When I bought my drip hose I got one that would be long enough for this doubled garden area. With it connected to my rain barrel I should be able to keep my garden watered pretty well.
Drip Hose
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Tag Archives: Garden Tools
Raised Garden
To make the corners of the garden sturdy I cut the timbers to interlock. Then I drilled a hole all the way through and hammered in a 36″ rebar pin. I did it the same way for the first half and it's worked out pretty well.
You can see again, I'm using newspaper to help keep the grass from growing up to the garden surface.
Originally I left the pins sticking out about 2 feet. I was using it to hold up my fencing material. I'm not doing that now so I hammered the pins in almost all of the way. 
I am going to leave a few inches in case I decide to add another level or two.
Automatic Timer for Rain Barrel
Since I had a rain barrel I wanted to add a little automation to it. The best time to water is early in the morning, before the sun has come up. of course, early in the morning I need to be off to work. To help me out I purchased an Automatic Water Timer
It took me a while to realize it, the automatic timer wasn’t working. It never actually came on. The problem was that I was testing it by hooking it to the house water line then, when it worked fine, I put it back on the barrel. Apparently (obviously now), there are two kinds of automatic timers. The kind that use the high pressure of city water lines to actuate and the kind I need for a gravity fed system.
When you get your own make sure it’s one that operates at 0 PSI, not just the kind that works with low pressure soaker hoses.
I ended up ordering a Solar Rain Barrel Timer online, which says it can operate at 0-80 psi. I couldn't find anything similar in any of my local hardware stores and this one seemed the best for the price.
White Picket Fence
The fence I had previously was not very attractive and didn't do a good job of keeping small critters out. This fence won't be much better for rabbits but it will be more attractive.
I installed the fence, first I dug a small trench around the edge of the garden. Since I try not to walk in the garden the ground isn't very packed and this was relatively simple. I set the fence about 4 inches below finished grade. The fence was pretty easy to fit to corners. I thought it might be troublesome but, no. Even at the seam between the two gardens I was able to slide up one of the slats out of the way. I might trim it at some point.
I filled the dirt back in around the fence and packed it in by stomping the dirt down. It took three rolls for my garden. I want to do something for a gate. I want something that won't be too much trouble to install but will be sturdy enough for use. For now It's not too tall to step over.
Marigolds
I planted Marigolds this year. I'm using them for their deterrent effect. I have planted them at each corner and in the middle, also here along the entry, just cause they look nice. Marigolds are annuals and mounding so they should be a good investment for my garden.
Catching Up
The lettuce is coming in, but the celery did not. The carrots are coming in, but the spinach is not. The Sugar Snaps are doing great but neither the tomato nor the pepper plant came up. The lettuce came in really well so I thinned by transplanting a dozen or so to where I had planted the celery. I bought a few tomato and pepper plants a week ago and planted them. They are doing well and I look forward to eating them. The watermelons have sprouted.
I weeded my gardens today. It's so much easier to do when the dirt has never been stepped on.
While weeding I found this egg. It was inside the fence and near the edge.
I have taken to a strange practice with my rain barrel. I grow catnip in it. Maybe none of the reasons I do it are any good but here they are anyway. First, because I can. Catnip grows very easily and quickly puts out roots in water. Secondly, I have found the water, if left to it's self, will start to smell bad. With a plant growing in it that usually goes away. I suspect that the catnip feeds off bird droppings and other dead plant life such as algae that sometimes grows.. Thirdly, I found that catnip is a pretty good deterrent to ants. If I can water with a natural ant deterrent then I will. I'll never forget the nightmare of stepping onto the walkway of my garden to find that it woke up the colony. I've since planted some catnip in that spot and I haven't had trouble since, but spreading the love around is OK with me.
Maybe I'm just crazy but I feel like this helps.