mediaOrganic » Rain Barrels

Rain Barrel Improvements

John — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 12:22:46 +0000

This past weekend the rain barrels were set up, though not without mishap. This is always a bit of a chore because it involves the not-so-nice task of climbing a ladder and cleaning the gutter of all the rotting debris that has accrued through the fall and winter. The barrels were righted and the [...read more]

Garden Week in Review

John — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 06:36:56 +0000

On Monday I went out to the asparagus bed and counted eight spears poking their way up through the soil. By the weekend that number had tripled and most of them look to be nice and fat. I’ve read that asparagus planted too shallow will result in thin, spindly spears. Planting deeper yields fewer [...read more]

a 3-zone irrigation system

John — Tue, 18 May 2010 12:52:55 +0000

The last few years we have been watering the east garden by hand, which was manageable but tiresome. Earlier this year I experimented with some old soaker hoses I’ve had lying around but the results weren’t acceptable. Soaker hoses just don’t work very well when you’re trying to keep an area moist, such as [...read more]

Broken water pump

John — Wed, 05 May 2010 19:24:45 +0000

The weather has been unseasonably warm and I’ve already lost several of my lettuces due to lack of water. They were under row covers and when last I looked at them they were doing fine. And even though it has rained each of the past several days it appears the accumulation has been minimal. [...read more]

empty rain barrels

John — Sun, 24 May 2009 11:32:38 +0000

For the second time this season someone in our family (“I think it was me”, he said sheepishly) inadvertantly left the rain barrel valve open and drained the barrels dry. Over 200 gallons of precious rain water lost, again! It’s amazing how quickly we’ve come to rely on the rain water for our garden [...read more]