Update: My cucumber plant has little cucumbers growing! 
Update: My cucumber plant has little cucumbers growing!
My garden is coming along nicely.
@Alfa -- Thanks for the pics. Whats the capacity of the rain barrel that you use?
@Katie -- Congrats!! Is this one of the plants from your dorm room?
@Hal -- Looking good, sir!
In reply to mrwillie:
55 gal, but the overflow is at 50gal. I may add a second.
I grew tomatoes last year in a self-watering container system, and it was low almost every 2days. I had 2 beef steaks and 2 cherry plants in a 15gal storage container that had about 6in of water.
1) How long does 55gal of water last for you at the flow rate you're using? 2) Can I get more details of your shutoff valve and barrel end of your watering system?
In reply to mrwillie:
Yes! I started growing this plant on my dorm room windowsill around the end of April.
I tilled my garden late this year and still haven't planted anything. This weekend I noticed deer tracks are all over it. I guess they were looking for my veggies. The bastards.
mrwillie wrote: I grew tomatoes last year in a self-watering container system, and it was low almost every 2days. I had 2 beef steaks and 2 cherry plants in a 15gal storage container that had about 6in of water. 1) How long does 55gal of water last for you at the flow rate you're using? 2) Can I get more details of your shutoff valve and barrel end of your watering system?
When I had it adjusted wrong, 55 gal went away overnight. But the actual flow should depend on how much water the plants use.
This is the valve I'm using- http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0077RAP1I?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01, it's a mini float valve.
I need to keep up on the barrel to see if it's adjusted right or I have a leak.
That float is installed in the PVC end cap. Others I saw on line use a gutter instead of PVC- but since I'm using bags instead of buckets, I wanted something firm.
In reply to alfadriver:
Thanks for the info! I have a few more questions but I may have to IM you, if thats ok.
mrwillie wrote: In reply to alfadriver: Thanks for the info! I have a few more questions but I may have to IM you, if thats ok.
Not a problem- but this video was my inspiration- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CclTbusP7Ms
halfway through the summer and my veggie garden is doing well and poorly. i don't have pics at the moment but it rained for like 2 weeks straight and now I have powdery mildew all over my gourd and luffa vines. i used up a whole bottle of fungicide and couldn't get all the leaves, but at least i'm getting actual gourds off one of them! despite the perfect climate for fungus, the tomatoes are all disease free, though. not sure how i lucked out there.
alfadriver wrote:mrwillie wrote: In reply to alfadriver: Thanks for the info! I have a few more questions but I may have to IM you, if thats ok.Not a problem- but this video was my inspiration- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CclTbusP7Ms
A follow up to this- just yesterday I did some more looking- seeing why it appears that I have a leak in my system.
Well, it's not a leak. The water is wicking through the bags into the ground. The long term fix for next season is to use 5 gal buckets- but this summer, I may experiment by putting plastic bags under the grow bags I have to separate them from the soil.
That being said- container gardening rocks. It's growing SO well without the tree roots interrupting the process.
alfadriver wrote:alfadriver wrote:A follow up to this- just yesterday I did some more looking- seeing why it appears that I have a leak in my system. Well, it's not a leak. The water is wicking through the bags into the ground. The long term fix for next season is to use 5 gal buckets- but this summer, I may experiment by putting plastic bags under the grow bags I have to separate them from the soil. That being said- container gardening rocks. It's growing SO well without the tree roots interrupting the process.mrwillie wrote: In reply to alfadriver: Thanks for the info! I have a few more questions but I may have to IM you, if thats ok.Not a problem- but this video was my inspiration- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CclTbusP7Ms
I agree. I did a bunch of tomatoes last year in a storage tote, and even starting later in the season I got alot of fruit.
This year, I'm doing a raised bed and have gotten a few cukes and cherry tomatoes this year. I think if I had more sun I would have done better. I'm happy w/ it so far, though. Even started fall garden prep.
Radishes harvested. Garlic harvested. Green and yellow beans are getting picked.
Carrots, cucumbers and tomatoes not quite readu
Onions were a no show and while my hot pepper plant looks great, there is no fruit!
Needs more bluebell.
Quick question- since my tomato harvest looks to be rather robust- it will be another year for pickles later this year. Past years I did the quick version with a vinegar brine, but with the harvest I look to have now, I'm tempted of doing a small batch via the fermentation method. Anyone try that at home?
The quick pickles are very tasty- so for sure I want that, but thought I may try something different.
As an update- last weekend I canned my large batch of blackberries. Good stuff. And now am looking to collect a bunch of buckets for next season. There's an ice cream place that sells them cheap.
Our tomato plants are burdened with fruit, but refuse to change color! If and when they do ripen, I am going to have 100 tomatoes on the same day.
Cucumbers are done, Thank Goodness. I was running out of people to give the excess to.
Planted a second crop of green beans but the voles ate them all off the third day after they broke the surface.
Tomatoes are going crazy. Wife and I are going to spend all day tomorrow canning them. This will be our second batch. First was 14 quarts and this will be at least double that since we have a bushel of Roma and a half a bushel of regular tomatoes. We have a salad with cherry tomatoes in it at least one meal a day and still are giving some to neighbors.
Next week we will have to spend a day making stuffed peppers and freezing them. Wife counted 50 peppers that will be ready to pick.
It's now one week before Spring 2016. And since we had a pretty mild winter here in SE MI, I'm going to get a head start vs. previous years.
Couple of weeks ago, I seeded some stuff, which has sprouted nicely. Since it's a great day today (sunny into the 60's)- anything that is above ground is outside enjoying it, too. I'm hoping to put them all in the pots in two weeks- on Easter weekend. They are all very cold weather tolerant plants at this point.
Today- I'm going to start drilling into the 3 gallon ice cream buckets to prepare for that. Cut a 3" hole in the bottom for the baskets to wick the water, and a series of holes in the sides to air prune.
Zombie thread revival . . .
Oh, and the daffodils are just about to bloom here in the Indy area.
In reply to IndyJoe: We've had older. And at least this is intentional.
I amazon'd a 500ct of daffodils and tulips last year and they are on the rise. Surprisingly 500 didn't go as far as I would have thought. The mild winter confused my irises planted at the sam time, so not sure if I'll get them this year or not.
The veggie garden is set to rock. Tried a new strategy after turning the garden last year. Planted 10-15 unripened maters in each spot to see if I could get them going.
Deucekid#2 put his garden in when grandpa was down to visit last weekend. I'm focusing on getting the orchard growing. I begged some branches off the neighbor about six weeks ago when he pruned his Satsuma tree. I think it was too early to get good cuttings. I might get a couple of viable ones but it's still a crap shoot. I have cuttings going from my apple tree that look pretty good and just took some from the lemon tree. I also have 24 seedlings from the Satsuma tree that are growing well. Growing from seed is a little riskier from a fruit quality standpoint, but they should make nice ornamental bushes if nothing else.
I'm moving to a new place and looks like i'll have lots more opportunities for gardening/sun exposure, should be a good year!
Don't know exactly what i'm going to grow, though. Tomatoes went well last year, so did peppers kinda.
Some of you may remember my auto watering set up I had last year (I deleted the pictures, but can repost if you want). Basically, a 3" PVC tube with holes that a little basket protruding under a pot goes into.
Look up in this thread, you'll see me finding my leak, which wasn't a leak.
This year, I got 3 gal buckets from a local ice cream store. Cut holes a few weeks ago, and filled with potting soil and put them in last week. This week was good for water, so I filled the 55 gal barrel. And turned the water on Friday. No leaks!!! And the soil is slightly damp.
This is going to work!!!
I have 5 more sections to put in- probably 5 or 6 more spots each on top of the 14 I have now. So very cool.
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