. I'm in this
fine discuss group because I'm quite new to gardening but I want to
learn from others and enjoy getting their opinions on all aspects of
gardening Thanks for sharing your experience with soaker hoses.

Happy Gardening............ Rich

I like this a lot.

http://www.amazon.com/Chaney-Instrum...reless/dp/B000
W0JTCI/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1266786176&sr=8-4

Bill

--
Garden in shade zone 5 S Jersey USA

EVP MAN wrote:
I think a decent rain gauge would be a very useful gardening tool. I
plan to put one right where my irrigation system (soaker hoses) begin.
With the rain gauge, I can keep a log of the rain we get each week
and determine how long to water my vegetables using the soaker hoses.
I'd like to see my garden have between 1" to 1 1/2" of water a week.

Before you buy check the maximum capacity of the commercial models and
compare to the maximum rainfall event you are likely to get in 24 hours.
Some cheapo units only hold 30-50 mls (1 1/2 to 2 in) which can fall in an
hour or two, or in some places a few minutes. You don't want to be faced
with choice of wildly inaccurate figures or going out in the rain to empty
the gauge.

Also allow for evapotranspiration in your irrigation figuring. A cool
overcast week is much different to a sunny week of hot dry winds.

David

The gauge I'm getting will handle 5" of rain. That should work pretty
well for me here in PA. I plan to keep a daily log and make sure the
gauge is empty at the start of each day. Or at least make sure I empty
it the same time every day. I like the digital gauges but I'm not sure
how well or for how long they may work before problems arise. So, with
that being said, I decided to keep it simple and just go with the good
old time tested model that you still need to empty by hand. No
batteries to buy or replace either

Rich

I think a decent rain gauge would be a very useful gardening tool. I
plan to put one right where my irrigation system (soaker hoses) begin.
With the rain gauge, I can keep a log of the rain we get each week and
determine how long to water my vegetables using the soaker hoses. I'd
like to see my garden have between 1" to 1 1/2" of water a week. I not
a very experienced gardener but I want to try and do it the right way.
I been putting a lot of money into equipment and doing all the research
I can on every aspect of home vegetable gardening. My neighbors on both
sides of my property also have vegetable gardens BUT they are unwilling
to invest hardly any money or time in their gardens. It sure does have
a negative effect on the crops they grow! I had the one neighbor coming
over to my house last summer asking if he could buy a few tomatoes from
me. He put out a dozen tomato plants of his own for just him and his
wife. I said: NO, you can't buy any but just help yourself to all you
want! I'm a very firm believer that you only get out of anything in
life what your willing to invest in it. If your going to have a garden,
then invest time and money in it and do it the right way. I'm in this
fine discuss group because I'm quite new to gardening but I want to
learn from others and enjoy getting their opinions on all aspects of
gardening Thanks for sharing your experience with soaker hoses.

Happy Gardening............ Rich

I like this a lot.
\
Bill

Garden in shade zone 5 S Jersey USA


I truly liked this post as well and am now going to purchase a
good rain gauge. The lay out of my yard/gardens requires
sprinklers. In the past I have tried to visually decide how much
was enough. With a gauge, I'll know exactly how much water
my yard n flower n berry beds are gettting.

Donna
in WA Zone 8-9

On Mon, 22 Feb 2010 07:51:53 -0800, "Lelandite" wrote:


I think a decent rain gauge would be a very useful gardening tool. I
plan to put one right where my irrigation system (soaker hoses) begin.
With the rain gauge, I can keep a log of the rain we get each week and
determine how long to water my vegetables using the soaker hoses. I'd
like to see my garden have between 1" to 1 1/2" of water a week. I not
a very experienced gardener but I want to try and do it the right way.
I been putting a lot of money into equipment and doing all the research
I can on every aspect of home vegetable gardening. My neighbors on both
sides of my property also have vegetable gardens BUT they are unwilling
to invest hardly any money or time in their gardens. It sure does have
a negative effect on the crops they grow! I had the one neighbor coming
over to my house last summer asking if he could buy a few tomatoes from
me. He put out a dozen tomato plants of his own for just him and his
wife. I said: NO, you can't buy any but just help yourself to all you
want! I'm a very firm believer that you only get out of anything in
life what your willing to invest in it. If your going to have a garden,
then invest time and money in it and do it the right way. I'm in this
fine discuss group because I'm quite new to gardening but I want to
learn from others and enjoy getting their opinions on all aspects of
gardening Thanks for sharing your experience with soaker hoses.

Happy Gardening............ Rich

I like this a lot.
\
Bill

Garden in shade zone 5 S Jersey USA


I truly liked this post as well and am now going to purchase a
good rain gauge. The lay out of my yard/gardens requires
sprinklers. In the past I have tried to visually decide how much
was enough. With a gauge, I'll know exactly how much water
my yard n flower n berry beds are gettting.

Automatic sprinklers are on a timer (a timer is what makes them
automatic), don't need any stinkin' rain gauge... folks with an
automatic sprinkler system use a rain sensor gauge, a simple
inexpensive gizmo wired to the sprinkler timer that detects a preset
amount of rain fall that when reached will prevent the sprinkers from
sprinkling. With manual sprinkers that one moves about the most
accurate rain gauge for detecting the correct wetness for a particular
area is to give it the "finger". Decide now, yoose wanna be the Jolly
Green Giant or you wanna be Big Al Roker. LOL

EVP MAN wrote:
The gauge I'm getting will handle 5" of rain. That should work pretty
well for me here in PA. I plan to keep a daily log and make sure the
gauge is empty at the start of each day. Or at least make sure I
empty it the same time every day. I like the digital gauges but I'm
not sure how well or for how long they may work before problems
arise. So, with that being said, I decided to keep it simple and
just go with the good old time tested model that you still need to
empty by hand. No batteries to buy or replace either


Somehow, I get by with a simple straight sided plastic cup. Just glance at it
near the walk as I walk outside, and dump it if it has water in it, mentally
noting how much water was in it. Might be cheaper?

Yep, a straight sided cup would work fine also. You could even use a
ruler to measure the amount of rain in the cup if you needed a real
accurate measurement. I was aware of using a cup like you mention and
even thought about it. The fact is, it's not only my legs that are
bad, my eyes aren't much better either. I call it old age.......LOL
The rain gauge I bought is large at 13" high and it also magnifies when
it has water in it with nice big numbers. Hopefully this should serve
me well in the garden.

Rich

In article ,
wrote:

(EVP MAN) wrote:

I think a decent rain gauge would be a very useful gardening tool.
I agree. I have a high quality glass-not-plastic 5" rain guage in
my garden as well as a high-low recording thermometer (on a stake so
that it's mobile), as well as (on hand) one of those "instant" reading
meat thermometers for measuring soil temperature to a depth of 6". It
may seem too obvious to mention but, if you actually put the rain guage
in your planting bed, be certain that it is not under foliage, which can
distort the results. Don't even ask me how I know about that... Mine are
old-fashioned mechanical devices; as a general rule, I avoid appliances
that require batteries or other sources of power.
Gratuitous Aside: You may be able to find historical weather data
for your region he http://www.weatherbase.com/?refer=

Yeah I hear you guys, But in the early AM I know what happened in the
last 12 hours. Can also see what happened in the last 24 or week and it
self empties. Wireless and when the lows are 40 ish I'll crank it up.
Kewl...

Bill

--
Garden in shade zone 5 S Jersey USA

"brooklyn1" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 22 Feb 2010 07:51:53 -0800, "Lelandite" wrote:


I think a decent rain gauge would be a very useful gardening tool. I
plan to put one right where my irrigation system (soaker hoses) begin.
With the rain gauge, I can keep a log of the rain we get each week and
determine how long to water my vegetables using the soaker hoses. I'd
like to see my garden have between 1" to 1 1/2" of water a week. I not
a very experienced gardener but I want to try and do it the right way.
I been putting a lot of money into equipment and doing all the research
I can on every aspect of home vegetable gardening. My neighbors on
both
sides of my property also have vegetable gardens BUT they are unwilling
to invest hardly any money or time in their gardens. It sure does have
a negative effect on the crops they grow! I had the one neighbor
coming
over to my house last summer asking if he could buy a few tomatoes from
me. He put out a dozen tomato plants of his own for just him and his
wife. I said: NO, you can't buy any but just help yourself to all
you
want! I'm a very firm believer that you only get out of anything in
life what your willing to invest in it. If your going to have a
garden,
then invest time and money in it and do it the right way. I'm in this
fine discuss group because I'm quite new to gardening but I want to
learn from others and enjoy getting their opinions on all aspects of
gardening Thanks for sharing your experience with soaker hoses.

Happy Gardening............ Rich

I like this a lot.
\
Bill

Garden in shade zone 5 S Jersey USA


I truly liked this post as well and am now going to purchase a
good rain gauge. The lay out of my yard/gardens requires
sprinklers. In the past I have tried to visually decide how much
was enough. With a gauge, I'll know exactly how much water
my yard n flower n berry beds are gettting.

Automatic sprinklers are on a timer (a timer is what makes them
automatic), don't need any stinkin' rain gauge...

Rain gauges aren't only used for figuring out how often to water a garden.
In fact I'd say that I've never known any gardner round here who uses their
rrain gauge in determing how often they water their garden beds.

We use a rain guage to record rainfall so that we have accurate annual
records for if/when we sell our farms. Buyers ask for that sort of
information because it determines grazing. Additionally we also like to
know how we're going in terms of rainfall by seasons and to compare it to
long term averages. I think there is more benefit in knowing if you've had
a dry or wet some over time so that you can figure out why particular crops
did well or not so well.

Artifical watering is also not the equivalent of rainfall in terms of
production so knowing what fell from the sky as opposed to knowing what came
from a tap is also part of that do well/rotten yield scenario.

FarmI wrote:
Rain gauges aren't only used for figuring out how often to water a
garden. In fact I'd say that I've never known any gardner round here
who uses their rrain gauge in determing how often they water their
garden beds.
We use a rain guage to record rainfall so that we have accurate annual
records for if/when we sell our farms. Buyers ask for that sort of
information because it determines grazing. Additionally we also like
to know how we're going in terms of rainfall by seasons and to
compare it to long term averages. I think there is more benefit in
knowing if you've had a dry or wet some over time so that you can
figure out why particular crops did well or not so well.

Artifical watering is also not the equivalent of rainfall in terms of
production so knowing what fell from the sky as opposed to knowing
what came from a tap is also part of that do well/rotten yield
scenario.

Besides if you know how much rain fell last night you always have something
to say when you meet strangers.

D

I think a decent rain gauge would be a very useful gardening tool. I
plan to put one right where my irrigation system (soaker hoses) begin.
With the rain gauge, I can keep a log of the rain we get each week and
determine how long to water my vegetables using the soaker hoses. I'd
like to see my garden have between 1" to 1 1/2" of water a week. I not
a very experienced gardener but I want to try and do it the right way.
I been putting a lot of money into equipment and doing all the research
I can on every aspect of home vegetable gardening. My neighbors on both
sides of my property also have vegetable gardens BUT they are unwilling
to invest hardly any money or time in their gardens. It sure does have
a negative effect on the crops they grow! I had the one neighbor coming
over to my house last summer asking if he could buy a few tomatoes from
me. He put out a dozen tomato plants of his own for just him and his
wife. I said: NO, you can't buy any but just help yourself to all you
want! I'm a very firm believer that you only get out of anything in
life what your willing to invest in it. If your going to have a garden,
then invest time and money in it and do it the right way. I'm in this
fine discuss group because I'm quite new to gardening but I want to
learn from others and enjoy getting their opinions on all aspects of
gardening Thanks for sharing your experience with soaker hoses.

Happy Gardening............ Rich

I like this a lot.
\
Bill

Garden in shade zone 5 S Jersey USA


I truly liked this post as well and am now going to purchase a
good rain gauge. The lay out of my yard/gardens requires
sprinklers. In the past I have tried to visually decide how much
was enough. With a gauge, I'll know exactly how much water
my yard n flower n berry beds are gettting.

Automatic sprinklers are on a timer (a timer is what makes them
automatic), don't need any stinkin' rain gauge... folks with an
automatic sprinkler system use a rain sensor gauge, a simple
inexpensive gizmo wired to the sprinkler timer that detects a preset
amount of rain fall that when reached will prevent the sprinkers from
sprinkling. With manual sprinkers that one moves about the most
accurate rain gauge for detecting the correct wetness for a particular
area is to give it the "finger". Decide now, yoose wanna be the Jolly
Green Giant or you wanna be Big Al Roker. LOL

my land is all of 75' x 100' and I utilize every inch of it. It's just me
these days but I sure won't turn down anyone wanting to install
automatic sprinkers and fancy timers! Watering by eye can be
rewarding in many ways....it keeps me close to Mother Earth and
I can see what needs more of this and less of that. And I've
always wanted a rain gauge and by golly I'm gonna get one!

I know what I want to be LOL so I think it's you who needs to
decide who you are.

Donna
in WA
zone 8-9
with a whole week of 28 degrees in the morning and close to 60
degrees come closing time. Flowers will just have to wait before
they get outside.....then they can take root on one end as the other
end is stretching with all it's might to reach the Son. Kinda like
some of us'ns.

Yep, a straight sided cup would work fine also. You could even use a
ruler to measure the amount of rain in the cup if you needed a real
accurate measurement. I was aware of using a cup like you mention and
even thought about it. The fact is, it's not only my legs that are
bad, my eyes aren't much better either. I call it old age.......LOL
The rain gauge I bought is large at 13" high and it also magnifies when
it has water in it with nice big numbers. Hopefully this should serve
me well in the garden.

Rich

Well, I guess I'll LOL right along with you, Rich, as age has taken it's
toll on my eyes as well.

I find it amazing the conversations on the top topic of "rain gauges" .

There are many weather station that would more then welcome
any daily/weekly measurement you obtain from your home. That's
how "they" learn what's changing out there when it comes to the
weather. And I'm sure they wouldn't take any measurements
gathered by a cup.

Donna
in WA
zoning is area 8-9

On Tue, 23 Feb 2010 06:07:01 -0800, "Lelandite" wrote:



I think a decent rain gauge would be a very useful gardening tool. I
plan to put one right where my irrigation system (soaker hoses) begin.
With the rain gauge, I can keep a log of the rain we get each week and
determine how long to water my vegetables using the soaker hoses. I'd
like to see my garden have between 1" to 1 1/2" of water a week. I not
a very experienced gardener but I want to try and do it the right way.
I been putting a lot of money into equipment and doing all the research
I can on every aspect of home vegetable gardening. My neighbors on both
sides of my property also have vegetable gardens BUT they are unwilling
to invest hardly any money or time in their gardens. It sure does have
a negative effect on the crops they grow! I had the one neighbor coming
over to my house last summer asking if he could buy a few tomatoes from
me. He put out a dozen tomato plants of his own for just him and his
wife. I said: NO, you can't buy any but just help yourself to all you
want! I'm a very firm believer that you only get out of anything in
life what your willing to invest in it. If your going to have a garden,
then invest time and money in it and do it the right way. I'm in this
fine discuss group because I'm quite new to gardening but I want to
learn from others and enjoy getting their opinions on all aspects of
gardening Thanks for sharing your experience with soaker hoses.

Happy Gardening............ Rich

I like this a lot.
\
Bill

Garden in shade zone 5 S Jersey USA


I truly liked this post as well and am now going to purchase a
good rain gauge. The lay out of my yard/gardens requires
sprinklers. In the past I have tried to visually decide how much
was enough. With a gauge, I'll know exactly how much water
my yard n flower n berry beds are gettting.

Automatic sprinklers are on a timer (a timer is what makes them
automatic), don't need any stinkin' rain gauge... folks with an
automatic sprinkler system use a rain sensor gauge, a simple
inexpensive gizmo wired to the sprinkler timer that detects a preset
amount of rain fall that when reached will prevent the sprinkers from
sprinkling. With manual sprinkers that one moves about the most
accurate rain gauge for detecting the correct wetness for a particular
area is to give it the "finger". Decide now, yoose wanna be the Jolly
Green Giant or you wanna be Big Al Roker. LOL

my land is all of 75' x 100' and I utilize every inch of it. It's just me
these days but I sure won't turn down anyone wanting to install
automatic sprinkers and fancy timers! Watering by eye can be
rewarding in many ways....it keeps me close to Mother Earth and
I can see what needs more of this and less of that. And I've
always wanted a rain gauge and by golly I'm gonna get one!

How many inches of rain has already fallen may be an interesting bit
of trivia but has absolutely no value for gardening... far more
important is how much moisture is contained in ones soil... a soil
moistness sensor is a much more useful/practical device. Thre are
many in all price ranges... this thingie looks interesting:
http://www.amazon.com/PlantSense-100...6959271&sr=1-1

"David Hare-Scott" wrote in message
...
FarmI wrote:
Rain gauges aren't only used for figuring out how often to water a
garden. In fact I'd say that I've never known any gardner round here
who uses their rrain gauge in determing how often they water their
garden beds.
We use a rain guage to record rainfall so that we have accurate annual
records for if/when we sell our farms. Buyers ask for that sort of
information because it determines grazing. Additionally we also like
to know how we're going in terms of rainfall by seasons and to
compare it to long term averages. I think there is more benefit in
knowing if you've had a dry or wet some over time so that you can
figure out why particular crops did well or not so well.

Artifical watering is also not the equivalent of rainfall in terms of
production so knowing what fell from the sky as opposed to knowing
what came from a tap is also part of that do well/rotten yield
scenario.

Besides if you know how much rain fell last night you always have
something to say when you meet strangers.

Heavens no - strangers are only interesting for an out of district
perspective!

Any drop of rain is always the first point of discussion with friends and
aquaintances in the village. As you'd know given the intermittent rainfall
we've been subject to these past years, everyone wants to know how they
scored in the rainfall lottery. Even half a km in ground distance can mean
a huge difference in the amount that arrives on the soil and we're in a
rural cattle/sheep/horse area so you would understand the fascination.