Garden shenanigans
Oct. 22nd, 2015 18:55![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
torquillI just took out two tomato plants which weren't performing, the tomatillos (which never produced), and reconfigured the irrigation in one bed. I'm ready for the winter garden.
It's celery (can't do without it now), parsley, romaine, dill, and carrots this year. Oh, and peas, which I can trellis on the posts still placed for the tomatoes. I'll have a bit of a crunch in the spring, there, but I'll work it out.
The watering was a bit of a to-do... I need overhead water, especially for the carrots and dill, which will be planted in blocks. These micro-sprayers are totally the bomb -- mounted on stakes, they spray water evenly for at least a foot in all directions (at full blast -- they're adjustable too). So I hooked up eight of them to each of the two manifolds in the working full-size bed. Sixteen of those buggers should soak the place.
Except... I forgot that the manifolds put out 1gph for each socket. That's barely enough to get the sprayers to dribble. Discouraged, I prepared myself for a trip to the hardware store -- when inspiration hit.
Opening up the manifolds (the 8-port ones I get have screw tops and are fully user-serviceable, very nice) I simply removed all the pieces used for pressure-regulation -- restrictors, diaphragms, the whole deal. Then I screwed the tops down again, and hey presto! I had enough pressure to run all the sprayers. I'm rather proud of that. (I bagged up all the little parts and put them on an easily-accessible shelf in the greenhouse, so I can reassemble them in spring.)
Other than that, it was a matter of switching out the little misters I use in summer for a stretch of drip-tape, and I'm set for the peas. I left two tomatoes in on the end, as they're still sort of producing, but I can take them out and add more drip tape if I want to extend the peas later.
I baited for pillbugs the other day, but they do seem to be moving on as the food on the ground becomes more scarce. I can only hope that they don't stick around long enough to ravage the dill and carrots; they'll be vulnerable, staying moist under a layer of row cover. At least now I know to sow dill directly on the surface -- for years I didn't know it needed sunlight to germinate. Keeping it moist under those conditions isn't easy, but I'm hoping the row cover will help.
Cool season, here we come.
It's celery (can't do without it now), parsley, romaine, dill, and carrots this year. Oh, and peas, which I can trellis on the posts still placed for the tomatoes. I'll have a bit of a crunch in the spring, there, but I'll work it out.
The watering was a bit of a to-do... I need overhead water, especially for the carrots and dill, which will be planted in blocks. These micro-sprayers are totally the bomb -- mounted on stakes, they spray water evenly for at least a foot in all directions (at full blast -- they're adjustable too). So I hooked up eight of them to each of the two manifolds in the working full-size bed. Sixteen of those buggers should soak the place.
Except... I forgot that the manifolds put out 1gph for each socket. That's barely enough to get the sprayers to dribble. Discouraged, I prepared myself for a trip to the hardware store -- when inspiration hit.
Opening up the manifolds (the 8-port ones I get have screw tops and are fully user-serviceable, very nice) I simply removed all the pieces used for pressure-regulation -- restrictors, diaphragms, the whole deal. Then I screwed the tops down again, and hey presto! I had enough pressure to run all the sprayers. I'm rather proud of that. (I bagged up all the little parts and put them on an easily-accessible shelf in the greenhouse, so I can reassemble them in spring.)
Other than that, it was a matter of switching out the little misters I use in summer for a stretch of drip-tape, and I'm set for the peas. I left two tomatoes in on the end, as they're still sort of producing, but I can take them out and add more drip tape if I want to extend the peas later.
I baited for pillbugs the other day, but they do seem to be moving on as the food on the ground becomes more scarce. I can only hope that they don't stick around long enough to ravage the dill and carrots; they'll be vulnerable, staying moist under a layer of row cover. At least now I know to sow dill directly on the surface -- for years I didn't know it needed sunlight to germinate. Keeping it moist under those conditions isn't easy, but I'm hoping the row cover will help.
Cool season, here we come.
