Hello from New Hampshire

Hi SFG , this is a wonderful site. I have been SFG since the 80's when I bought the first book. I like to read about the SFG gardens, it gives me many ideas.
     The weather is not always cooperative here in NH, but you just have to grin and laugh about it and try to get around it. I lost a lot of good rich garden soil before I went totally to raised beds. I live on a southern facing slope, half way between Concord and Walpole. We are at a little higher elevation, when we get a downpour, unless it is trapped, tied, or strapped down it floats away leaving you a new rock garden. 
     This style of gardening also helps me to stay focused on each bed, when sometimes each one has special needs. This also makes watering easier, and I waste less water. I will be trying different types of watering systems this year, hopefully using rain water I can save. I want to set up a system that I can spend less time on to water, without relying on my house well water and pump. I will start with a water container next to the gardens that I can fill with a bucket when I have the water.
     Here is a pic of a SFG close to the house. I havea short chicken barrier around it, and a mini hot house made from old bee hive boxes. I planted garlic last October and most of them are about 3"- 4" tall now, but it is hard to see them in this pic. This garden was made using the SFG recipe and has given me three years of service with few short-comings. The ladies posed for the pic, so give them a round of applause. The barrier works very well, I don't think the hens know they jump over it.
     Today I planted beets in another garden and started preparing for all the summer time fun that is coming. Rock

Hi Bigdogrock, from Keene, NH.
  to the SFG forum.

Hello BDR (BigDogRock) from TD in Ottawa, Canada. Welcome to this great SFG forum. Sounds like you have a lot of experience to share with us. Looking forward to reading your posts and seeing your photos. BTW, Mrs TD and I have friends who live near you in Walpole NH and we hope to visit with them in a couple of months.

Rock, Welcome to the Forum from California! Nice photo showing the chicken barrier and fat and sassy chickens.

Haha...this is going to be fun!  The girls are gorgeous and

Pop on over to the New England thread when you get a chance.

CC

I agree! Welcome, Rock! So much fun and experience, you will fit right in! Love your girls, gingers no less! Looking forward to lots of posts to come!

Hi Rock. Welcome from Atlanta, GA!

Love your girls!! Fat 'n sassy, it looks like...

We spend time in Harrisville, NH. Have a family place there.

Hey, why did the title of this thread change?

CapeCoddess wrote:Hey, why did the title of this thread change?

Yeah, I thought "New Hamster" was cute.

countrynaturals wrote:

CapeCoddess wrote:Hey, why did the title of this thread change?

Yeah, I thought "New Hamster" was cute.

I thought it was cute too, however, keeping in mind other readers  I changed the title so that a search engine  would be able to find the thread. This is in keeping with maintaining a degree of continuity of a workable and useful forum.

It is so nice to read these, what a great forum. Ol' Man winter is all but gone, but here in New Hampster (New Hampshire) I am sure he will throw a few zingers our way, but Spring has begun to "Sprung" and I have been out enjoying some of the sun's warmth. I will deal with the weather as it comes, and it always does.
     A little about me, I have two goals this year, to maintain my gardens ALL summer long, and to create a watering system that will allow me more time to do all that stuff that has to get done, but not at the expense of the garden. It will be a combination of a gravity fed and a drip system that is helped out by rain collection, not just off of the well pump.
     I am including a few pics, one of my 4X8's that has garlic already coming out very fast, and a strip garden, I will put beets on both sides of the garlic that is planted in the middle. I am not sure if they will be good neighbors, but I will try. I have put "canning Beets" at the top of my long range to do list, so I want to have lots of beets.
PS I am not sure why the pics are sideways, I hunted around for a rotation button, couldn't find one. Yesterday the pic of the hens worked great. I will learn. Maybe you can think of this as a way to stretch your neck a little, to limber up for summer

Above is my strip garden actually has a pine tree along the left side which prevents soil erosion, very inexpensive.
Below is one of my 4X8's with more Garlic. 

  bigdogrock from New Hamster

from Kelejan   in The Big White North, except right now where I am in British Columbia the temperature is in the 20sC and it is beautiful outside. It is in Ottawa and places East of me that should really have the title.

Looking forward to seeing  what you get up to.

Thanks for the neck stretch.  I needed that.  Got anything for the lower back?

I'll be VERY interested in what you come up with for watering as I'm always on the hunt an easy method.  I can't use my roof rain because the shingles are asphalt.  I don't have a well and I hate using hose water because it's wicked cold and chlorinated.  Hence, I fill 5 gal buckets with the hose and let it sit out for 24+ hours and use it once it's been warmed by the sun.  Very tedious not easy on my back.

CC

CC, For a quicker fix for now, 1/2" black tubing can be run from the start of your boxes to the different boxes using tees, etc. Then 1/4" drip tubing can be laid on top to the MM in the boxes. Use an adapter for 1/2" tubing to female hose fitting. When you need to water, connect the hose. Or install a Y-fitting on the faucet hose bib so you can valve off and on the garden hose or the SFG boxes. Using drips should allow for some of the chlorine to dissipate as it slowly drips.

Thanks, Sanderson!  Sounds so simple once the steps were numbered:



For a quicker fix for now,

   1) 1/2" black tubing can be run from the start of your boxes to the different boxes using tees, etc.

   2) Then 1/4" drip tubing can be laid on top to the MM in the boxes.

   3) Use an adapter for 1/2" tubing to female hose fitting.

  4) When you need to water, connect the hose. Or install a Y-fitting on the faucet hose bib so you can valve off and on the garden hose or the SFG boxes.



Using drips should allow for some of the chlorine to dissipate as it slowly drips.
 
Now, if you'd just add the graphics to that story, like Mel does in the books when he shows us the parts needed for a box or a trellis, then I'd know exactly what you are saying. 

(I actually took the ANSFG book to HD with me when I was buying trellis fixings so I could look at the pictures. )

CC

And I see I made a mistake.  The hose end is a male.

1/2" tubing that goes along the fences in the back yard with a 1/4" connection with solid 1/4" tubing.  

It was too short to reach the bed so I used a 1/4" compression fitting.

Here it is going up the side of one bed.

Going over the top and down into the bed.

Then figure out what configuration you want.  Solid tubing to transport the water.  Drip tubing for watering.  Making all these connections can be hard on the hands and fingers.  I use a pot of boiled water and dip the end of the tubing in for a few seconds until it's hot and the fitting can be worked in.

sanderson wrote:And I see I made a mistake.  The hose end is a male.

1/2" tubing that goes along the fences in the back yard with a 1/4" connection with solid 1/4" tubing.  

It was too short to reach the bed so I used a 1/4" compression fitting.

Here it is going up the side of one bed.

Going over the top and down into the bed.

Then figure out what configuration you want.  Solid tubing to transport the water.  Drip tubing for watering.  Making all these connections can be hard on the hands and fingers.  I use a pot of boiled water and dip the end of the tubing in for a few seconds until it's hot and the fitting can be worked in.

OMG!  This if fabulous!  Thanks! 

So:
For a quicker fix for now,

   1) 1/2" black tubing can be run from the start of your boxes to the different boxes using tees, etc.

   2) Then 1/4" drip tubing can be laid on top to the MM in the boxes.

   3) Use an adapter for 1/2" tubing to male hose fitting.

  4) When you need to water, connect the hose. Or install a Y-fitting on the faucet hose bib so you can valve off and on the garden hose or the SFG boxes.



Using drips should allow for some of the chlorine to dissipate as it slowly drips.

Sorry we hijacked your thread, Rock.  Maybe Sanderson can give this it's own thread and sticky it?

CC

Please don't,  I am enjoying this 

Rock, I thought you had mentioned earlier about a watering system, so I showed my distribution system.

It would have been better if I typed please don't stop talking about watering here, I am enjoying this. Please continue on this thread, I don't mind at all. Rock

Hmmmm. Very interesting. My beds are not well positioned for such a thing sadly.

BTW, Sanderson, thank you for showing us your watering system, it looks great. I am getting ready to come out with a new thread, and your distribution system will be mentioned. The Pics make it so informative. Rock

bigdogrock wrote:Hi SFG , this is a wonderful site. I have been SFG since the 80's when I bought the first book. I like to read about the SFG gardens, it gives me many ideas.
     The weather is not always cooperative here in NH, but you just have to grin and laugh about it and try to get around it. I lost a lot of good rich garden soil before I went totally to raised beds. I live on a southern facing slope, half way between Concord and Walpole. We are at a little higher elevation, when we get a downpour, unless it is trapped, tied, or strapped down it floats away leaving you a new rock garden. 
     This style of gardening also helps me to stay focused on each bed, when sometimes each one has special needs. This also makes watering easier, and I waste less water. I will be trying different types of watering systems this year, hopefully using rain water I can save. I want to set up a system that I can spend less time on to water, without relying on my house well water and pump. I will start with a water container next to the gardens that I can fill with a bucket when I have the water.
     Here is a pic of a SFG close to the house. I havea short chicken barrier around it, and a mini hot house made from old bee hive boxes. I planted garlic last October and most of them are about 3"- 4" tall now, but it is hard to see them in this pic. This garden was made using the SFG recipe and has given me three years of service with few short-comings. The ladies posed for the pic, so give them a round of applause. The barrier works very well, I don't think the hens know they jump over it.
     Today I planted beets in another garden and started preparing for all the summer time fun that is coming. Rock

Greenfield, by any chance? I was in a school setting there from July 5, 1994 to November 11, 2002.