Friday, July 19, 2013

Water timers & drip irrigation: vacay dilemma resolved!


Why didn't we ever think of this before? Maybe because we thought it would mean an expensive and elaborate irrigation system? Or that setting up the tubes would require more work than it was worth? I wish someone had planted the idea in my head much earlier, because even if we're never away during summer for more than a week at a time, we've always relied on a lawn sprinkler (set on a timer) to water the plants. This worked out fine for the yard, but with water rates going up each year, I wanted a solution where the H2O goes exactly where it's needed and not sprinkling all over the vegetable rows. Since the lay of the garden is on a slope, it made arranging the 25-meter long tube awkward, but I'm satisfied that now we're watering the vegs and not weeds along the garden paths where they flourished.


It has been 6 weeks since the last post (it just pains me that this year there is so little to report on the garden), and here are the brussel sprout plants now. It's amazing to see how much they've grown although I still need to keep them under protective cover from possible hailstorms. So far no problems with cabbage moths or slugs.


The tomato plants have thrived as well from being placed in the sunniest spot next to the house (I had to put some type of "fencing" to let the dogs know that it was off-limits). All that extra heat bouncing off the walls has done nothing but good for their growth. Other tomato plants growing in the ground are less robust compared to these.


First harvest for this year: 500 grams of gooseberries from our only plant, and a couple of zukes. The smaller one is from a zucchini bush that is bred to produce mainly flowers instead of fruit, but if female flowers are left to develop, they'll produce tiny zucchini like this one.