Durgan
Attractive To Bees
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?GLJCP 26 May 2012 Garden all Mulched.
Finished mulching the vegetable garden with wood chips. My primary purpose is to retain moisture. Plants were hand watered by pail as deemed necessary. The moisture situation is almost critical, since there was only one reasonable rain during April and May. This is not anywhere near normal for this area.
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?VLAFP 21 May 2012 Yard. Heavy Wood Chip Mulching
My plants are all heavily mulched with wood chips. It is preferable to heavily mulch the vegetable garden after a heavy rainfall. But mulching any time is beneficial.Mulching for conditioning soil is probably he most important single operation that can be practiced. It is found that the mulch disappears in about a year and I am constantly replenishing.I do no use the long term mulch like cedar or similar. I want the product to break down and improve the soil. In my small yard I use about 15 cubic yards each year.In addition compost is added as required. If the wood chips are worked into the soil in the Fall, I add a bit of urea (Nitrogen) to replenish the nitrogen used in the composting of the wood chips. Bare, exposed soil is neither beneficial to man or plant.
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?XRXAU 21 June 2012 Watering Methods.
I seldom water except for very young plants, and extreme dry conditions. I dont have a sprinkler on the property, and consider them inefficient and not very effective, except for watering grass. I never water grass. To inhibit moisture loss from hot Sun evaporation all areas of the garden are mulched with wood chips.
Usually I utilize my four barrels of rain water. The wheelbarrow is used to transport the rainwater to the garden area, utilizing a milk cartoon carrier(or egg carton carrier)as a baffle to prevent spillage due to wave action when moving the wheelbarrow.
In extreme dry conditions it is necessary to use tap water.The tap water is delivered to the plant root system using a water wand cut off and pushed into the requires area. I call it the Magic Water Wand. In the main garden it is quick to walk along a row and push the wand into the ground every few feet and get the water to roots, where it is required.The foliage is not wetted, and there is little wastage of water.
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?SCEIG 17 May 2012 Transporting Water
My yard is large and it is necessary to transport water from my four 45 gallon drums rainwater to the plant area. The rainwater is run into a 45 gallon drum and had dipped by pail into the wheelbarrow. I have four collection barrels two on each side of the house.A milk crate is placed in the wheelbarrow, and this inhibits wave action and spillage, when wheeling to the plant area. The wheelbarrow hold about 90 litres of water. This method is much easier than carrying two 20 litre buckets each trip. The pail used for dispensing is perfect for dumping the water on the roots of bush plants, and the water can be placed in a watering can for more delicate situations. Using this method I find watering a pleasure, quick and not onerous.
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?SSCLP 22 March 2012 Rainwater barrels connected to downspout.
The four drums connected to the house down spout. There is a total of 200 US gallons of water. The connections are removed in the Fall and the barrels emptied to prevent freezing.
It is easy to use a sump pump but: A portable hose amongst the garden plants is a total disaster.The hose tangles with the plants as one moves along, and the water is slow in dispensing. With the pail one can make a trench say around a tomato plant and dump some water almost instantly. With a pail and the source water nearby in reasonable quantities watering is almost effortless, and the water is placed exactly where required in the root area. A hose is probably acceptable if used properly in a very small garden, but not after a certain size. By properly this is what is meant.
http://durgan.org/URL/?ARLGN 28 May 2009 Watering Plant Roots.
This method gets water to the root area of the plants. The hydraulic effect of the water makes pushing the wand into the ground effortless. The device is made by cutting off the end of a typical water garden wand as sold in most hardware stores
As a note, overhead watering of plants using a sprinkler is the most harmful system of all, since it wets vegetation, and often causes disease, and the water is evaporated when dispensing, and falls all over the place not at the root target area. It is fine on grass, which should never be watered, except on a golf course.But old conventions die hard, and people do things without reflection from tradition and habit.
Finished mulching the vegetable garden with wood chips. My primary purpose is to retain moisture. Plants were hand watered by pail as deemed necessary. The moisture situation is almost critical, since there was only one reasonable rain during April and May. This is not anywhere near normal for this area.
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?VLAFP 21 May 2012 Yard. Heavy Wood Chip Mulching
My plants are all heavily mulched with wood chips. It is preferable to heavily mulch the vegetable garden after a heavy rainfall. But mulching any time is beneficial.Mulching for conditioning soil is probably he most important single operation that can be practiced. It is found that the mulch disappears in about a year and I am constantly replenishing.I do no use the long term mulch like cedar or similar. I want the product to break down and improve the soil. In my small yard I use about 15 cubic yards each year.In addition compost is added as required. If the wood chips are worked into the soil in the Fall, I add a bit of urea (Nitrogen) to replenish the nitrogen used in the composting of the wood chips. Bare, exposed soil is neither beneficial to man or plant.
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?XRXAU 21 June 2012 Watering Methods.
I seldom water except for very young plants, and extreme dry conditions. I dont have a sprinkler on the property, and consider them inefficient and not very effective, except for watering grass. I never water grass. To inhibit moisture loss from hot Sun evaporation all areas of the garden are mulched with wood chips.
Usually I utilize my four barrels of rain water. The wheelbarrow is used to transport the rainwater to the garden area, utilizing a milk cartoon carrier(or egg carton carrier)as a baffle to prevent spillage due to wave action when moving the wheelbarrow.
In extreme dry conditions it is necessary to use tap water.The tap water is delivered to the plant root system using a water wand cut off and pushed into the requires area. I call it the Magic Water Wand. In the main garden it is quick to walk along a row and push the wand into the ground every few feet and get the water to roots, where it is required.The foliage is not wetted, and there is little wastage of water.
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?SCEIG 17 May 2012 Transporting Water
My yard is large and it is necessary to transport water from my four 45 gallon drums rainwater to the plant area. The rainwater is run into a 45 gallon drum and had dipped by pail into the wheelbarrow. I have four collection barrels two on each side of the house.A milk crate is placed in the wheelbarrow, and this inhibits wave action and spillage, when wheeling to the plant area. The wheelbarrow hold about 90 litres of water. This method is much easier than carrying two 20 litre buckets each trip. The pail used for dispensing is perfect for dumping the water on the roots of bush plants, and the water can be placed in a watering can for more delicate situations. Using this method I find watering a pleasure, quick and not onerous.
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?SSCLP 22 March 2012 Rainwater barrels connected to downspout.
The four drums connected to the house down spout. There is a total of 200 US gallons of water. The connections are removed in the Fall and the barrels emptied to prevent freezing.
It is easy to use a sump pump but: A portable hose amongst the garden plants is a total disaster.The hose tangles with the plants as one moves along, and the water is slow in dispensing. With the pail one can make a trench say around a tomato plant and dump some water almost instantly. With a pail and the source water nearby in reasonable quantities watering is almost effortless, and the water is placed exactly where required in the root area. A hose is probably acceptable if used properly in a very small garden, but not after a certain size. By properly this is what is meant.
http://durgan.org/URL/?ARLGN 28 May 2009 Watering Plant Roots.
This method gets water to the root area of the plants. The hydraulic effect of the water makes pushing the wand into the ground effortless. The device is made by cutting off the end of a typical water garden wand as sold in most hardware stores
As a note, overhead watering of plants using a sprinkler is the most harmful system of all, since it wets vegetation, and often causes disease, and the water is evaporated when dispensing, and falls all over the place not at the root target area. It is fine on grass, which should never be watered, except on a golf course.But old conventions die hard, and people do things without reflection from tradition and habit.
