# Dry Weather Gardening



## Davarm

For those of who live/garden in dry weather areas, there are things you can do to make the water you put on your garden go further. Mulch is one but in my case, I cant produce enough to use in my entire garden and purchasing that amount is a little beyond my budget limits.

The method have come up with has been working for the past several years. I rake up a bank of soil along the sides of the plants in each row, creating a "channel" to hold the water at the root area. It is important not to cover the area of soil directly over the plants roots so keep the "berms" back from the plants themselves. This also helps prevent evaporation from the windy conditions we have here each spring.

Tomatoes should not be done this way, they need the air flow to keep the base of the plants dry so blight will not set in.

The second to the last picture is of Winter Squash that I did not bank up, they are struggling and may not produce or even survive If I dont go back and bank them soon. The picture above that is of Zucchini that I watered last night, the soil around them is still wet(I took the picture at ablut 12pm and it is almost 100 again today), normally without the banking the soil would be totally dry.

The last spell of 100 degree weather we had in April is when I did this(this year) and the garden came through that without much trauma.


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## neldarez

Great idea, your garden is mind boggling! I kind of do the same thing when I hoe, I hoe towards my rows and leave the dirt piled up, I never thought it through that I was creating a little water canal... Your garden is awesome Dave, wow, what a lot of work, I didn't even see any weeds, what's up with that??:scratch


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## Davarm

Thaaank You Ms Nelda for the compliments, I'm glad I am not the only one who has done that kind of thing, validates it a little. Some of the pictures were taken last month but the whole garden is doing pretty good, 100 degree heat and all.

I spend alot of time on my hands and knees pulling the weeds, when water is hard to come by, they take more than their share so I evict them. I regularly till between the rows to keep any down that pop up. Geeeezze, I hate weeds.

I expect to see more pictures of your garden, I would LOVE to plant in your soil for a year. I'll bet you could grow anything there...just stick it in the ground and watch it grow. I have to fight tooth and nail here to get what I can manage to get my garden to produce. I'm even going to put a tarp tent up over my Mint and Lemon Balm patchs to keep the sun from roasting them again this summer, I just have to wait a while longer until the spring winds die down a little more.


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## neldarez

Davarm said:


> Thaaank You Ms Nelda for the compliments, I'm glad I am not the only one who has done that kind of thing, validates it a little. Some of the pictures were taken last month but the whole garden is doing pretty good, 100 degree heat and all.
> 
> I spend alot of time on my hands and knees pulling the weeds, when water is hard to come by, they take more than their share so I evict them. I regularly till between the rows to keep any down that pop up. Geeeezze, I hate weeds.
> 
> I expect to see more pictures of your garden, I would LOVE to plant in your soil for a year. I'll bet you could grow anything there...just stick it in the ground and watch it grow. I have to fight tooth and nail here to get what I can manage to get my garden to produce. I'm even going to put a tarp tent up over my Mint and Lemon Balm patchs to keep the sun from roasting them again this summer, I just have to wait a while longer until the spring winds die down a little more.


What do you use mint and lemon balm for? Are they more tea flavors?


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## Davarm

We use them for teas, hot and cold. The mint goes good in some of the preserves we make and the lemon balm also works on baked chicken(lemon chicken).

Can never have too much of either one on hand.


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## Davarm

Another way to get a crop from a garden in a dry year is to use wide spaced rows, in he attached photos note the 6 foot spacing between the rows of "Black Eye Peas".

This may seem like a waste of space to some, but when little water is available and your garden is in marginal soil, more sparsely placed rows/plants will have a better chance of producing than normally planted rows.

The corn planted behind the rows of peas act as a wind block to prevent the "Spring Winds" we have here from "Sucking" the little water available out of the soil.

This plot is the "Worst" spot in my garden and normally will not grow much. I decided to test out some things I saw in the middle east and it seems to be working so far. The Peas will work on building the soil and provide a crop at the same time. The banked rows will funnel any water from rain or the hose to the roots of the plants, These Peas will survive and produce on only a fraction of the water I would normally have to use to get the same results.


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## Davarm

Anyone that has ideas or experience please add your $.02.


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## Tirediron

We do a similar "hilling" method, but use a machine to hill the rows, because we have a very short growing season and have to "get er done", the hills also help in the case of excess rain in a short time and are easier to weed. my wife does an amazing job of keeping the weeds down.


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## Davarm

Tirediron said:


> We do a similar "hilling" method, but use a machine to hill the rows, because we have a very short growing season and have to "get er done", the hills also help in the case of excess rain in a short time and are easier to weed. my wife does an amazing job of keeping the weeds down.


Yes she does do a good job with weeds, very nice looking garden.

How long is your growing season and about what is the average rainfall in your area? And the big question, what kind of garden pests do you have to deal with up there?


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## Tirediron

Our season is pretty much from the 3rd week in May until about mid september as far as killing frost, most of our pests are 4 legged, the fence in the back ground keeps the white tails out, other wise they eat the peas and onions, yes onions. not much for bug problems here unless it gets wet then sluggs and cutworms.


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## Davarm

When water is at a premium or when you just want to water your garden and keep from being fined for violating water restrictions, using "soaker hoses" can be more efficient than sprinklers or hand held water hoses and are more "discreet". They apply the water to a specific target and water very slowly so all the water goes exactly where you want it.

It can be a pain to have to continually move hoses from one location to another when watering is necessary so I came up with a semi-permanent way to use the soakers without dragging them all over the yard and garden.

I buy 50 foot (soaker)hoses(around here they are about $9.00 each), cut them to the length of the rows and put fittings with caps on the cut end. This way I can run the hose at the base of the plants, under the foliage to put the water exactly where needed and leave it there all season. If you bank the rows with soil, it will make this even more effective.

I "gang" the soakers using short hose sections with Y connecters to feed off on each row. I can water entire sections of the garden by opening a single valve on the feeder hose.

This cuts down dramatically the amount of water you need and it deep soaks the water down thoroughly into the plant roots. It costs a little to get set up for this but the return will more than pay for the investment.


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## ContinualHarvest

Along the same lines as the soaker hoses, you can get drip tape that's fairly cheap. We used that in the Master Gardeners demo plot


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## Kellog

Beautiful gardens!! 
I used to use a trench and hill method when I had a big garden plot...it really does work. Now I've down-sized to raised beds and big pots and use a soaker hose method like Davarm's to irrigate. Like he said, with short lengths and multiple connectors, that system even works in pots. I usually put down the hose on top the soil, cover it with weed cloth, then old hay or dry grass clipping mulch to help keep the soil temp down. Works great for smaller scale gardens for weed control and moisture retention. The weed cloth can be taken up at the end of the season - it will last a few years that way. The mulch then gets dug in the bed or goes in the compost pile. 
Last summer was brutal even in the normally wet part of Texas...let's hope this year is better. 

Good idea about using Lemon Balm for Lemon Chicken...gonna have to try that. Thanks!


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## Davarm

Thank you for the compliment! I do put alot of work into it - have a goal to have it produce all the veggies we eat for the entire year. May be a little unrealistic, but it is my goal.



Kellog said:


> Beautiful gardens!!
> I used to use a trench and hill method when I had a big garden plot...it really does work. Now I've down-sized to raised beds and big pots and use a soaker hose method like Davarm's to irrigate. Like he said, with short lengths and multiple connectors, that system even works in pots. I usually put down the hose on top the soil, cover it with weed cloth, then old hay or dry grass clipping mulch to help keep the soil temp down. Works great for smaller scale gardens for weed control and moisture retention. The weed cloth can be taken up at the end of the season - it will last a few years that way. The mulch then gets dug in the bed or goes in the compost pile.
> Last summer was brutal even in the normally wet part of Texas...let's hope this year is better.
> 
> Good idea about using Lemon Balm for Lemon Chicken...gonna have to try that. Thanks!


That "trench and hill method", I'm not familiar with that unless it is running water down the length of a row - in a trench, having the garden on the hill or incline.

That is the way I set up my garden when I tilled it up for the first time a number of years ago...it did work really well but over the years I have pretty much tilled "Incline" out of the garden plot and water does not run freely from one end to the other any more.

Anything I can come up with to reduce the amount of work or resources the garden requires, I generally will jump on. I worked for a retired Air Force Master Sargent who always told me "son, you have to work smarter - not harder". Over the years it has turned out to be good sound advice.


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## Davarm

Are you a "Master Gardener"? You better think hard about answering yes, If you are...I may not give you a minutes rest for a while, I have a few crazy ideas rolling around in the back of my head.

I have been around a few places in this world and have seen how different cultures do things in unfriendly climates and am slowly working through those ideas. I am adopting those that work here in North Texas.

I dont want to sound like a dummy(really dont mind - probably am one), but, what is drip tape?



ContinualHarvest said:


> Along the same lines as the soaker hoses, you can get drip tape that's fairly cheap. We used that in the Master Gardeners demo plot


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## ContinualHarvest

I haven't had the opportunity to officially take the classes yet but I spend time with the MGs volunteering and working along side them. I may get to take the MG classes and get the official designation in the near future hopefully.

Here is the drip tape T-Tape


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## Kellog

Davarm said:


> That "trench and hill method", I'm not familiar with that unless it is running water down the length of a row - in a trench, having the garden on the hill or incline.


Yup that's it... raised rows with ditches (or trenches) in the walkways. I had a tiller with a furrow attachment that made the ditch down the walkway and moved the dirt up in a "hill" to the sides so the planting area was elevated. I could also pull the dirt up next to the plants like you do. In this climate, it helped keep the plants from drowning when we had tropical rains since the water collected in the ditches and the raised rows didn't get so soggy. (the garden area had only a slight slope but enough to drain the water away if the ditches were too full so the base of the plants stayed above water); then when the dry season came, I could fill the walkway ditches with water and it got down to the deep roots better. I sometimes mulched the sides of the hills but not the walkway ditches.



Davarm said:


> Anything I can come up with to reduce the amount of work or resources the garden requires, I generally will jump on. I worked for a retired Air Force Master Sargent who always told me "son, you have to work smarter - not harder". Over the years it has turned out to be good sound advice.


Boy, ain't that the truth! When the nut grass became too much to fight, I started planting in raised beds and containers - no more bending to weed. Plus with the kids gone, we didn't need such a big garden anymore. Heheh, I like to think of it as getting smarter too....getting creakier has nothing to do with it, right? Older and _wiser_....yup, that's it! 
:beercheer:


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## Davarm

I looked into the MG course here but I had no interest in the yard and flower garden side of the course so I passed it by. If they offered one here just for "Food" gardening, I would jump on it.

Here goes some questions, dont feel bad if you dont know the answers, the MG at the Extension Office didn't know either.

1. Some of my plants are showing signs of Potassium deficiencies, besides using wood ash, can I use salt substitute(Potassium Chloride) from the grocery store for this? Wood ash tends to clog up and corrode my sprayer.

2. For Blossom End Rot on tomatoes and peppers, is hydrated lime worked into the soil an adequate treatment. The Calcium Chloride from the feed store is kinda expensive. I have tried both recently and both seemed to work but I know if the calcium content of the soil is too high(above 12% I think) it will block the uptake of other nutrients. The lime is way cheaper but I hesitate to use too much in the soil, I made that mistake a few years ago and that soil is just starting to grow plants again.

Most "Experts" I ask these kinds of questions say that if you use plenty of compost, you shouldn't have to worry about deficiencies but they dont quite understand that finding enough for between 1/2 and 3/4 of an acre would bankrupt me. I think that they try to dodge the question so I just dont ask anymore and experiment.

Like I said, dont worry if you cant find an answer to those questions, no one else I have asked seems to know the answers either.

BTW, thanks for the link.



ContinualHarvest said:


> I haven't had the opportunity to officially take the classes yet but I spend time with the MGs volunteering and working along side them. I may get to take the MG classes and get the official designation in the near future hopefully.
> 
> Here is the drip tape T-Tape





Kellog said:


> Boy, ain't that the truth! When the nut grass became too much to fight, I started planting in raised beds and containers - no more bending to weed. Plus with the kids gone, we didn't need such a big garden anymore. Heheh, I like to think of it as getting smarter too....getting creakier has nothing to do with it, right? Older and wiser....yup, that's it!


One of these days I may be able to go to raised beds, not now! I have 2 DD's here now and a 3 year old grandson who eats like a Hoover Vacuum Cleaner and it's only going to get worse as time goes by. I just dont understand where that boy puts it all, he eats more than I do and he is as skinny as a fence post.

I think he is going to be a gardener though, every time I get the tiller out I till up all kinds of things he has "Planted" in the garden, funny though, he seems to remember just where everything is/was he plants and gets a little upset if they are not there when he goes to "Check On Them".

When I am in the garden I pop and creak more than a cheap wood floor. I think thats only going to get worse as time goes by also.


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## Davarm

ContinualHarvest said:


> I haven't had the opportunity to officially take the classes yet but I spend time with the MGs volunteering and working along side them. I may get to take the MG classes and get the official designation in the near future hopefully.
> 
> Here is the drip tape T-Tape


You can scratch question 1. above. I spent half the morning reading on plant nutrients and kept coming across "Murate of Potash" as a potassium source and when I finally looked that up, found it was Potassium Cloride. None other than ordinary grocery store verity Salt Substitute.

Several references that I found stated to dissolve as much as possible in a gallon of water(which comes out to about 2 pounds) and use that as a mix for a foliage spray. Two tablespoons of the concentrate per gallon is what was recommended.

I mixed up a batch and sprayed it on a row of peppers and a row of green beans and will watch them over the next few days to see what results.

I will keep the observations posted.


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## Davarm

Another trick I use in the dry weather is to use a 5 gallon bucket with holes drilled in the bottom to keep "seed beds" moist. When seeds are sprouting and growing to "transplant" size, keeping the soil moist is important. When the seedlings roots are not developed or established they cant access water that is very far from the surface. 

The bed in the photo is where I sowed the seeds for "Yellow Hungarian Wax Peppers". As they grew to the ideal size I transplant them to prepared beds but until they get to that size, the water is important. The bucket has about 1/2 dozen 1/8 inch holes in the bottom and it slowly drains the water at pretty much the best rate. If it does not water fast enough, drill more holes and if it waters too fast, I plug some with "Bamboo Skewers".


I have just about filled the beds with all the peppers I need so I am going to thin this bed out, border it to keep the Bermuda out and let the biggest and healthiest plants go ahead and produce.

You can also add any needed fertilizer(I use liquid fish and liquid seaweed for seedlings) to the water so you kill 2 birds with one stone.


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## kappydell

Ive used the hilling technique to good effect on hillside gardens. Creates multiple 'mini-terraces' and one can channel the water to the plant roots. I recall seeing some native american dry farming terraces/hills/berms that were V-shaped with the desired plant at the bottom of the V terrace. That allowed it to access water from a wider area, directed at its roots. Excellent subject!! Lets keep brainstorming, the dry season approacheth....


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## Davarm

kappydell said:


> Ive used the hilling technique to good effect on hillside gardens. Creates multiple 'mini-terraces' and one can channel the water to the plant roots. I recall seeing some native american dry farming terraces/hills/berms that were V-shaped with the desired plant at the bottom of the V terrace. That allowed it to access water from a wider area, directed at its roots. Excellent subject!! Lets keep brainstorming, the dry season approacheth....


Kappy, it seems that I have heard/seen that V thing somewhere, cant place it though. Some of the ideas I have came from the indians in the 4 corners area and if it kept them going for so long their has to be something to it.

BTW, that "dry season approacheth", Its already here for me, been here for about a month now. With any luck you guys up that way will have a while longer before it hits you.


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## Stevegardens85

What zones are you guys in? I'm in 9b. Summers get to 105+ and I have to water twice a day in the hottest days but I use a drip system.


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## Davarm

Stevegardens85 said:


> What zones are you guys in? I'm in 9b. Summers get to 105+ and I have to water twice a day in the hottest days but I use a drip system.


I'm zone 7b, we have already had a month of 100+ degree weather, a few days at 107. When It gets that hot with the 30+ mph winds we have been having, the only option is watering twice(or more) a day here. Thats one reason I have come up with the conservation methods I have used.

If we have another year like last year, my water bill may exceed my electric bill!


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## Stevegardens85

That's crazy. Hey I have my garden on video, is there a place on this forum to show it and get critiques?


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## mdprepper

Stevegardens85 said:


> That's crazy. Hey I have my garden on video, is there a place on this forum to show it and get critiques?


Up near the top of the page there are "buttons"

Home Forum Reviews etc the last one is for Videos


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## Davarm

mdprepper said:


> Up near the top of the page there are "buttons"
> 
> Home Forum Reviews etc the last one is for Videos


Thanks, I look up there every day and never noticed the "Video" button, dont have time to do any videos now but I may when things slow down.:2thumb:


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## Stevegardens85

Wow right up there where you would think I would have seen it. 

Thanks. 

Woul you guys like to my video? I can't post it from my phone but I can link it.


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## neldarez

Stevegardens85 said:


> Wow right up there where you would think I would have seen it.
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> Woul you guys like to my video? I can't post it from my phone but I can link it.


I would love to see the videos of your garden...you betcha


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## neldarez

[/URL][/IMG]
DH had to put the tiller back on the tractor to till for someone, so he said while I have it on there do you want me to till anything else? Thus, smaller space on the left is now all potatoes........lol, I wasn't even going to grow any this year.......go figure, 3 gardens, I'm thinking big!


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## Davarm

neldarez said:


> [/URL][/IMG]
> DH had to put the tiller back on the tractor to till for someone, so he said while I have it on there do you want me to till anything else? Thus, smaller space on the left is now all potatoes........lol, I wasn't even going to grow any this year.......go figure, 3 gardens, I'm thinking big!


Darn Ms Nelda, I would love to have that down here, thats almost enough to make think about moving(I said Almost). I can almost see your garden growing every time I look at those pictures. :congrat:


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## Stevegardens85

Heres the latest one.


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## Stevegardens85

Here is my first one. It's pretty short.


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## LilRedHen

Attaching pictures of my garden. I am having trouble with my tomato plants. Two are dying. I have checked for tobacco worms, but have found nothing. This started since last Friday, when I put a teaspoon of crushed soaked eggshells at the base of each plant, put a piece of black plastic around the plant and then the cage. I don't know if it is the eggshells or the plastic.


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## goshengirl

What's the black plastic for? Is it the kind that still allows moisture to pass through? I think I'd be concerned that the black around the base of the plant would heat up the roots too much, but that's just a guess on my part.


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## LilRedHen

goshengirl said:


> What's the black plastic for? Is it the kind that still allows moisture to pass through? I think I'd be concerned that the black around the base of the plant would heat up the roots too much, but that's just a guess on my part.


It holds the moisture in the ground. The only good crop of tomatoes that I ever had were set in holes in a 100' x 12' piece of black plastic.


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## neldarez

It's the plastic that would concern me, I've tried things like that, even grass clipping up close to the plant, and I've lost them, they get too hot. That would be my guess:dunno:


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## neldarez

LilRedHen said:


> Attaching pictures of my garden. I am having trouble with my tomato plants. Two are dying. I have checked for tobacco worms, but have found nothing. This started since last Friday, when I put a teaspoon of crushed soaked eggshells at the base of each plant, put a piece of black plastic around the plant and then the cage. I don't know if it is the eggshells or the plastic.


Beautiful garden LilRedHen........the tomato cages are exactly like the ones we just built, they are sooooo strong!


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## Stevegardens85

Just a suggestion hen. Throw a thin layer of soil on top of the plastic. You may have too much heat reflecting up onto the foliage.


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## Davarm

neldarez said:


> Beautiful garden LilRedHen........the tomato cages are exactly like the ones we just built, they are sooooo strong!


Thanks a lot there Ms Nelda, now you and Ms LilRedHen have shamed me into making new hoops. The ones I have now are years old and were made from regular fence wire. Pretty sad next to yours, I see my winter shaping up already, cutting and bending that concrete mesh looks like some hard work, especially when I am going to need at least 100 next year

Seriously, I have been considering making hose since you'll started talking about them several months ago, the pics just took away the questions I had about doing it,

Thanks Ms Nelda and Ms LilRedHen.


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## LilRedHen

Davarm said:


> Thanks a lot there Ms Nelda, now you and Ms LilRedHen have shamed me into making new hoops. The ones I have now are years old and were made from regular fence wire. Pretty sad next to yours, I see my winter shaping up already, cutting and bending that concrete mesh looks like some hard work, especially when I am going to need at least 100 next year
> 
> Seriously, I have been considering making hose since you'll started talking about them several months ago, the pics just took away the questions I had about doing it,
> 
> Thanks Ms Nelda and Ms LilRedHen.


I wish I had more. When the Rooster & I made ours, he was only on one crutch and was stronger. I cut the wire with bolt cutters while he stood on the other edge to keep it from snapping back on me, then I bent the bottom and top wire and hooked them and he sat in a chair and bent the others. I like them a lot. They are stronger and last for ages, but are the pits to store or stack. This year, I used all my cages and needed 4 more. I even had to use some made of a closer woven wire that I had to cut 'windows' in to get my hand through to pick the tomatoes.


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## goshengirl

LilRedHen said:


> It holds the moisture in the ground. The only good crop of tomatoes that I ever had were set in holes in a 100' x 12' piece of black plastic.


I learn something new here everyday! 

The reason I asked about the plastic was because I had a similar experience with some landscape fabric and lilacs. I put the fabric in place but didn't get around to covering the fabric (it's the breathable/porous type). About a week later, the lilacs overheated and dried up, and nearly died. I think it was leaving the black fabric uncovered that did it. (I'd intended to mulch with old leaves.)

So I'm curious. I know your plastic is different than landscape fabric (non-porous), and I can see how keeping the moisture trapped would be a good thing - but how does the moisture get there in the first place? Is there a drip system under the plastic? The phrase 'work smarter, not harder' keeps coming to mind - I want to learn from everyone's systems!


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## LilRedHen

goshengirl said:


> I learn something new here everyday! SoI'm curious. I know your plastic is different than landscape fabric (non-porous), and I can see how keeping the moisture trapped would be a good thing - but how does the moisture get there in the first place? Is there a drip system under the plastic? The phrase 'work smarter, not harder' keeps coming to mind - I want to learn from everyone's systems!


I have a 3 foot piece of 1 1/2 inch plastic pipe and a funnel. I carefully ease the pipe down through the cage and leaves to the base of the plant and pour a dipper of water into the funnel every night between 6 and 7 p.m. About three weeks before I caged the tomatoes, I had 'mulched' them with old dry barn manure. I wish I had enough water to even think about a drip system. I don't, so I carry 5 gallons of water to the garden every night and water my 24 tomato plants, 4 squash, 4 cucumber, 16 pepper and 10 pumpkin plants. The corn, okra, beans and peas have to fend for themselves. In years past, I would water until the plants got over the shock of transplanting and then let God water them, but I decided to commit to watering this year, since I so want some tomatoes and squash to can.


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## goshengirl

LilRedHen said:


> In years past, I would water until the plants got over the shock of transplanting and then let God water them, but I decided to commit to watering this year, since I so want some tomatoes and squash to can.


I hear ya. We collect rainwater for our garden, and store in 55 gallon drums. I've got this idea to develop a slow drip system using the drums at the end of each row along with pvc pipe, but we're not there yet. I will say, though, that by hand watering we really know what's going on with all our plants, and who needs what (mulching, staking, shot of fertilizer, whatever) because we see each one every day. It does get awfully hard on the back, though...


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## neldarez

Davarm said:


> Thanks a lot there Ms Nelda, now you and Ms LilRedHen have shamed me into making new hoops. The ones I have now are years old and were made from regular fence wire. Pretty sad next to yours, I see my winter shaping up already, cutting and bending that concrete mesh looks like some hard work, especially when I am going to need at least 100 next year
> 
> Seriously, I have been considering making hose since you'll started talking about them several months ago, the pics just took away the questions I had about doing it,
> 
> Thanks Ms Nelda and Ms LilRedHen.


It's our great pleasure to find work for you to do Davarm!! lol...that's what women do...:wave:


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## neldarez

Today we had 3 holes in the garden, pretty close together, where a gopher thinks he's going to dine!! I bought some special grain for him and will try to find his tunnel next time and feed him dinner... hopefully he won't like what I feed him!


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## Davarm

LilRedHen said:


> I have a 3 foot piece of 1 1/2 inch plastic pipe and a funnel. I carefully ease the pipe down through the cage and leaves to the base of the plant and pour a dipper of water into the funnel every night between 6 and 7 p.m.


Well I'll be darned Ms LilRedHen, I guess I'm in good company! I too have a piece of 1 1/2 inch pvc with a metal funnel I used to water my tomatoes with. I started doing this 3 or 4 years ago so I could water the tomatoes at the roots and keep the foliage dry to help avoid blight.

I guess great minds think alike, huh?


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## Davarm

neldarez said:


> Today we had 3 holes in the garden, pretty close together, where a gopher thinks he's going to dine!! I bought some special grain for him and will try to find his tunnel next time and feed him dinner... hopefully he won't like what I feed him!


When we lived on the Texas Coast, we had gophers bad. I came up with a way to get rid of them, no poison. I would find the newest pile of dirt and with a water hose, I would find the opening of the tunnel and run about 10 gallons of water into his living room. I would then put a lawn chair down and sit there, stock still, with my SKS aimed at the hole. Without fail, the critter would start cleaning out the tunnel within about 10 minutes.....1 shot, 1 kill and the little guy became fertilizer. Not usually enough of him left to dig out with a stick.

The DD's made a sign to hang on the pump house that they kept a count on. When we finally moved my count was in the 50's. The only problem was that when you kill one, 10 or more would usually come to the funeral.


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## neldarez

Davarm said:


> When we lived on the Texas Coast, we had gophers bad. I came up with a way to get rid of them, no poison. I would find the newest pile of dirt and with a water hose, I would find the opening of the tunnel and run about 10 gallons of water into his living room. I would then put a lawn chair down and sit there, stock still, with my SKS aimed at the hole. Without fail, the critter would start cleaning out the tunnel within about 10 minutes.....1 shot, 1 kill and the little guy became fertilizer. Not usually enough of him left to dig out with a stick.
> 
> The DD's made a sign to hang on the pump house that they kept a count on. When we finally moved my count was in the 50's. The only problem was that when you kill one, 10 or more would usually come to the funeral.


I went looking for his tunnel but I couldn't find it, don't know if I dug too deep or what I did, I found the beginning right before the plug, but not on the other side of the plug.........I think these are pocket gophers. Your DD's sound like they are a kick!!


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## neldarez

Our weather here is unbelievable, it's so cool and the wind just won't stop. We are praying that their will be a harvest in our gardens this year, all the plants are stunted and just holding their own. Even though it is not hot ( barely in the 70's) the constant wind is drying everything out. Come on summer!! It's suppose to get down to 42 or so in the next few nights! This is JUNE!!


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## Davarm

neldarez said:


> It's our great pleasure to find work for you to do Davarm!! lol...that's what women do...:wave:


Yea, Ms Nelda, it took me most of my life to finally figure that out! Buuut, its too late to change now......:surrender:



neldarez said:


> Your DD's sound like they are a kick!!


Yes, they are, they learned from the best! We dont usually have much peace and quiet around here, if things get too laid back one of us will dream up a good Prank to liven things up.



neldarez said:


> Our weather here is unbelievable, it's so cool and the wind just won't stop. We are praying that their will be a harvest in our gardens this year, all the plants are stunted and just holding their own. Even though it is not hot ( barely in the 70's) the constant wind is drying everything out. Come on summer!! It's suppose to get down to 42 or so in the next few nights! This is JUNE!!


You can send some of that cool weather down here, it was 105 today, dead calm and about 70% humidity. The UV index was extremely high also.

If it weren't for Global Warming, you may have had a Sub-Zero spell!


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## Davarm

Today the UV index was extremely high and I have been worried about my Tomatoes getting sunburn. Most of the vines are "Loaded" with green and ripening fruit and it would really be a bear to have to deal with sunburned tomatoes this early in the garden year.......So...

I dug through my shed until I found a partial roll of weed barrier and decided to make shades for the plants. I cut a bout 3ft x 3ft square of it and knotted each corner and tied a string around the knot with a lug nut on each string. I have stakes in the ground to anchor the hoops down and I put the "tent" over the stake and let it hang down around the hoop, the weed barrier allows some light through but not enough to burn the fruit or foliage. I made it easy enough to place and remove it so I can put it on when the UV index is high and remove when it is cloudy. It will still be a job if I make enough for all my 100+ plants but the potential return on the investment will be worth it.

I am going to watch the test plant I tented for a bout a week and if it appears to be beneficial, I will get to work.

I will take a picture of it tomorrow and post it so anyone interested can get a better picture of what I am doing.

The drawback on this is that if the wind suddenly picks up and blows the shade off the tomato, it could act like a parachute and sling those lug nuts all over the place. Guess I'm going to have to pay alot closer attention to the weather reports now!


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## Stevegardens85

Tomatoes do not like shade even I. The hottest temps. But if you are goin to cover them at all maybe focus on a structure that only shades during the hottest part of the day


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## Davarm

Stevegardens85 said:


> Tomatoes do not like shade even I. The hottest temps. But if you are goin to cover them at all maybe focus on a structure that only shades during the hottest part of the day


I agree that tomatoes prefer full sun, but, here in this part of Texas the full sun is often more than they can handle. The sun beating down on the plants and especially the fruit that not shaded by leaves will burn them.

I made the "Shades" the way that I did so that I could walk by and drop them on when needed and pick them up and put them in a bag/box when not needed.

Too much of a good thing is not always a good thing, same with the Hot Texas Summer Sun.

I chose this type of "Shade" device because it is cheap, fast/ easy to put on and remove. Anything more complex and/or expensive would be prohibitive having approximately 120 tomato plants.


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## Davarm

Davarm said:


> Today the UV index was extremely high and I have been worried about my Tomatoes getting sunburn. Most of the vines are "Loaded" with green and ripening fruit and it would really be a bear to have to deal with sunburned tomatoes this early in the garden year.......So...
> 
> I dug through my shed until I found a partial roll of weed barrier and decided to make shades for the plants. I cut a bout 3ft x 3ft square of it and knotted each corner and tied a string around the knot with a lug nut on each string. I have stakes in the ground to anchor the hoops down and I put the "tent" over the stake and let it hang down around the hoop, the weed barrier allows some light through but not enough to burn the fruit or foliage. I made it easy enough to place and remove it so I can put it on when the UV index is high and remove when it is cloudy. It will still be a job if I make enough for all my 100+ plants but the potential return on the investment will be worth it.
> 
> I am going to watch the test plant I tented for a bout a week and if it appears to be beneficial, I will get to work.
> 
> I will take a picture of it tomorrow and post it so anyone interested can get a better picture of what I am doing.
> 
> The drawback on this is that if the wind suddenly picks up and blows the shade off the tomato, it could act like a parachute and sling those lug nuts all over the place. Guess I'm going to have to pay alot closer attention to the weather reports now!


Here is one of the two "Shades" I made for the tomato plants, It seems to be doing ok so far, I go out and put it on around noon when the sun starts beating down and take it off around 7 when it starts cooling down for the night.


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