Monday, January 17, 2011
Seeking FREE 1500 Gallon Vertical Slimline Cistern for the Plant Nation!
Last year I was out of water by the 3rd week of June! It was a lost growing season here! Drought- like everywhere else.
I have 5 rainbarrels, 55 gallons each that feed into a 250 gallon plastic utility pond. I use that pond as a reservoir to pump out of into soaker hoses through out the garden. In 2010 I was a lone gardener and used a third of the space to plant with tomatoes, peppers and some squash, only.
I ran out of water very early. I refused to supplement with city water. I knew I would get enough food for me through the summer, but none to freeze, so I lived with that.
My great wish for this year is to find or have donated to us a slim line, ( 60" diameter, 147" high) 1200 or 1500 gallon cistern! Wow! Holy artichoke!
Used is fine, new is fantastic! Another size would be tough to accomodate on the small footprint I have but if you have one that is larger, please let me know and I will try to make it work.
Ideally, it should be ON my house roof, not on the ground, with an open top. But I don't want to take that chance right now-testing the old joists.
Last summer, as a preventative to sure premature death of the tomatoes and peppers, I routed my basement washing machine drain hose out (through a hole I had drilled into the grout that used to run drip waste water from water filtration system,) the side of the house, into a garden hose, that was set up to run into the pond. It really helped supplement the plants through September, although still not adequate. It was a sad summer.
Soapy water is good for plants, as it is phosphate free, and my tomatoes and peppers were essentially bug free. Grey water recycling. Into the soil. Soil is a filter, soap is phosphate free.
2011 Garden Plat Overview, Ready to Design !
For the new Growing Season of 2011, I used the PlanGarden.com, on line interactive tool to draw out my existing property plat, complete with buildings, rainbarrel locations, permanent plantings, trees, sun exposure, indicating flower beds, ornamental beds and future flower locations.
http://www.plangarden.com/garden_pics/img/myGarden_33827.png
The Frederick Urban Grower's first meeting is this Saturday at 1 PM. We'll go over the garden concept, gardening agreement, possible costs, list of vegetables and herbs to consider planting, ( final to be decided upon at next meeting,) and get to know each other, what each of us can bring to share with the others.
See the result above.
The Frederick Urban Grower's first meeting is this Saturday at 1 PM. We'll go over the garden concept, gardening agreement, possible costs, list of vegetables and herbs to consider planting, ( final to be decided upon at next meeting,) and get to know each other, what each of us can bring to share with the others.
Monday, January 10, 2011
2011 Growing Season, Welcome New Members!
copyright Laurie Zook
We welcome new active gardeners for the spring, summer and fall garden at 256 South Carroll Street, Plant Nation, stomping and growing ground for The Frederick Urban Growers. Give Laurie a call at 301-332-5585 or email here for info.
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