What did you do in the garden today?

[chickengr]

How many plants depends on how hot it is. You need to look at something called evapotranspiration rate and water accordingly. If you want a ballpark number, my pineapples in 5 gallon pots get one eighth of a gallon a day and water runs out.

Most drip systems in the hardware store have a minimum PSI requirement. You'll want to look at drippers intended for grey water or well water systems. Something like these: https://www.dripdepot.com/category/drip-irrigation-kits-gravity-irrigation-clean-water-kits I haven't used them myself, though so can't give any more advice then that.

Personally I'd run a PVC line under or above ground and set up a pressurized drip system. PVC is cheap, I added a 100' line last year.

what temperatures are required to grow pineapples? could I use supermarket pineapples to start with? I have seen in youtube that we can cut top of pineapple and plant it. is it how it works?

 

[chickengr]

Thanks for the response.

After watching a number of YouTube videos last night, I learned that the drip irrigation systems I was looking at require a minimum of 15 PSI. I don't have electricity or running water out in the main garden, so that kind of puts the drip irrigation idea to bed.

I am now looking at ways to use a 12v water pump with a rain barrel setup. I hope I can figure something out, if not for this year, at least to get me set up for next year.

if you figure it out please let us know. I have 1/2 acre near my new place that has no water and no electricity. across the road (or better path) there is a stream I can use water from but my plot is up the hill.

 

[gtaus]

I install drip irrigation all the time. 5 gallon bucket won't cut it. DO you have access to a hose hook up? You can build a hose for cheap, and put a ballcock on the faucet, turn on the faucet and let that run to the small 1/4 inch line with adjustable heads on it. I can't see the details on the bucket system though.
How many beds to you have?

Thanks for the response. I don't have any electricity or running water by my main garden. My main garden is down by the lake, and I used to have a house down there that we lived in. But I built a new house much further back from the lake on more solid ground. For a number of years, I still used the pump house well from the old house, but that well pump finally died. Estimates to fix it are $500+ and I did not want to replace the old pump just to water the main garden.

So I shut off the electricity, too. I could start up the electricity any time I want, but our electric company charges a full year of minimum rate ($600) whether or not you use any electricity. I asked if I could have the electricity on for only the summer months, and they said I could, but I would still be charged for the winter months at $50 per month basic connection fee. Yeah, I think it's a rip off. But that's what my options are.

On the other hand, my main garden is next to the lake and I have been using a small 12v pump to fill up rain barrels and sometimes to run a hose to water the garden. Problem is, of course, it does not have the same flow rate of a house faucet and watering by hand is more time and effort than I can give it. The past few years we had adeq uate rain so I only had to water the main garden a few times. This year, however, we have had almost no rain at all, and I cannot keep up watering the garden every other day.

I realize now that a standard drip irrigation system will not work running from a 5 gallon gravity bucket. It needs a minimum of 15 PSI, and a standing bucket only produces 2.31 PSI per foot of drop. But my idea was I could use the 12v water pump, pump water from the lake into the 5 gallon buckets at each raised bed, and let the drip irrigation water the plants. It would not take me very long to fill a 5 gallon bucket at each raised bed and the drip irrigation would fed the plant just where it needed it. My current 12v water pump does not have enough pressure to run a sprinkler, so I have to water each and every plant by hand.

I was in town today and looked at some 12v demand pressure pumps that deliver water at 60 PSI. That would be strong enough to run a sprinkler. I could set up a garden hose timer to shut off the water and go off to do other chores. That might be my best option. The pumps were around $100, but I figure buying all the supplies for a drip irrigation system would be about that much too. Since I live on a lake, I'm not too concerned about "wasting" water using overhead sprinklers.

I have some old, but still useable, deep cycle batteries that I could use to power the 12v pump. If the 12v system works good, I might think about adding a solar panel to recharge the battery. For now, I would just bring them to the garage and recharge them as needed. Anyway, that's what I'm thinking as it looks like the drip irrigation system is a no go.

 

[gtaus]

@gtaus how far away is a faucet to your garden?

I would estimate my main garden is about 600 feet from my new house faucet. But there is also a creek that would need to be crossed. That would not be so difficult. I don't know for sure, but I suspect that the water pressure in a hose line would drop significantly over 600 feet. Also, I don't want to burn out my house well pump and I wonder if pumping water that far would put the house well pump under too much continued use. Replacing a well pump is not cheap. I don't live in town, so I have to fix and replace whatever I break.

 

[gtaus]

if you figure it out please let us know. I have 1/2 acre near my new place that has no water and no electricity. across the road (or better path) there is a stream I can use water from but my plot is up the hill.

I'm looking at maybe getting a 12v demand water pump that puts out 60 PSI on the discharge end. I could drop the suction end into the lake for as much water as I want. I know you can use those pumps to go uphill, but I don't know how much pressure you would lose. Most pumps give you a graph of how much water you can pump at any given height of rise. If your plot is way up the hill, you might need to pump water into a holding tank up the hill by your garden, which might be slow to fill, and then use another pump to take the water from the holding tank to water the garden. If your holding tank is big enough, then you really don't care how long it takes to fill. You could put in a shut off float to turn off the water when it reaches your desired level in the holding tank. Kind of like the toilet bowl tank float that shuts off the water automatically once the tank is refilled.

But yeah, I'm getting too old to tote water to the garden to hand water each and every plant. This year has really been dry and I am rethinking options for a better garden next year. I really enjoy growing our own food, but this year I don't expect to get much from the main garden because we have not had any rain.

 

[Sally PB]

Hoe, hoe, hoe. Gonna sound like Santa Claus today.

 

[DaisyBuff]

I harvested some blueberries this morning. I now have enough to make my blueberry pie! Yum......

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

I got a quart of blackberries...sun shining when I went out and then got poured down on midway through!

 

[littledog]

Miss me??? LOL. I was thinking of her test on the Presto pot. I haven't watched her Instant pot canner test yet, but here's the link. She's a professor and really takes this seriously.

That was really helpful, thank you! This lady really knows what she's talking about. I think I may go ahead and buy the instant pot, and make sure to read and understand the directions carefully before I use it.

 

[DaisyBuff]

I got a quart of blackberries...sun shining when I went out and then got poured down on midway through!

What are you going to make with your blueberries?