What did you do in the garden today?

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Came home to the container with my 2 best tomato plants an actual swamp. It's been raining since yesterday and obviously the drainage in that one wasn't sufficient. Made two holes, one of each side, and the water came  pouring out. *sigh* I hope they recover. Food security is really stressing me out big time, and now this? Ugh
 
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TJAnonymous said:
Thoughts? Opinions?
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Your hardware cloth in the middle is better than the video. You could compost organic material in there and the worms would love it.

I saw a video of this guy who used a barrel water reservoir next to his planter barrel and used a 1/2 nylon rope to wick water to the planter barrel. You may be able to wrap the nylon rope loosely around the hardware cloth, but not touching, from top to bottom while filling the barrel up with potting mix.

Not sure how the plants will get fed from the middle, it seems like the good stuff will go to the bottom. It would be better to put master blend fertilizer in the water reservoir.

 
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MACCanadianCoop said:
Came home to the container with my 2 best tomato plants an actual swamp. It's been raining since yesterday and obviously the drainage in that one wasn't sufficient. Made two hopes, one of each side, and the water came  pouring out. *sigh* I hope they recover. Food security is really stressing me out big time, and now this? Ugh
Click to expand...
You can come live with me if you’d like.
 
TJAnonymous said:
Ok fellow gardeners who like to experiment.....I have a challenge for you! I was thinking yesterday about building a self-watering strawberry tower. I started doing some YouTube searches today and came across this kid building a strawberry tower from an old rain barrel.

Anyway, his use of compost got me thinking. A self-watering tower could be difficult in a vertical space because of gravity in this type of arrangement because the strawberries at the bottom will be wetter than those at the top so I was racking my brain trying to figure out a way to have uniform moisture from top to bottom. My answer? Hügelkultur.... The idea behind this gardening technique is that the logs/wood acts like a sponge. The soil wicks the water from the wood. Soooo.....I was wondering if maybe I could build it like this....

Use an old plastic rain barrel like the boy did to stagger holes all the way around for the strawberry plants. Inside the barrel, I'd place a circular "basket" of hardware cloth. Inside the basket, I'd fill it with logs, wood chips, etc. The basket serves to hold the wood in place in the center of the barrel. Then I'd put soil/compost in the "donut" area. Watering the tower would consist of wetting down the wood in the inner basket really well.

Thoughts? Opinions? Did I explain it well enough? I just have to figure out where to get an old plastic barrel like that....
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Before I got halfway through the post I was thinking of criss crossing a log stack in the middle as a watersink and space filler. So I think the Idea will work and work well. May need to pack in wood chips or mulch in to make sure the surrounding soil can catch a drink.
 
CNJ said:
Not sure how the plants will get fed from the middle, it seems like the good stuff will go to the bottom. It would be better to put master blend fertilizer in the water reservoir.
Click to expand...
Not sure what you meant by this? Can you please try to explain further? Were you talking about my idea? The video I posted? Or your modifications with the wicking rope?
 

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