It is time...

Hi all.  My name is Will and I've actually had an account one here for a couple of years, but have acted more as a lurker than a contributor, and I think it's time that changes.  I've been a homeowner in Provo, Utah for a few years now and we discovered and started with SFG method right away.  We started with a 4x4, a 4x8, and a 4x12 bed.  We've now expanded with an additional 4x10 and an "E" shaped bed that houses 144 squares.  We've also got a few smaller, 3x2 and 2x2 beds scattered about, and some other odd shaped beds against an angled fence.  It's gone from a simple hobby to an all out desire to grow as much produce as we can within our garden space to not only feed our large family through the season, but also have much to preserve for the off season and have a bit of extra to share with neighbors, family, and friends.  

Aside from the cost and labor of getting all the Mel's Mix put together and mixed up at the beginning, setting up a system of simple and efficient irrigation has been the trickiest, especially with so many beds now.  Simple hand watering just isn't feasible when you have so many beds and so many other time commitments with kids, work, etc and go out of town a lot.  I ended up laying in a bunch of PVC distribution lines off a timer to all my main beds and then running some drip tubing and emitter off of them.  That has worked well for many items, but we have such hard water that I think after one season of use, many emitters get all clogged up or start spraying because of mineral deposits I can see.  I'm now in process of stripping out the drip tubing from our large beds and rebuilding some PVC irrigation grids to serve as both a grid and irrigation line.  I built a few 4x4 grids like this our first year and they worked really really well, ensuring consistent moisture throughout the whole of every square within the grid and the things we had planted in them grew really well. We went away from that system as we expanded because drip systems seemed a bit less expensive in the long run and a lot less work, or a lot quicker to set up, but again, due to the inconsistency of different emitters and our hard water, we are going all out with pvc grids.  We will still be using drip lines to all of the smaller beds, and some other in-ground plants that include raspberries, grapes, and soon to be a hardy type of kiwi.

I've accumulated a handful of good tips and tricks from seed starting, to build building, etc...that I hope to gain more practice with and share with others while continually learning myself.  

In addition to veggie gardening, I also like running, as my user name shows, but that passion for running has since evolved more into a passion for hiking and backpacking now.

Welcome Will, good to start young, you will learn more as you progress and it will pay off in later years.
Running and hiking will also pay off in later years by hopefully  increasing your physical well being.

Welcome back GrowRunner.  You have made some thoughtful comments about the future.

We need to get the whole world on to it.

Growrunner, Welcome to the Forum from California!

Yes, hard water can be a problem. Glad you found a method that over comes it. Can't wait until you post some photos!

Welcome, Growrunner. Looking forward to your posts. 

Growrunner, hey! Welcome back! I would love to hear from you! Experiences, likes, dislikes, learned stuff, I am all in!

Thanks All!  I'm a bit confused by the "Post Title" field that appears above the WYSIWYG editor when posting a reply to a thread.  Is that necessary or when would it be applicable to add something into that field?  I couldn't find anything about this in the "How to" section.

The only time I use that post title is when I start a new title or -- if I someday want to search this site to find a particular post I made.  You can search on the post title field.

Just experimenting with the Post Title now to see what comes up in this reply.

GrowRunner wrote:Just experimenting with the Post Title now to see what comes up in this reply.

I've wondered about that for years on other forums. Thanks for posting this.

Hi Growrunner. Glad you've decided to "officially" join us... So here's an OFFICIAL welcome from Atlanta, GA, lol!

Since you're a hiker, I bet you do dehydrating... Have you checked out the Backpacking Chef's website? Glenn's a really nice guy. He & his wife spend part of the year here & part in Europe hiking. Great info on food prep for those long trips.

Can't wait to see your garden & what you're doing with it!!

AtlantaMarie wrote:Hi Growrunner.  Glad you've decided to "officially" join us...  So here's an OFFICIAL welcome from Atlanta, GA, lol!

Since you're a hiker, I bet you do dehydrating...  Have you checked out the Backpacking Chef's website?  Glenn's a really nice guy.  He & his wife spend part of the year here & part in Europe hiking.  Great info on food prep for those long trips.

Can't wait to see your garden & what you're doing with it!!

Thanks AtlantaMarie!  I've actually had Glenn's site bookmarked for a while now in my "Trail Food" folder.  So many recipes out there that all sound so good!  He built a tremendous resource with the site.  

I can't wait to see what comes of my garden this year too.  I didn't put as much time and effort into it last year so all we got was primarily tomatoes.  I'm hoping to finish off my re-do of my irrigation system today or tomorrow and then it's full steam ahead.

very nice...post pics when you can

A friendly hello and welcome from one of the New Hampster (New Hampshire) contingent. I am kind of new as well, and have been a "lurker" too. It's a great site, enjoy. Rock