A Tuesday Tutorial ... Drip Irrigation

With so much of the country experiencing drought conditions I thought now would be a good time to update my drip irrigation information.  In April of 2011 I posted about the system I set up then.  When we tore everything up last spring I updated the system and added some Dripworks components to the system.

Here is the system that goes to the raised beds coming off of a faucet next to the greenhouse ...

I bought two of these timers, one for the greenhouse and one for the raised beds.  This one works fine for the greenhouse, but I want one that will allow longer and more frequent watering for the beds.  I'm going to order one of these instead (I need another one anyway for the terrace garden on the lake side of the house so this one will still find a home).  After the timer a Y Filter is attached and then a 30 PSI pressure regulator followed by an Easy Loc Fitting (when Dripworks says that these are easier to use than compression fittings they are right!)  Next the fitting is attached to the 1/2" tubing that goes to the beds.  When we rebuilt the garden FitzGyver added water and power lines plus the 1/2" tubing to the beds ...

...  Raindrip compression T fittings (here's a picture ... I bought mine at the local Ace Hardware) take the tubing from the main line to each of the beds where they are closed off and then attached to some 1/4" tubing (again, from Ace Hardware) using a hole punch and a barb connector...

     

... a 1/4" Vari-Flow Valve was then inserted ...

... allowing me to turn off the drip system to any of the beds that are currently not in use.  1/4" Emitter Tubing was then attached (I found some with 6" hole spacing at the McLendon's Ace Hardware in Belfair) and laid out on the surface of the beds.  I'm using loop stakes to hold the tubing in place now instead of eye pins; I found it was easier to take the tubing up and then lay it back down when I amend and replant a bed....

A second barb fitting was used to attach some 1/4" tubing to the 1/2" line in the beds ...

... and then this tubing was run over to the tomato boxes and a 1 GPH Drip Emitter was attached (I will be burying these lines soon to eliminate trip hazards).

That's it for the raised beds ... now for the greenhouse ...

A timer was attached to the faucet and then a Y Filter followed by a 3 Way Hose Splitter. 

 A T fitting was attached to one of the hose outlets and then a pressure regulator and Easy Loc Fitting with 1/2" tubing going to the greenhouse bench. 

 Barb fittings attach the 1/4" tubing and drip emitters that go to the plant trays ...

Another pressure regulator and Easy Loc Fitting attaches a second section of 1/2" tubing ...

... and more 1/4" tubing with drip emitters are connected with barbs for each of the container plantings ...

... including the hanging baskets.

It really didn't take very much time or effort and I like knowing that I can leave for a few days and my garden will be automatically watered using a water saving system :)

Enjoy!

FitzGyver To The Rescue!

It's that time of year in Washington ... sun ... clouds ... sun ... rain ... sun ... clouds ... (of course that's actually most of the time in Washington except when it's clouds ... rain ... clouds ... rain ...clouds).  It was really making it hard to keep the temperature in the greenhouse consistent.  The greenhouse kit came with a shade cloth but trying to get it on and off, especially for someone like me who who is a little bit "height challenged" was a problem ... FitzGyver to the rescue ...

Pull the ropes ... shade cloth comes down ...

... turn the wheel ...

... shade cloth goes up.

Thanks FitzGyver!

Enjoy!

Harvest Monday ... and "The Farm" in June

This is today's harvest ...

A crisp head lettuce, a cabbage, some radishes and the first of the garlic scapes.

The lettuce and radishes will be in a salad tonight and I'll make a stir fry with the cabbage later in the week. 

The garlic scapes went straight into some white wine vinegar with some basil.  They will sit in a dark place for about a month and then I'll have a lovely flavored vinegar for salad dressing and flavored cheeses.  Don't you just love my pretty new Weck Jars?

I'm joining other bloggers over at Daphne's Dandelions as we share our weekly harvests...it's fun to see what others are harvesting and what they are cooking up with it...check it out!

"The Farm" is looking great!

Here's a shot taken across four of the raised beds.

I have harvested the Asian Greens that were in the back of this bed, so all that is left is some celery, lettuces and radishes.  I need to replant with the next crop of carrots this week.

The first crops of carrots and beets are sizing up!

Broccoli, peas and cabbages looking good.

I'm still covering the tomato bed at night ... the indeterminates have outgrown the hoops so I had to add an extra riser.  Temperature are supposed to be warming up so I hope to stop having to cover them before they outgrow the riser!  Of course, no sign of tomatoes yet ... :(  Do you see the open vent and fan in the greenhouse in the background?  The vent automatically opens and the fan comes on if the temperature in the greenhouse goes above 80 degrees.  Have I mentioned lately that I love my greenhouse?  Thanks, FitzGyver :)

Tomatoes, eggplants, peppers and tomatillos in the greenhouse ...

There are three Micro Tom tomato plants in this basket.  Look how many blossoms there are on these tiny tomato plants!  I have high hopes for this variety to be a winter producer in the greenhouse under lights!

Wine barrel potatoes looking good!

More potatoes and horseradish sizing up.

The garlic is almost ready for harvest ... I think 2 or 3 more weeks.

And the latest addition to "The Farm" ... a temporary pole and runner bean trellis.  No sign of germination yet but I expect to see them any day if the weather continues warm.

Overall I'm pretty happy with the progress with "The Farm" so far.

Next week I'll give you an update on "The Garden" ...

Enjoy!

Greenhouse Update ...

The greenhouse is starting to fill up!

I have a station for potting in the least sunny corner ... and my boombox :)  Tomatoes and peppers under lights at the far end of the shelf.

More tomatoes, peppers and some eggplants under the snazy grow light that came with the greenhouse kit.  The potatoes are still sittin' and chittin' while my hanging baskets are starting to look really good.  Yep!  Deb's a happy camper!  Thanks, FitzGyver!

Enjoy!

No Harvest Monday ... and Greenhouse Raising!

I have no harvest to report this week. Some of my Asian Greens are almost harvestable but I'd like to give them another week to size up a bit. I'm joining other bloggers over at Daphne's Dandelions as we share our weekly harvests...it's fun to see what others are harvesting and what they are cooking up with it...check it out!


It's time to show you the progress on the greenhouse and tell you how it happened :)  Mike and I settled into a tradition early in our relationship.  When it came time for all the "gift giving' occasions (birthday, Christmas, anniversary, Valentine's et.al. ) we decided that instead of trying to figure out what to give each other (given that we were in our 50's when we met and each had more "stuff" than we really needed) we would give each other a "gift certificate" that could be redeemed any time during the year for something that was really wanted.  Some years we have gone without redeeming them since there was nothing that was really wanted or needed.  This year Mike redeemed his for a compressor to fill our scuba tanks.  I redeemed mine for a greenhouse :)

I looked at several styles and brands of greenhouses and let FitzGyver have a lot of input with regards to energy efficiency, ease of construction etc. and we decided on a Sunglo greenhouse manufactured here in Washington and sold by Costco (and on sale for $400 dollars off that month! :)  We started construction about 3 weeks ago and I thought it would be fun to show you the process ....

First we had a local landscape company trim the limbs from several trees to give the
greenhouse area more light ...

... the greenhouse arrives in several BIG boxes.  As FitzGyver put it "What Costco doesn't tell you is that there are 251 parts that need to be assembled with 330 long and short rivets PLUS the foundation, utilities and ancillarily equipment for growing plants!!! But that said, it goes together fairly easily for a handy mechanical engineer! And the rain showers are helping because I get one thing done and then have to come in to watch the DVD or read the directions for the next step... "

The foundation with water and power lines ...

The bottom railings and first side goes up ... (You can see that it is wet ... FitzGyver wasn't kidding about working between rain showers!)

Three sides up!

Starting on the top section ... Yes!  The sun finally came out to play!

Getting ready to start on the roof ... the blue plastic pieces all over the place were protective coverings on the plexiglass sheets.

The roof is on!

The cedar shelves go in ...

... and the first plants settle into their new home :)

The fourth raised bed goes into position and trenches are dug for a power line to the greenhouse and water lines to the raised beds ... FitzGyver said I need steel toed boots and a hard hat if I wanted to enter the construction zone!

There's still some work to be done on the electrical panel.  The greenhouse came with controllers for the fan and vent, temperature and a timer for the lights!

At this point in time one half of the greenhouse is still FitzGyver's ...

... and the other half is mine!  Mike says he should be done with the electrical work sometime this week ... I'll keep you posted on the "Grand Opening" celebration :)

Enjoy!