Another Water Saving Idea

As a follow up to my Blog "Thinking Aloud: About Water," (click here) I wanted to share how quickly the tomatoes camouflaged the drip-system-milk-jugs that I placed in the tomato beds. My intent was both to save water and supply essential food directly to the tomato plants, and not everything else within run-off range. As you can see these tomatoes "Juliet" a Roma variety are heavy with fruit and looking very healthy. I grew these from seeds.

Roma Tomatoes - Bring On The Sauce!

I am currently reading an awesome book, chock-o-block with great ideas, gardening tips and with loads of color photos on every page. Very well put together. I enjoy his style of writing too. I picked this up from Amazon.com. It is only a week old and already slightly "dog-eared."

A Must Read

The main theme of this book is Container Gardening.  I do grow many of my tomatoes in the ground (as evidenced by the Roma tomatoes), but I also grow a lot of peppers, carrots, radishes, spinach, lettuces, potatoes and soon cantaloupes, in containers. The main reason I grow these veggies in containers is so I can move them to the sunniest spot in the garden, as the year progresses. But growing veggies in containers in Florida, and right now, during our "dry' season, means watering everything every day. There has to be a better way. "The Vegetable Gardener's Container Bible" has an interesting solution I have just experimented with and wanted to share with you. It's basically a self watering system, which is heads and shoulders above my primitive milk jug idea.

First of all take two large buckets. The author recommends feed buckets, but I just used what I had to hand. 

Drill circle of  holes in bottom of bucket

Using a drill (you will need one), make a circle of drill holes in the bottom of one of the buckets and then by using a box cutter, carve out the drill-dot-circle, until the hole is formed. Now put the bucket-with-a-hole into the other bucket and mark with permanent marker (see left) where the bottom of that bucket sits. Just below that line, drill out another line of holes and cut a rectangle/square shape - large enough to allow a nozzle spray from your hose.
Now you need to make a wicking system.

Recycling On A Global Scale: For Life

Mark; visit him at  http://marksvegplot.blogspot.com has provided some neat ways of reusing those plastic containers that would otherwise find their way into our recycling bins, or the landfill.

I also have been committed to recycling for a long time now. Once you've got the recycling "bug" you are stuck with it. Much to my family's chagrin, I have never been adverse to screeching to a halt, and picking up something from the side of the road that would be useful in the garden: old tables, a china cabinet (as a potting/storage bench), bricks...well you get the idea. I don't consider myself a "bag lady" more a "swag lady" - "one man's trash.." etc.

But to share some of my modest, and recent, recycling efforts. I offer the following:

Shattered pot, used as both bird bath, and "cosy" for a critter needing shelter.

Derelict Pot Used As Birdbath

"Blue roofs" in USA: Florida, Texas and the Gulf Coast in general, has a different connotation, referring back to our horrid Hurricane seasons and the blue tarps that covered what remained of our roofs. However, here the paint-spayed, bright-blue milk carton, serves as a nifty replacement for a broken bird house roof. Secured in place with industrial glue.

Blue Roofed Bird House

Above: "The "Real Thing" serves as a buried catchment container to deeply water plants at their roots, and a toothpick container (below) has a new life as a seed dispenser.

The "trellis" to the right is a broken dog gate to support the tomatoes for the time being.

Here is my compost bin. 

A few stakes, a piece of discarded lumber and some string supports more tomatoes. I think there is a French word for this (using wire), but it completely escapes me. 

Plastic potting soil/mulch bags, along with cardboard provide the ultimate weed protection, and all without using a spray.

The wine gift box

below, serves as a multi-layered

seed drying area. Seeds are stacked on

polystyrene trays and covered with

paper towel. I just can't imagine what happened to the wine in the box. Santa must be partial to

Mouton methinks. Bad Santa!

A utensil basket from a broken dishwasher has a new purpose as my trowel, scissor container. The newly painted, green ladle serves as a potting soil scoop, because girls don't like to get their nails dirty, even when their thumbs are getting greener by the minute thanks to an expansive, generous, and informative blogger group of like minded folks :)