I mentioned awhile back that I was going to try and grow a garden for the first time in my adult life. I also mentioned the rain barrel system I had constructed to keep the garden a-growin' all summer. My dad warned me up front to not over-plant the plot, as it only stands about 6' x 12'. Sensible advice, I thought. So, I planted two tomato plants, two cucumber plants, and three green pepper plants. I think I even used the spacing directions from the plant tags, but I can't remember for certain.
So, this is what I've got going on back there now. The cucumber plants (which are covered with yellow buds) have taken over the world, and are now growing over and through the rabbit fence. The two tomato plants have grown out of the tops of their cages, and I have a third "volunteer" (?) tomato plant that's doing well without a cage of its own. The pepper plants, which look sickly to me, produced a pepper that Amanda picked this afternoon.
I'd like to be able to claim that I did something special to produce these results, but the only thing I've put on the plants is the rain water from the barrel system.
As I mentioned a few posts back, a couple weekends ago I built a rain collection system to collect and store rain water. We have a small detached garage, and behind it we now have a garden. I installed a gutter along the edge of the roof, and then added a downspout that feeds into a two-barrel storage system placed at the end of the garage. I built a small stand that elevates the barrels to improve water pressure and usability.
When I first started looking into this, everything I read led me to believe that one would need to spend somewhere between $79 and $150 for a 55 gal. container. I guess these experts have never heard of Craig's List because within a week I found a guy in Bellevue that had 55 gal. plastic containers for sale at $10 a pop. These are food-grade containers that used to hold tomato sauce and can be sealed water-tight. The guy goes to school at UNL, so he agreed to deliver them for free.
You might be surprised at just how advanced a "simple" rain collection system can get. In order to use both tanks I had to build a connection between them so the water level would equalize in the separate tanks. For this I threaded a male 3/4" threaded PVC adapter through a 1" hole in the side of each barrel. Surprisingly, the hole was a tight enough fit that it threaded itself in perfectly. From the inside of the barrel I placed a rubber O ring over the threads coming in from the outside, and then threaded a female adapter covered in thread compound onto the male adapter, pulling the whole assembly tight. I connected the two using a short piece of 3/4" PVC pipe.
I did basically the same thing with a 3/4" hose bib on the front of the system. I had a couple of 1/2" hose bibs laying around from previous home improvement projects, but I didn't realize they were smaller until I had already drilled my hole. This was at about 8:30 on a Sunday night. I drove out to Menards, but they were closed. I doubled back to Home Depot; closed. There's a QP Hardware store on north 48th that's known for having strange hours, so I decided to stop by there on my way back home. Sure enough, at about 9:15 on a Sunday night, they were open. They sold me my hose bib, and I was on my way.
Not one to waste an opportunity for an "upgrade," I drilled a smaller hole toward the top of the inlet barrel and installed one of the 1/2" hose bibs to function as an overflow valve. I drilled a 3/4" hole and it threaded in perfectly.
In order to keep mosquitoes out I added a piece of standard-issue window screen over the top and bottom of the downspout. I also drilled small (1/8", maybe) holes around the inside rims of the lids to vent the system and also so rain water that collects on the lids can drain into the barrels.
Once I had everything built (around 10:00 on a Sunday night), I turned on the hose and started "testing" the system. The water splashed onto the roof, trickled into the gutter, and began flowing into the barrels. Perfect. As they started to fill I wondered if the stand I had used would hold up at full capacity. At about 2/3 capacity I noticed the whole thing was leaning a little. I went to the garage to find some deck screws to shore things up a bit. By the time I got back, things were leaning a lot. I pushed against the side of the barrel, bringing things back toward level, but since I had dropped the drill I couldn't reach it to add any reinforcement to the platform. Oh, and the water was still running. I slowly moved away from the barrels, and they quickly returned to their precarious state. As I ran to the spigot to turn the hose off, I heard a cracking sound followed by a loud SPLOOSH.
Now, I've been known to over-engineer a project or two in the past, but you should see me go when I'm rebuilding something that's already failed once. When I rebuilt the platform I used 4×4 posts on all four corners, and the top level is composed of a couple layers of 2×4s arranged in various orientations to maximize their strength. The whole thing is held together using 3" coated deck screws. You could probably park a small German tank on it.
The first night after I re-built it we got a nice, light rain overnight. I'm not sure how many inches we got (1/2, maybe?) but I ended up collecting about 46 gallons of water. The water pressure isn't too bad, either. At ground level there is enough pressure to push a steady stream through one of those fan sprayers. My plan is to make my own soaker hose by poking holes in an old hose that is already missing its male end. That way I can snake it through the garden and only water the spots where I have things planted. This should help me save some water, and it will also deliver the water right at the roots so not as much evaporates.
Last night I added what should be the second-to-last "upgrade" to the system. Using a threaded elbow, an adapter, and a piece of clear plastic tubing I added a gauge on the side that shows the water level inside the barrels. Until now I've had to undo the clamp that holds the lid closed to check the water level. Now, I shouldn't have to open the lids for anything.
The final upgrade in the plans is to add a plug at the bottom of each barrel so they can be drained before winter, but that can wait until this fall. And, knowing me, I'm sure I'll come up with other modifications between now and then.
You can see more pictures of the system here.
Don't look now, but the Wittmanns are going green. Well, sort of greenish, anyway. For some inexplicable reason, I've had an incredible urge to grow things this spring. I think it started when I aerated the yard and put some grass seed down. After that I re-potted a couple of plants (with mixed results, I should add), decided to grow a garden, and even kicked around the idea of building a window garden in our dining room so we can have fresh "greens" for dinner all winter long.
I think maybe it goes back to some sort of subconscious connection with my childhood, where I vaguely remember my dad dragging me out to the garden to help pick tomatoes, or weeds, or whatever. Now that I've got my own little helper in tow, I kind of like the idea of dragging him out there to participate in all the micro-agricultural fun.
There also seems to be something deeply therapeutic about growing plants. Sure, there's always something you can do to help them along (watering, weeding, etc.), but there's no way to rush them. The tomatoes will be ready when they're ready. Deal with it. When everything else in our lives continues to gain speed, this stubborn refusal to be rushed is kind of refreshing.
So, now I have a 6'x12' garden behind my garage. I turned it all over with a shovel, and then ran a small tiller through it to get it broken up nice and fine (or sliced up, which is more accurate when referring to the clay content of the soil back there). So far all I have planted are a couple of tomato plants, but we're planning on growing peppers, carrots, and cucumbers from seeds.
We've also been saving leftover fruits, vegetables, peels, egg shells, and coffee grounds to mix into the garden somewhere along the way. Once I start mowing our lawn, I plan on bagging the grass and using it as mulch around the various botanical exhibits in the garden. I've even got a nifty little rain collection system built (more on that later) so I can conserve water this summer and still keep the garden a-growin'.
Now, don't go and tell Al Gore about his latest convert just yet. I'm still not buying into the whole anthropocentric global warming hoopla, and all the asinine (and dangerous) solutions being proposed by our environmental high priests. Still, it does make sense to me to conserve wherever possible, to reuse whatever we can, and to even produce some of our own food along the way. I think the key is to remember that we serve the Creator, not the creation, and that He put it here for our use. If you keep those things in their right places, I think you're doing OK. Once those get flipped, you're bound to end up somewhere a little screwy.
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