What did you do in the garden today?

[thecatumbrella]

All these posts make me want to up my garden game!

I harvested the last of the patio eggplants for one final baba ganoush. Also hit our local nurseries for discounted shrubs/perennials. Fall in the garden is bittersweet, but I love popping in a few marked down plants to hopefully surprise me in the spring.

 

[igorsMistress]

Ohhh, how fun! Enjoy!

It was a beautiful day!

 

[LTAY1946]

It was a beautiful day!
View attachment 3658339

Makes me want to be 30 years younger with today's best cameras...

 

[Dadanga]

It was a beautiful day!

Gives me scorched earth vibes from ARK. I gotta get busy gardening soon and getting some pictures out. I've been slack in my updates.

 

[Dadanga]

More or less, this is yesterdays update LOL! I've been slack trying to figure out how to tackle the day. I want to mix up a batch of new soil for the remaining wicking bed and maybe even cut into the other drum to make some more. But...I don't have much drainpipe left and that is the biggest problem with them is the cost; so I'll be heading to bunnings again. I don't mind paying the extra bucks if it means they can go longer without water. I did watch a youtube article where he states it's good to let the bed have dry spells and do some minimal watering from the top. Not sure about that but who knows.

I still have a bunch of tomato seedlings left over from the last time that need planting out so I can free up the space for other things. I might even move that plastic brooder out into the chook run Jake can finally be reunited with his little seagull friends. They have been quite noisy being close to the house and making a ruckus and I actually found an egg in there box which I thought odd given they are only 5 weeks 1 day.

The non-tioga strawberry plant finally produced something for the mites to nibble on. Ugh. I gotta stop procrastinating and try out this rosemary oil.

 

[gtaus]

I don't mind paying the extra bucks if it means they can go longer without water. I did watch a youtube article where he states it's good to let the bed have dry spells and do some minimal watering from the top. Not sure about that but who knows.

I don't know if that is right or wrong. Please send a link to that video if you can. I would like to see the reasoning behind letting a wicking bed ever go dry. Seems to be just the opposite of why you build a wicking bed in the first place.

Once I start my sub-irrigated planter for the season, I never let it dry out. I have a strip cut from a pool noodle that I stick down the fill pipe to monitor the water level. I never let it run dry. But in my case, that usually means refilling the water reservoir only about once a month in normal weather, with some rainfall for the top watering.

Frankly, I have never heard of any reason to let a wicking bed deliberately go dry. That statement just runs counter to everything I have ever seen on YouTube and read elsewhere about wicking beds. Just suggesting that you might want to get more than one source on the idea of letting the wicking bed dry out before you actually do it.

 

[gtaus]

But...I don't have much drainpipe left and that is the biggest problem with them is the cost; so I'll be heading to bunnings again. I don't mind paying the extra bucks if it means they can go longer without water.

Yep, I really love my elevated sub-irrigated planter, but the cost of the drainpipes, liner, new wood, etc.. cost me about $75 for a 2X4 foot planter. It is the best producing planter I have and probably the easiest to maintain because I normally only refill the water reservoir once a month in the summer. Just stick a garden hose down the fill pipe for about 5 minutes until I see the water coming out the overflow hole. Does not get any easier than that.

But I can make a 4X4 foot hügelkultur pallet wood 16-inch-high raised bed for less than $2.00. I set a lawn sprinkler to water the raised beds for about 15 minutes on the timer 2-3 times per week, depending on the rainfall. Not so hard to do even for an old guy like me.

IF I had a bigger budget, I would be tempted to make my raised beds all sub-irrigated beds with liners and drainpipes. They are just so easy to fill up maybe once or twice a month and you don't have to worry about them.

But a big part of me enjoys growing food in low cost pallet wood raised beds to get the most bang out of my buck. I'm even starting seeds inside the house when the snow is still on the ground. At first, it was just to save a little money over buying plants at the big box stores, but now it's because our big box stores are not selling many of the plants I want out in my garden.

I tend to opt to save money where I can, even if it means I have to do a little more work out in the garden. Might come a day when that equation changes, but right now I'm still in pretty good health.

 

[littledog]

My luffa! Wheeeee! It's about the size of a banana.

It's a thing of beauty!

 

[fuzzi]

Yep, I really love my elevated sub-irrigated planter, but the cost of the drainpipes, liner, new wood, etc.. cost me about $75 for a 2X4 foot planter. It is the best producing planter I have and probably the easiest to maintain because I normally only refill the water reservoir once a month in the summer. Just stick a garden hose down the fill pipe for about 5 minutes until I see the water coming out the overflow hole. Does not get any easier than that.

But I can make a 4X4 foot hügelkultur pallet wood 16-inch-high raised bed for less than $2.00. I set a lawn sprinkler to water the raised beds for about 15 minutes on the timer 2-3 times per week, depending on the rainfall. Not so hard to do even for an old guy like me.

IF I had a bigger budget, I would be tempted to make my raised beds all sub-irrigated beds with liners and drainpipes. They are just so easy to fill up maybe once or twice a month and you don't have to worry about them.

But a big part of me enjoys growing food in low cost pallet wood raised beds to get the most bang out of my buck. I'm even starting seeds inside the house when the snow is still on the ground. At first, it was just to save a little money over buying plants at the big box stores, but now it's because our big box stores are not selling many of the plants I want out in my garden.

I tend to opt to save money where I can, even if it means I have to do a little more work out in the garden. Might come a day when that equation changes, but right now I'm still in pretty good health.

I keep a water barrel close to the gardens, and use a plastic coffee container to scoop out water for spot watering. My big plants like tomatoes and peppers have collars, so I fill up each collar with water, which then goes directly to the plant's roots. I have a hose run across the yard for when I need to soak the whole beds but only do that when it's been especially dry or hot. I put the nozzle on shower mode, lay it directly on the soil, then turn on the water so there's just a trickle. I set a timer for 10-15 minutes, then go inside out of the heat. When the timer goes off I go outside and move the hose to the next area. It works pretty well. I use this method for my annuals, too, and flowering shrubs like hydrangeas and gardenias. I have aquariums, so when I do water changes I put the dirty water on the shrubs. They seem to love it.

 

[Dadanga]

I don't know if that is right or wrong. Please send a link to that video if you can. I would like to see the reasoning behind letting a wicking bed ever go dry. Seems to be just the opposite of why you build a wicking bed in the first place.

Once I start my sub-irrigated planter for the season, I never let it dry out. I have a strip cut from a pool noodle that I stick down the fill pipe to monitor the water level. I never let it run dry. But in my case, that usually means refilling the water reservoir only about once a month in normal weather, with some rainfall for the top watering.

Frankly, I have never heard of any reason to let a wicking bed deliberately go dry. That statement just runs counter to everything I have ever seen on YouTube and read elsewhere about wicking beds. Just suggesting that you might want to get more than one source on the idea of letting the wicking bed dry out before you actually do it.

Yeah doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me personally.

Yep, I really love my elevated sub-irrigated planter, but the cost of the drainpipes, liner, new wood, etc.. cost me about $75 for a 2X4 foot planter. It is the best producing planter I have and probably the easiest to maintain because I normally only refill the water reservoir once a month in the summer. Just stick a garden hose down the fill pipe for about 5 minutes until I see the water coming out the overflow hole. Does not get any easier than that.

But I can make a 4X4 foot hügelkultur pallet wood 16-inch-high raised bed for less than $2.00. I set a lawn sprinkler to water the raised beds for about 15 minutes on the timer 2-3 times per week, depending on the rainfall. Not so hard to do even for an old guy like me.

IF I had a bigger budget, I would be tempted to make my raised beds all sub-irrigated beds with liners and drainpipes. They are just so easy to fill up maybe once or twice a month and you don't have to worry about them.

But a big part of me enjoys growing food in low cost pallet wood raised beds to get the most bang out of my buck. I'm even starting seeds inside the house when the snow is still on the ground. At first, it was just to save a little money over buying plants at the big box stores, but now it's because our big box stores are not selling many of the plants I want out in my garden.

I tend to opt to save money where I can, even if it means I have to do a little more work out in the garden. Might come a day when that equation changes, but right now I'm still in pretty good health.

This is the reason I'm considering using one of the drums for another kratky experiment because it's so easy to just cut a hole in it, whack a pot in, some coco and then some nutrient but mind you I have the nutrient on hand so I don't have to invest a whole lot there.

Pallets are good, I'm considering just getting rid of the mesh cage I have for compost and simply put some pallets to the side and line the bottom with some left over tile maybe.

Today I was kinda driving around and I did happen to buy some more seedlings. I bought some more rainbow chard/thai basil that was more advanced than what I have. I'll probably put the thai basil and silverbeet in the wicking bed tomorrow even. I have my gorilla cart currently loaded with a heap of coco so I'll amend it with 20L of river sand and a heap of aged compost among a few other things.