background preloader

Self-Watering Veggie Table

Self-Watering Veggie Table
A Brief History of Gardening in Containers: Do you like gardening but digging in the dirt is too painful, messy, or time consuming? Container gardening is your answer. For many years now, container gardeners have been using pots, tubs, and boxes of all sizes to garden in. Recently, the advent of so-called "self watering" containers have helped gardeners to grow flowers, vegetables, and herbs with even more success. At the University of Maryland Extension, Jon Traunfeld designed a Salad Table which is essentially a shallow wooden frame with a large surface area and a mesh bottom that allows water to drain. The Idea: I loved the idea of a salad table as a way to maximize the space I have to grow salad greens to feed myself and my rabbits. What is Self-Watering? Related:  Water

How to Dehydrate Vegetables, Instructions for Dehydrating Vegetables from the Garden Dehydrating Vegetables from the Garden How to Dry Vegetables Instructions for Dehydrating Vegetables: Dehydrating vegetables (whether fresh from the garden, the farmer's market, or even just from the grocery store at in-season prices) for use in the off-season is one of the healthiest ways of preserving vegetables. Dehydrating vegetables preserves them with a nutritional content that far surpasses that of canned vegetables. The process of dehydrating vegetables can be broken into a couple of simple steps: preparation, including pre-treating the vegetables (if necessary) drying or dehydrating the vegetables storing the finished dehydrated vegetables Below, you'll find a list of common vegetable types that dry well, along with easy to follow instructions. Note: You may want to make sure that you like the end-product, or that you have recipes that your family will eat using the end-product, before going all-out Dehydrating or Drying Vegetables: ARTICHOKES 1. See also: 1. See also: 1. 1. 1. 1. 1.

Raised bed Garden I then installed (2) 2x6x8 and (2) 2x8x12 to the inside of the 4x4 s for the above ground outside frame. Since i used pressure treated for the floor and sides i needed a barrier to separate the soil with the treated wood . So i double up 2 layers of 8mm plastic sheeting as my barrier between the soil and wood. Top Ten Most Nutritious Vegetables and How to Grow Them in Your Garden A perfectly ripe, juicy tomato, still warm from the sun. Sweet carrots, pulled from the garden minutes (or even seconds!) before they're eaten. Growing your own vegetables is one of those activities that balances practicality and indulgence. Broccoli is high in calcium, iron, and magnesium, as well as vitamins A, B6, and C. How to grow broccoliGrow broccoli in containers: One broccoli plant per pot, pots should be 12 to 16 inches deep.What to watch out for: Cabbage worm. 2. There is nothing like peas grown right in your own garden — the tender sweetness of a snap pea just plucked from the vine is unlike anything you can buy in at a store. How to grow peasGrow peas in containers: Sow peas approximately 2 inches apart in a pot that is at least 10 inches deep. 3. While snap beans (green beans/wax beans) are a great addition to any garden, it's the beans we grow as dried beans that are real nutritional powerhouses. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. OK, I cheated here. Try growing one or two (or all!)

Types of Water: Gray Water, Black Water and White Water" Sure, gray water sounds like something worth reusing, but what's in it exactly? First, let's draw the line between gray and black. The key difference between the two is that black water has come into contact with fecal matter. Fecal matter is a haven for harmful bacteria and disease-causing pathogens. Additionally, this waste doesn't break down and decompose in water fast or effectively enough for use in domestic irrigation without the risk of contamination. Gray water, on the other hand, has not come into contact with solid human waste. The line between white and gray, however, comes down to a number of possible additions made in the acts of washing, bathing, cooking and cleaning . ­If ­the household chemicals in gray water are kept to a minimum, most plants will be able to handle it. When everything you send down the drain winds up in your backyard, "environmentally friendly" certainly hits much closer to home.

Rainwater Catchment... cheap & simple! This is a cheap and simple way to create a rainwater catchment system. It takes about an hour from start to finish, the only tool I used was a utility knife, and it costs under $15. Hopefully this project should be accessible to just about everyone. This is a good project for city dwellers with limited space or renters who aren't allowed on the roof, or don't have access to an outdoor hose... You'll need: •your favorite utility knife. Best Ways To Water Your Garden | Reclaim, Grow, Sustain In summer, when there usually isn't enough rain to forgo watering all together and the heat is testing your plants, there is a temptation to inundate your soil with a constant flow of water. And it seems most give in to this instinct, abiding to daily waterings of their gardens without question. But with a lack of rain comes a need for water conservation. And oddly enough, less watering isn't actually counterintuitive to plant health. So in those peaceful moments when you've got your watering can in hand and you're lovingly showering your plants, the water gently pooling and sinking into the soil, perhaps you might consider whether you're making the best use of your water. How frequently should I water my garden? How much water do plants need? Where's the best spot to water a plant? When is the best time to water your garden? Water when it will do the most good, of course. It doesn't really matter which time as long as you do it right. How can I make my watering more efficient?

Make a Hanging Garden Make a hanging garden of stacked pots! Although it may be blisteringly hot outside, you can now garden underneath the shade of your porch! You can take advantage of vertical space and shady areas using this quick, easy, and simple method of gardening. In the summer, most plant nurseries offer reduced prices for many of their plants (at least in the summer heat of Texas they do). Here's a way to take advantage of those prices and make a space-friendly vertical garden that can be enjoyed anywhere. Vertical gardening helps utilize space in urban settings, allowing you to have more plants in a smaller space. If you don't have a suitable place to hang your garden and/or have high winds that could damage knock them off, you could also choose to use the larger tipsy pot tower that inspired this. More pictures to come!

100-Year-Old Way to Filter Rainwater in a Barrel | The Prepper JournalThe Prepper Journal During our boiling, broiling, blistering summer of 2012 here in the Missouri Ozarks, water was a topic of conversation wherever we went. Creeks and ponds dried up (some never recovered) and the water table dropped, forcing a few neighbors to have their well pumps lowered or to even have deeper wells drilled. Many folks shared memories of rain barrels, cisterns, hand pumps and drawing water with a well bucket as a child, usually on grandpa and grandma’s farm. Some said they’d never want to rely again on those old-time methods of getting water. It seems we have lost much practical knowledge in the last 50 or so years because we thought we’d never need it again. A tattered, 4-inch thick, 1909 book I happily secured for $8 in a thrift store reveals, among umpteen-thousand other every-day skills, how to make homemade water filters. The “wholesome” observation applies to plants, too. 100-year-old instructions For gardening, rainwater is, naturally, best unfiltered. Free online reading

Ghetto Greenhouse:Seed Starter If you want to start a garden one of the cheapest ways to do so is to start your own plants from seeds. You can go out and buy a mini-greenhouse but why do it when you can make one. All you need is a plastic container (I'll use a soda bottle) some potting soil, and some seeds. The seeds you can buy or collect it doesn't matter. After you've grown your seeds you can use it to beautify your home, or do some guerrilla gardening, donate them to charity or sell your plants for raise money for your favorite cause. Who doesn't love plants? (that was rhetorical) You can see more stuff on one of my blogs. You can also check out this as the seed starterseed starter blog entry. Sprinkler System, made two pots Hace un tiempo vimos un antiguo sistema riego, conocido como “ollas”, es un sistema muy simple, con miles de años de uso, y que como muchas cosas simples, baratas y útiles, quedo en el olvido, quien no lo vio o no lo recuerde mirar: Sistema de riego, sin energía, sin plástico, sin necesidad de sol. Nuestra amiga Caroline, de Connecticut es una apasionada de la agricultura orgánica y quiso utilizar “ollas” en su huerto, al no poder conseguir las “ollas” en su ciudad, decidió que no hacia falta traerlas desde un sitio lejano, se le ocurrió que podía construir sus propias “ollas” utilizando macetas de barro, que son baratas y se encuentran disponible en casi todo sitio. Así que hoy compartimos con ustedes los resultados de este excelente bricolaje, para obtener un sistema de riego, eficiente y que da unos resultados excelentes. Lo primero es fácil, conseguir macetas de barro, terracota o como se llamen en nuestra localidad, como mínimo dos del mismo tamaño.

Off Grid Rainwater System Collects, Stores, and Purifies Water This rainwater collection system in the Canadian wilderness has provided a source of clean, potable water for this family of four’s off grid cabin for almost 20 years. The system is relatively simple and very low maintenance. Water is collected using a three hundred square foot piece of metal roofing, where it flows downhill into a gutter. It is passed through a layer of plastic mesh as it runs into the gutter to filter out any large debris, including the needles that drop onto the roof from surrounding trees. The water is then passed through a course filter as it leaves the gutter, filtering out even more of the larger debris. After leaving the course filter, the water is run down a pipe and through a fine filter where it is further cleansed before it enters the 2000-gallon storage tank. Filtering and chlorinating the water before it reaches the tank has significantly lowered the amount of maintenance required to keep the tank clean in its 20 years of use.

Alnarp Cleanwater Technology

Related: