# The Covid "Victory Garden" thread



## Melensdad

So I think quite a few of us have gardens, or have had gardens in the past.  Some of us have been known to dehydrate and/or can some of our own foods too.

It has been 3 years since we have used our garden beds due to extensive summer travel.  But we are staying on the homestead this summer!  I've been working hard to reclaim the old beds.  Might not get the entire garden restored, but we are getting enough reclaimed that we will be planting several beds again this year.

This year the news is reporting a run on garden seeds, vegetable plants, etc.  *So my question to you is what are you planting this year? * Odds are most of us are putting in gardens.  

Purchased:
Sweet Potatoes ... never tried them before, it will be a new crop for us
Tomatoes ... Roma for canning.  Cherry, Grape for salads/snacks
Onions ... mostly yellows and whites, but some reds
Peppers ... mostly sweet varieties
Brussels Sprouts ... just because I like them

Hoping to acquire:

Summer Squash ... yellows and greens
Pickles ... for pickling
Cauliflower ... great low carb substitute 
Broccoli ... hate it but the lovely Mrs_Bob likes it

PHOTOS PLEASE


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## Bannedjoe

Something many may not know...

Mexico doesn't allow GMO.
This means that seeds from Mexican vegetables can be collected and planted.

We had a garden about 3 years ago.
My wife collected seeds from everything we bought, from melons to peppers to tomatoes.

But gardens are a lot of work, and we found it a real heartbreak as we competed with all the bugs and critters that wanted in on our efforts.

The wife has started again, but on a much smaller/hobby level.


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## Melensdad

Bannedjoe said:


> But gardens are a lot of work, and we found it a real heartbreak as we competed with all the bugs and critters that wanted in on our efforts.
> 
> The wife has started again, but on a much smaller/hobby level.


I used to plant a 1/4 acre of green beans. Rows of  Sunflower.  1/4 acre of Sweet corn.  

But so much work. 

We transitioned to 10 raised beds.  Then cut that back to 8.  My goal this year is 5.  But as of now I have 4 beds prepared.


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## Bannedjoe

Our last garden was about 1300 sqft.

We didn't have raised beds, just the amended ground.

Out here, as with many places, we had all the burrowing critters, tomato worms, and general the riff-raff.
I think the thing that really backed the wife up on the whole garden thing was the rattlesnakes.

We must have had a nest explode with them the last year we gardened.
Tried as we might to keep them out, (and take them out) there was hardly a day when the wife wouldn't come across one hiding in the cool damp shade under something.

But yeah, if we ever get serious again, raised beds would be the only way to go.


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## Melensdad

So 4 of the beds have been tilled.  

They need to be raked smooth and level but they are nice and fluffy.  So almost ready for planting.  Took a bit of work to get them into this shape.  They were overgrown for the last few years.

Look at the beds in the top left of the photo, that is the condition these beds were in a few days ago.  Just out of the photo is a fallen tree that is laying over several more raised beds, some of the top branches are visible laying across the beds    Sadly the ground around the garden is still very wet, not going to get the tractor down there until it dries a bit.


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## bczoom

Melensdad said:


> Purchased:
> Sweet Potatoes ... never tried them before, it will be a new crop for us
> Tomatoes ... Roma for canning.  Cherry, Grape for salads/snacks
> Onions ... mostly yellows and whites, but some reds
> Peppers ... mostly sweet varieties
> Brussels Sprouts ... just because I like them
> 
> Hoping to acquire:
> 
> Summer Squash ... yellows and greens
> Pickles ... for pickling
> Cauliflower ... great low carb substitute
> Broccoli ... hate it but the lovely Mrs_Bob likes it


You may need to use more beds if you're going to do all that.
I could see each of these taking up at least one bed each: tomatoes, cucumbers and squash.  Maybe more if depending on how much canning and pickling you want to do.

If you want to save seeds from the plants for next year, look for "Heirloom" seeds.  Be careful though.  I planted about 20 heirloom tomato plants one year. I'd just toss the ones that are no good and left some on the vine at the end of the year.  The next year, and for a couple years after, I had over 300 tomato plants all over the garden just from those that I didn't harvest.


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## EastTexFrank

I've been a gardener for most of my married life, 40 years, until lately.

My raised beds down back look just like yours Melensdad.  They haven't been planted in at least 4 years.  I'm not going to till up a bigger garden.  We've actually been talking about making a small planting in my wife's herb garden outside the kitchen window.  It's been abandoned for the last few years too.  RVing took it's toll on our gardens but really it was the drought a few years back when it was over 100°F for over 60 days straight.  It just became too much hard, hard work.  

We can always grow stuff during the summer but I've been thinking hard about a small greenhouse for winter veggies.  

I don't know when I'll be allowed to go in to town to get plants.


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## mla2ofus

We've been growing about a 600 sq ft garden for yrs so it won't be anything new for us.
Mike


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## m1west

Been thinking of a small garden again myself, last garden we planted we dug out the dirt and put chicken wire down to try to control the Voles and ground squirrels here. But the little fuckers ruined everything anyway, its even hard to start trees because they build nests right under the tree, drink your water and eat the roots. We have been fighting with them on our fruit trees we planted 3 years ago. Its not bad until around July when the ground really dries out. I have been thinking about a hanging garden in pots, thats should work for tomatoes and some other veggies. Anyone else have any ideas that don't include trying to kill the little bastards?I have found that to be endless and impossible.


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## bczoom

Hanging pots or pots in general don't hold water very well so you'll need to water those plants a lot more.


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## Melensdad

We are clearing 2 more beds today.

The one in the upper left corner by the fallen tree is almost ready to be tilled. 

There is a Triple-Size bed (_I was standing in it to take the photos so you can't see it_) that we used for melons in past years, that one is getting cleared out too.  That bed will hold the summer squash and cucumbers easily.  The Cukes will be grown vertically so they take up less room and are easier to manage, we have grown them that way in the past.


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## m1west

bczoom said:


> Hanging pots or pots in general don't hold water very well so you'll need to water those plants a lot more.



Im already used to that, the soil here is sand.


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## tiredretired

Shit, I'm still trying to figure out how to get mulch, much less plants and seeds.


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## m1west

TiredRetired said:


> Shit, I'm still trying to figure out how to get mulch, much less plants and seeds.



Got my seeds coming from eBay


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## FrancSevin

Our Subdivision lot has wonderful flower gardens but no room or sunlight for vegies.

The Ozark ranch is too tempting for local wildlife. And the soil is crap. I imported IOWA barnyard soil and set one raised bed 16'X24'. Local critters ate it all. So unless we decide to live there no garden.

I do have about 300 sq feet next to the manufacturing plant. Fenced and filled with, again, IOWA barn yard soil. My BIL had a string of five ponies and they mad a lot of fertilizer in sawdust pens. Good stuff for vegetables.

Last year we did nothing but pumpkins. They did poorly so I must bring in more manure. The space is too small for potatoes, so we don't even try. part of the garden gets afternoon shade so leaf lettuce will grow well there.

We grow Tomatoes , Beans, carrots and Zucchinis. Anytime we do corn the racoons get the ears just before they are at peak. So we don't even try.

The employees get to take home whatever they want. But they always leave the big tomatoes and a least one zucchini on my desk. 

I've tilled it over but haven't set any seed or plants. The weather is warm and stable here so,,,; maybe next week.


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## mla2ofus

M1, find some good mouser cats. Put 'em on short rations and a little milk each day.
Mike


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## m1west

mla2ofus said:


> M1, find some good mouser cats. Put 'em on short rations and a little milk each day.
> Mike



Thats how I got the 3 cats that I have now, they don't even put a dent in them. When I first moved here 11 years ago I put poison pellets down 1- hole in the front yard and later when we came home from lunch there was at least 30 of them out of the hole in the front yard. I shot them with a pellet gun and threw them away so the dog wouldn't get them. Point is there are thousands of those holes all over the property and they reproduce faster than you can kill them.


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## FrancSevin

m1west said:


> Been thinking of a small garden again myself, last garden we planted we dug out the dirt and put chicken wire down to try to control the Voles and ground squirrels here. But the little fuckers ruined everything anyway, its even hard to start trees because they build nests right under the tree, drink your water and eat the roots. We have been fighting with them on our fruit trees we planted 3 years ago. Its not bad until around July when the ground really dries out. I have been thinking about a hanging garden in pots, thats should work for tomatoes and some other veggies. Anyone else have any ideas that don't include trying to kill the little bastards?I have found that to be endless and impossible.




Any of my hanging baskets with flowers tend tobe uprooted by squirrels


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## Melensdad

Well our garden is coming along nicely.  The fallen tree was removed today and thrown onto the burn pile. 

The 'triple size' bed has been tilled and is nice and fluffy.  The bed in the upper left corner of the photo has also been tilled and prepared.  We are working on 1 more triple-size bed now.  It was last use for pumpkins.  Done for the day and that bed is not finished, rain looks like it will be moving in based on the skies.  It is forecasted to arrive at some point, I thought tonight but I'm hearing it may show up earlier than planned.  

Too bad about the rain, the ground is wet and the tractor was rutting pretty deep just moving around some of the deadfall.  We don't need any more rain right now, I still have standing water out along the creek.


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## XeVfTEUtaAqJHTqq

I bought a ton of seeds a few weeks ago.  It's still too cold and I'm holding off until I'm sure I need to plant anything.  My family is useless at helping in the garden so I would have to do all the weeding which I don't have time to do.

So far our stores are all stocked and I don't see a need to panic plant yet.


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## bczoom

m1west said:


> Thats how I got the 3 cats that I have now, they don't even put a dent in them. When I first moved here 11 years ago I put poison pellets down 1- hole in the front yard and later when we came home from lunch there was at least 30 of them out of the hole in the front yard. I shot them with a pellet gun and threw them away so the dog wouldn't get them. Point is there are thousands of those holes all over the property and they reproduce faster than you can kill them.


Instead of poison for the varmints, have you tried poison for their food?  Most of these varmints eat grubs and bugs that live underground.  If you kill those bugs using Diazinon or similar, it'll starve the varmints and they'll either die or move away.


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## bczoom

PBinWA said:


> My family is useless at helping in the garden so I would have to do all the weeding which I don't have time to do.


I can't get any help for our large garden either.  This is where I plant in volume for items that we plan on canning, pickling or freezing.  My wife will tend the raised bed garden that she uses for direct garden-to-plate things.

To keep the weeds down in the big garden, I put down 12' wide road cloth.  Does an excellent job for the weeds but being black, sometimes it hurts anything that lay directly on it as it burns/dries it out.


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## m1west

bczoom said:


> Instead of poison for the varmints, have you tried poison for their food?  Most of these varmints eat grubs and bugs that live underground.  If you kill those bugs using Diazinon or similar, it'll starve the varmints and they'll either die or move away.



I had not thought of that, sounds like there may be hope.


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## Melensdad

Hit up 2 semi-outdoor garden centers.  

Found several varieties of peppers, some pickling cucumbers and several varieties of tomatoes.  All plants.

They had some cauliflower and broccoli but we've not had great luck with either of those in the past.  Also seems sort of silly to buy things like cauliflower when you typically only get 1 head from an entire plant. 

Did not see any summer squash plants, I had seeds in my hand but the lovely Mrs_Bob showed her disapproval (_I could see it behind the mask_) so I put them down.  My past performance with seed starting is sub-standard 






bczoom said:


> Instead of poison for the varmints, have you tried poison for their food?  Most of these varmints eat grubs and bugs that live underground.  If you kill those bugs using Diazinon or similar, it'll starve the varmints and they'll either die or move away.


Agreed


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## mla2ofus

There are strains of broccoli that produce one large head and afterward quite a few small ones. We grow ours in special cages I built to keep the cabbage moths away from them. We don't like the extra protein from all those little green worms!!
Mike


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## bczoom

On a side note for those that don't garden regularly.
If you're going to eat things fresh out of the garden, stagger your plantings.  E.g. plant a few lettuce seeds every couple days.  If you plant all your lettuce (or whatever) all at the same time, it's all going to become ready for harvest at the same time.  Then you have an over-abundance that you can't eat before it rots.

If you're going to can, pickle or freeze a particular veggie, do them all at once so you can consolidate your harvest into a short period.  If you're making sauces or other tomato based products, make sure you're other ingredients are ready at the same time.  E.g. all the tomatoes come in but you want peppers added.  Well, if they're not ready for another week or 2, you're screwed.


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## Melensdad

Looks like the last of the snow will be gone today and I can get back to the garden.

Our shipment of PREEN arrived but its been too cold and snowy to get back down there to apply it.  Hoping that this afternoon it will reach the upper 50's and I can get down there rake the top and spread some PREEN to give me a bit of a weed block.  

The transplants are kept in the garage overnight and taken out to get sun in the morning.  It's still too cold at night to put them into the ground.  I have trays sitting on the pick up truck cover.  Back the truck out to the sunshine during the day, pull it back in at night.  A lot easier than carrying the trays outside and then back inside.


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## EastTexFrank

Melensdad said:


> Back the truck out to the sunshine during the day, pull it back in at night.  A lot easier than carrying the trays outside and then back inside.



We don't have a garage as such but I may use some version of that idea.  I like it.  

My S-I-L found a good source of potted veggies and said that the buying process was very safe.  My wife is going to check it out next week.  We still need more tomatoes and peppers and she'll see what else is there.  

While I was rummaging around in the barn I found one of those "walk in greenhouses" still in the box.  We used them to overwinter my wife's outside plants.  It's not big but I could possibly set it up at the house, run power for a grow light and a small heater and have green stuff, tomatoes and peppers next winter.  I'd have to get a bunch of pots, containers and growing soil but it could be done.  I've never done anything like that before.  It could be interesting.


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## m1west

My seeds showed up, but might run down town and buy some starter tomatoes and whatever else looks good. I think I'm running late for seed planting.


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## Melensdad

Got the fuel line and the fuel filter replaced on the Ventrac tractor today.

Got all the garden beds "Preened" with weed suppressor.  It will also prevent any vegetable seeds from sprouting in those beds too.  So all veggies going into those raised beds have to be transplants.  Temps today were supposed to be in the mid-50's but it is sunny and in the low 60's outside.  All the snow is finally melted.  Mud season is in full swing here, but the raised beds are in good shape.  I figure the transplants can go into the beds on Mother's Day weekend. 

Mowed some of the lawn today.  Sister in law is finishing.


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## mla2ofus

Only things I add to our veggie garden is manure and shredded leaves tilled in in the fall. We have our tomato, broccoli and onion seedlings started. Got a large oscillating fan blowing gently on them to strengthen the stalks and we started setting them outside for a short time to acclimate them. 
Mike


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## Melensdad

Normally we are organic gardeners for our food but I've heard good things about PREEN and really hate dealing with weeds.  I've got enough other stuff to worry about.  PREEN is made from corn.  

They make a few different varieties.  Organic.  With or without fertilizer.  I got the tubs with fertilizer because the ground in the garden beds was not amended with compost for the past few years and just overgrown with weeds.


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## EastTexFrank

I've used Preen for several years in selected places.  I think that you'll like it.


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## m1west

Ok today I finally got some starter plants. This morning at 8am I a called the hardware up town as this morning they got their new supply of starters, or so I thought.
They told me it didn't show yet so call back, I called at 10 no I called at 11:45 the lady told me the truck showed up at 10:30 and is being bought aggressively. I jumped in the truck and flew down there. When I got there there were old ladies on them like white on rice. I had to elbow my way in. I was able to get most everything I was looking for, tomatoes, bell pepper, cucumber, egg plant and some herbs, cilantro and basil. I wanted some strawberry starters but they won't be there until tomorrow.Also got plenty of dirt. Pots are coming from Ebay and will be here early next week.


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## m1west

Well between pulling weeds, working and the work cabin I got about 75% of my pot garden starters in the pots and should finish the planting today.


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## mla2ofus

Got our broccoli starts planted, planted the carrot seed+TP, sugar snap peas and beets in the ground. Will plant the tomatoes in the green house, chard, green beans, zuchini and cukes in the garden in the near future. Forecast to have some low 30's nites for the next few days so will do the rest of the planting after that.
Mike


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## EastTexFrank

We've got our few tomatoes and peppers in the ground and they are doing well.  We have 6 plants of 3 different types of tomato and six plants of three different colors of bell pepper.  It's not a lot but when they start coming on they should keep the two of us supplied, or at least we hope. 

I'm still thinking of what to do for winter veg if this darned thing comes back in the fall to haunt us all next winter.  Like mla2ofus, a greenhouse of some sort is the obvious answer.  I have that "portable greenhouse in a box" thing that is down in the barn.  I need to drag it out and assemble it to see if it would work up at the house for growing a few pot friendly veggies.


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## RNE228

My wife does landscape design and works in a local nursery. 
They sell out out of veggies shortly after each truck unloads. She's never seen a spring rush like this.


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## m1west

RNE228 said:


> My wife does landscape design and works in a local nursery.
> They sell out out of veggies shortly after each truck unloads. She's never seen a spring rush like this.



Been dealing with that also, still can't find any strawberry starters.


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## EastTexFrank

Supplies around here aren't too bad but they do sell out.  The nursery that we usually use is sold out again and he says that he isn't going to get any more in.  Tractor Supply, Ace and the other hardware store have a small but decent supply.  The other nursery in town has a plentiful supply of just about everything that you would need or so my wife tells me after her visit today.  I haven't been to Walmart as it is a zoo.


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## Melensdad

RNE228 said:


> My wife does landscape design and works in a local nursery.
> They *sell out out of veggies shortly after each truck unloads*. She's never seen a spring rush like this.



Pretty much what I am expecting to see here if I ever go out again.

We bought early for exactly that reason.  I'd still like to add a few more but we are in good shape for our small garden.

My garden is a grouping of small raised beds, each bed's shape is defined by a 2x6 cedar board that forms the outline.  Between each of the beds there is a crushed gravel path.  Yesterday morning I sprayed some extended release weed killer.  The crab grass and weeks have been trying to overtake the gravel paths.  I put an end to that with the ground clear.  It should do the trick.

Our garden is still not planted.  

We had 2 nights of freezing temps in the past 7 days.  We will be planting NEXT week, probably looking to start on Monday or Tuesday.  Until then it is RAIN.  Started this morning.  Not supposed to end until Sunday evening.


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## m1west

Hi all, got 1- beefsteak tomato and 2- green bell pepper plants with fruit growing. it won't be long now.


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## bczoom

You must have been able to get them in the ground much earlier than I could (which was Memorial Day weekend).  All my plants are still pretty small.  It'll be end of July before we are able to get any tomatoes or peppers.


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## m1west

bczoom said:


> You must have been able to get them in the ground much earlier than I could (which was Memorial Day weekend).  All my plants are still pretty small.  It'll be end of July before we are able to get any tomatoes or peppers.



Got them in by the middle of May, Im not sure its any easier or cheaper than going to the store, but I grew them myself.


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## Melensdad

We couldn't get our plants in the ground until Memorial Day either and we've been having such heavy rains that we still have a few that are in plastic tubs, they may just end up in the big tubs???

Tornado yesterday and thunderstorm this morning.  Starting to clear up again but there is a fresh 2" of water in the pool so the ground is soaked too


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## EastTexFrank

We only have a few plants but they, for the most part, are doing very well.  For some reason on of the tomato plants is a little late.  It has a ton of flowers but hasn't set any fruit.  The other 3 plants are massive.  They stand about 3 foot tall and are covered in medium sized tomatoes.  I think that three of them are "Celebrity"  and the fourth is a so called "black tomato".   None have started to ripen yet but when they do …..

The four pepper plants are also doing well.  They've set fruit and seem to be growing every day.  We have 2 green peppers, a red pepper and a yellow pepper.   

The potatoes that I threw in the ground down back have also come up and are doing well except for one that has been eaten but is still alive and trying.  It was probably a deer or a rabbit looking for a snack which is strange because I always thought that the leaves were poisonous.


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## bczoom

Melensdad said:


> We couldn't get our plants in the ground until Memorial Day either and we've been having such heavy rains that we still have a few that are in plastic tubs, they may just end up in the big tubs???
> 
> Tornado yesterday and thunderstorm this morning.  Starting to clear up again but there is a fresh 2" of water in the pool so the ground is soaked too


We don't put ours in the ground until Memorial Day in that up until that weekend, there's always a chance of frost.

Keeping them in tubs will be OK.  They won't get nearly as big or produce as much but such is life.  Anything in tubs will require more watering as they won't hold water/moisture nearly as much as being in the ground.

Tornado warnings last night here as well.  Haven't looked at the gardens yet but everything else outside appears fine so hoping no damage.


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## m1west

bczoom said:


> We don't put ours in the ground until Memorial Day in that up until that weekend, there's always a chance of frost.
> 
> Keeping them in tubs will be OK.  They won't get nearly as big or produce as much but such is life.  Anything in tubs will require more watering as they won't hold water/moisture nearly as much as being in the ground.
> 
> Tornado warnings last night here as well.  Haven't looked at the gardens yet but everything else outside appears fine so hoping no damage.



Im forced to grow them in pots or the wildlife around here will eat all of it. Right now they are trying to kill my 3 year old cherry trees. After the rain stops the ground becomes dryer than a popcorn fart around here and the little bastards go after anything you water. They build nests under the plants then eat the roots while drinking the water. There are to many to kill.


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## Melensdad

Our house is on a ridgeline, at the top.
Our garden is down the hillside, near the base.

Water supply is at the house.

So I ran a 25' hose from the house to the edge of the woods with a quick connect.  Its a lightweight hose so the lovely Mrs_Bob can manage it easily.  It just runs from the house spigot to the edge of the woods, over the lawn.   Because it runs over the lawn it needs to be easily connected/disconnected from another hose, and also easily rewound at the house side.

There is a heavy commercial grade 100' hose running through the woods down the hillside to the garden.  Quick connect coupler on that hose so it can connect up to the lighter weight hose that is attached to the house.

Down at the garden is a hose holder with a spigot.  The commercial grade hose connects into the hose holder/spigot.  

A 3rd hose is then connected to the spigot and that hose runs water to each of the garden planting beds.


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## m1west

Melensdad said:


> Our house is on a ridgeline, at the top.
> Our garden is down the hillside, near the base.
> 
> Water supply is at the house.
> 
> So I ran a 25' hose from the house to the edge of the woods with a quick connect.  Its a lightweight hose so the lovely Mrs_Bob can manage it easily.  It just runs from the house spigot to the edge of the woods, over the lawn.   Because it runs over the lawn it needs to be easily connected/disconnected from another hose, and also easily rewound at the house side.
> 
> There is a heavy commercial grade 100' hose running through the woods down the hillside to the garden.  Quick connect coupler on that hose so it can connect up to the lighter weight hose that is attached to the house.
> 
> Down at the garden is a hose holder with a spigot.  The commercial grade hose connects into the hose holder/spigot.
> 
> A 3rd hose is then connected to the spigot and that hose runs water to each of the garden planting beds.



I think I need to see a drawing to understand.:th_lmao::th_lmao:


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## EastTexFrank

My watering system is a holdover from my 25-year old mission to have a "no work" garden.  

I ran one of those micro watering systems in my wife's herb garden where the tomatoes and peppers are growing right now.  It was connected to a faucet and a timer on the wall.  She doesn't use it now and prefers one of those whirleygig sprinklers that she has to turn on and move around.  I need to pull that old system up.  

For the raised bed garden I trenched from the water well, laid 1-1/2" PVC pipe and placed a faucet and a timer at the end of each of the three raised beds for soaker hoses.  

When I had the big 1-acre garden I again ran PVC pipe from the well to the center and put a big sprinkler set on a 4"x4" treated post set right in the middle.  Again, it was on a timer.  

It all worked well for many years, basically until gave up veggie gardening.


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