Watering time is sucking the fun out of gardening.

I installed my drip irrigation system last week and it was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I bought it at Lowe's..."Mr. Landscaper" brand for vegetable gardens. If you go to their website at
http://secure.misterlandscaper.com it has all these great how-to videos. I watched them a few times and got to work. I have a timer installed, and am watering every other day right now for an hour. I will wait a few more weeks and adjust that if needed. Their timer is also more adjustable than some of the other timers out there.

I was getting frustrated with all the hand watering I was having to do, so this was a great relief when I got it installed, and the plants are looking better too. I can really see a difference. As was mentioned already, I also plan to install a water filter when I get around to it.

I have a small outdoor water filter that attached to the hose bib, then the hose attached to the other end of it. It cost about $12 at Home Depot. You could attach a timer with that and set up a drip irrigation system. Filters go up in cost from there. Just make sure you know whether the water company is using chlorine or chloramines to treat the water. Chlorine will dissipate, chloramines won't. If they use chloramines, you'll want a different filter. I'm fortunate to have a well for the garden, so my problem is an extreme amount of iron and sulfur, so I'm mostly filtering that nasty rotting egg stench.

givvmistamps what is the water filter called that you attach to the hose bib?

everytime i try and find a filter like that at our homeD they say they dont know what im talking about......LOL....i need one to filter the cholorine out of our city water

thanks

rose

Sadly, the box got thrown away so I no longer have the name. Replacement filters have to be ordered directly from the manufacturers, too, so that'll cause problems! I just did a search on the HD app on my phone; it's called a Power Care Garden Hose Inlet Filter, model AP31076. It says it's to catch debris, for use with pressure washers. You'll want to look at the specs to make sure it's what you're looking for.

I found it in the section where all the garden tools are. Most filters are in the plumbing section, but those are for indoors.

Hoggar wrote:Originally I was watering for 20-30 min once a day but I was getting
blossom rot on my tomatoes and bell peppers when I went to 10min
twice a day it solved the problem.

That is the first time I've heard BER being tied to frequency of watering.

Cincinnati wrote:

Hoggar wrote:Originally I was watering for 20-30 min once a day but I was getting
blossom rot on my tomatoes and bell peppers when I went to 10min
twice a day it solved the problem.

That is the first time I've heard BER being tied to frequency of watering.

Same with me

Hey Hoggar.....how long did it take the tomato plants to shake off blossom end rot?

Cincinnati wrote:

Hoggar wrote:Originally I was watering for 20-30 min once a day but I was getting
blossom rot on my tomatoes and bell peppers when I went to 10min
twice a day it solved the problem.

That is the first time I've heard BER being tied to frequency of watering.

Interesting. I've read on several sites that consistent watering was one of the best methods to control BER (never thought once a day was inconsistent, though).

As far as drip irrigation goes, the home improvement stores are expensive. I've bought lots of stuff from The Drip Store www.dripirrigation.com I really like the fact that the shipping is real cheap, $2 or so for the first pound and you can order exactly what you want (5 of this, 3 of that, etc.) It takes a lot of emitters and connectors and accessories to exceed one pound.

If you install drip, plan it carefully and make sure you have manual control override in easy reach. I've struggled with mine not having adequate coverage and it's easy to not know why with drip. Due to poor soil mix, I've been plagued with dryness. The kind of dryness that actively repels water. It'll look wet, the whole top of the bed will be wet, but dig down an inch and it is bone dry and all the water is cycling down a few wet channels. The plants struggle and die and a heat wave.

It's April, today is Tuesday and we had an inch and half of rain on Saturday with more Thursday of last week. It was beautiful Sunday 75 and sunny. Monday and Tuesday upper-80s and blazing sun. Because of the rain, I turned off the automated sprinkler, went out last night to check the bed, half of it was dead from the heat. Dug down and found the dryness issue again.

Now I'm doing a late start over. Going to mix more vermiculite in first though. And a major soaking last night and another planned tonight.

The BER stopped almost as soon as I changed the watering schedule
the ones that already had signs of it stopped getting worse and the
rest stopped developing it. I didn't have any more issues for the rest
of the year. I got the info from here. "Identifying and Controlling Blossom End Rot"

Here is a quote.

more often it is the result of erratic watering. When the plant is
allowed to get too dry, or given too much water over a period of time.

Just finished laying and glueing pvc. Will get timer hooked up friday and drip lines

I use a 2 gallon watering can that I fill from my rain barrels. I rather enjoy the 20 min or so that it takes me to water my 50ish sq ft.

But then again.... I have toddlers...

how about some mulch to deep moisture in...

plantoid wrote:.. don't water tthe whole square or the whole bed ..

It's in pages 137 to 141 of the ANSFG book 2006 edition.

I don't remember Mel recommending a moisture meter. I do remember him recommending watering only those plants that look like they need it. I never thought that if you plant 4 or 9 per square that you would not water the entire square but rather an individual plant.

Mel said to observe the plants, and water when they look like they need it. I think it better for food production to not wait until a plant starts to wilt to water it. I observe the soil daily. When it has reached a stage of "just about bone dry", I water. At that point, air has infiltrated the soil, giving Oxygen to the roots and organisms in the soil, and it's time for more water.

Mel does say that his "soil" dries much more quickly than regular dirt.

2/3 of the way done with hooking up my drip systems... lots of 1/4" lines coming off the 1/2 inch line. My thumbs are scraped and sore from installing so many of those buggers. But got the timer and valves working which is a big plus!

B00kemdano wrote:I use a 2 gallon watering can that I fill from my rain barrels. I rather enjoy the 20 min or so that it takes me to water my 50ish sq ft.

But then again.... I have toddlers...

Agree, I have 80 sq ft and with my padded footstool I sit and water cup by cup and get a good look at the progress of everything. The last box is a tabletop and nothing's easier than standing there too. For quicker watering times I put the hose nozzle on gentle spray and I'm done with everything in no time.

I use the cup method mostly. Makes me slow down and see what is going on. The watering can is something I keep handy for such as onions and garlic..need to water the whole square for that. I have a rain wand for when we have been low on rain. I have enough hose to run to the beds, but my water bill would go sky high lol..so dont use that often.

The best method I have found for watering is a 5 yr old ! He will haul can after can "need to water, NaNa"..

where is the thumbs up button for that one?!?

I'm having problems watering too. The water is just going straight down, not spreading out to water. It's taking so long to water one box, it's crazy. The soil under the mm seems to wick the water down. We've tried soakers, sprayers, same problem...anyone else?

I just want to second, third, tenth the suggestion to install drip irrigation. It's not difficult to do or very expensive and saves SO MUCH TIME. Last year I just did soaker hose, but since I rebuilt the beds this year I'm installing multi-stream bubblers between each square lengthwise. I have one 3x12 box done and the multi-stream bubblers give more than enough coverage to saturate the squares. The problem I had with the soaker hose was it felt like the middle of the squares stayed dry (especially here in SoCal, where it gets HOT and the beds are thirsty).

I have the system hooked up to a timer and it's connected to my hose faucet. I love the garden but with so many other commitments, reducing the amount of time spent watering was crucial.

I don't just garden for my household, but also for my husband's parents and grandmother (who live next door) and my mother. Even doing SFG, that means a larger garden. We're installing a drip irrigation system this year. Watering with a wand or sprinkler system caused problems last year for us, in the form of powdery mildew. Watering this large of a garden by hand isn't realistic. I can spend more time with my plants by letting the timed irrigation system handle with watering, especially since I work 2 jobs.

Watering and weeding were the two reasons I did not expand for years. SFG basically ended weeding problems, but I still hated going outside to water at 4:30 to 5:30 AM.

Since we can have days and days of plus 100-degree temperatures and temperatures that stay above 95 from 9AM until 9PM, it was the only way to keep crops alive.

Then, when we discovered self-watering containers, it made life so much easier. If you do it right, through intensive methods and using Mel's mix, you can harvest more per square foot with self-watering containers than any other method. At the present time, I am even growing lettuce and parsley indoors in self-watering containers under strong grow lights. It's amazing how fast they are growing, and by adding a little extra to Mel's Mix, I am also squeezing in more per square foot. I cannot wait to see the results in the outdoor containers.

There are many simple plans online that will show you how to make your own self-watering containers, or you can buy them at garden centers. I have used 5-gallon buckets, epsom salt buckets, and Rubbermaid totes to make our containers, and aside from the lack of aesthetic beauty, which I really don't care that much about, it will extend our harvest by 50-75% (I hope).

Do a youtube search for self-watering containers, and you will get several different methods. Most are relatively easy. If I can do it with 10 thumbs, then anybody can.

Check this out

http://permaculturenews.org/2011/06/20/from-the-bottom-up-a-diy-guide-to-wicking-beds/

Granddaughters school project

I love the mini garden & cover. It is simply adorable!