Sunny days are abundant

Man, the weather has been nice....The sunny days that we've been having is making everything grow well - even the weeds. :-( They're everywhere....Boo!!!!!
Because of the nice weather over the next 10 days, i've removed the lids from the wintersown containers, too. Most things have sprouted already, and I wouldn't want them to cook inside the bottles. I already have early girl tomatoes, marigolds, nasturtiums, hollyhock, celosia, and coreopsis. Still waiting on the Black cherry toms, coleus, and shasta daisies........

Photo below - Oh boy....just look at my little Santa Rosa plum tree in full bloom! I love it....hopefully the weather over the next few weeks will cooperate for a change, and let the tree bear as predicted. Everything but the blackberries and grapes is getting in on the act now, too.

Also, I wanted to take the opportunity to show you the other 2 plantings of onions on the property. These first ones are located in the 4x8 box that was built last year, and will be pulled for green onions in about 3-4 weeks. They have to go - because this is where i'll plant the Cherokee Purple tomatoes (all 8 of them). However, before planting time arrives, i'll also add another layer of landscaping timbers which will make the box 15 and a half inches deep. That should make for some pretty happy tomato plants, I bet....

Here's some more in the 4x9 box at the edge of the woods. They'll be left until mid-May, then butternut squash will be planted. A total of 2 plants will be allowed to completely overtake the entire box, but i'll still have to keep them from attaching to the removable fencing. That should be pretty interesting...I hope the 5 and a half hours of sunlight available each day will be enough, because we absolutely love those things. We'll see.

Also, I wanted to show how the area around the largest box has been mulched to keep the weeds down. A reader named Heather asked me about it the other day, but I don't know which post she left the comment on. : - (  I'd have to look through all 250 posts to find it. Sorry, Heather! As stated in a previous post, a layer of soil about 10" wide and 2" deep was removed by shovel first - then mulched heavily afterward.

In other news, field mice are really starting to tick me off!!!!You see, I always start my corn in cellpacks each year, just to get a jump on the growing season. I just leave the cellpacks out in the open, allowing Mother Nature to make them germinate for me. Well....as soon as the first plants got about 1/2" tall, I noticed that half of them had been dug up and eaten by something. So, I went to the store and bought more seeds - and planted them again. Except this time I put them in one of the coldframes, just knowing that my problem had been solved. Before leaving for work the next morning, I propped the window open about 2" with a board to keep them from cooking on the inside, and went merrily on my way. That evening, I checked on them once more, and the new seeds had been dug up. UGH!!!!!!!!!!!! As a last resort, I planted them again - except this time I laid the flats right up against the front of Jude's pen. I hope she keeps them safe for me, because I'm about ready to construct a homemade flamethrower activated by motion sensors....hehe...Just as a backup plan, i'll probably start some more and germinate them in the 3rd propagation system inside the shed. I want corn, dangit! So far, Jude is keeping them safe. Whew.......
Anyway, that's what's going on around here at the moment.

Take care, and happy gardening!

EG

A place for the 4 gallon swp's to reside

The redneck rosarian, Duane,  and Schuyler Broadaway- welcome, and thanks for following the blog!

Yep, i've been busy in the garden area as usual. Besides - it was a beautiful sunny day on Saturday, and I just had to create a level spot for all of these 4 gallon swp's to sit on. The only problem was that I literally had to scrounge through my scrap lumber pile to provide the materials needed for this little expansion. There's even a small piece of 2x4 on the bottom. Anyone that has a level landscape for gardening is lucky - let me tell ya. You see, everything I build on the property has to be constructed on a severe slope - which makes it a real pain. The soil you see in the box is dug up from the woods, hauled about 200 feet by wheelbarrow, then put into place and smoothed out until level. Scrap pieces of roofing shingles are placed on top of that, which eliminates weeds from growing up around everything - and also keeps the containers from sitting in a muddy mess. So...like I said - a real pain.

Photo below - The expansion provided just enough room for 11 self watering planters that will be used for growing cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, and bell peppers. I even threw together a makeshift trellis for the tomatoes and cucumbers, but I worry about the strength it would have against a pretty strong wind. It's a far cry from my usual "hurricane strength" trellises that I usually build.....

Photo below - here's a closeup, which of course shows how things are really packed in tight. The homemade trellis is made from 2 different sizes of tomato stakes, and fastened together with cable ties. The horizontal pieces were about 2 feet too long, so I had to cut them off. After this photo was taken, I removed all of the lids from the containers so that Mother Nature could saturate the mix, and also perform the initial filling of the reservoirs for me. Besides - i'm not gonna keep them full of water over the next 3 weeks with nothing planted in them....

On the day of this photo, three of the swp's hadn't been constructed yet. So, they had to be constructed, and also the homemade 6:3:1 potting mix consisting of (6 parts) peat moss, (3 parts) perlite, and (1 part) vermiculite for each was mixed up too - which made for a really long day. In all, they held about 44 gallons, which means another bale of peat moss will need to be purchased before filling the larger swc's. My back hurts just thinking about it.....
Anyway, it was a very productive day.

I also took Jude to the vet on Saturday morning, because she apparently cut the side of her mouth with something she was chewing on (probably a stick or something), and it looked infected. We got her all fixed up, and I even took her to Burger King for a treat afterward. The girl at the drive-thru window was freaking out when she opened the window to find a big dog staring at her. Heehee - yeah, she was pretty shook up. I'm just gald she wasn't holding a frisbee - now that would have been bad! Anyway, Jude loves to ride in the truck (up front, of course). She's such a good girl....

Take care, and happy gardening!

EG

The garden layout for 2010

Brian, welcome - and thanks for following the blog!

With only 3 weeks left until the 2010 warm weather garden is planted, it's time to unveil my layout. Even though it's been re-drawn at least 5 times, this is what i'm going with.You can click on the picture to enlarge it.

The list is as follows:

1. Sweet corn, 50 plants - 20 Kandy corn, 30 Ambrosia
2. Burgundy Okra, 20 plants
3. Summer squash, 6 plants - 2 Zucchini, 4 yellow crookneck
4. Kentucky wonder pole beans, 16 squares
5. Bell pepper, 7 plants
6. Sweet potatoes, 12 plants
7. Cucumbers, 24 plants - grown in swc's
8. Butternut Squash, 2 plants
9. Watermelon, 2 plants - congo and sugar bowl hybrid
    Muskmelon, 2 plants - cool green honeydew

Tomatoes, Beefsteak
1. Cherokee Purple - 8 plants
2. Neves Azorean Red - 2 plants
3. Brandywine - 2 plants
4. Amana Orange - 1 plant
5. Kellogg's Breakfast - 1 plant
6. Giant Oxheart - 2 plants
7. Mortgage Lifter - 1 plant
8. Dagma's Perfection - 1 plant
9. Paul Robeson - 1 plant
10. Stupice - 1 plant
11. Early Girl - 1 plant

Tomatoes, Cherry
1. Black Cherry - 2 plants
2. Jelly Bean - 2 plants
3. Gartenperle - 1 plant

I'll have to add some containers for the Gartenperle and Early Girl, as I haven't decided on a location yet. With the addition of the new swc's, it makes the total square footage being planted this year about 235 square feet. Twenty six tomato plants should provide more than enough fruit for fresh eating, making salsa, and also putting into salads. This is great, especially since the price of tomatoes has risen more than 180% at the grocery store. Ouch!

Take care, and happy gardening!

EG

A video of EG's "Ventilator 3000"

Ok, here's a video of this contraption in action, and please forgive the sometimes muffled commentary by the wind at times. Hopefully you'll get the jest of what i'm talking about.



In other news, i've been doing more cleanup in the garden area - especially around the big box. Weeds grow around the outside perimeter of it like crazy, and a fairly large strip of earth was removed by a shovel, then a liberal layer of cedar mulch laid down. I like for the garden to look neat, especially since there will likely be several new visitors to it this year. If you'd like a tour of it in person, don't hesitate to let me know....

Oh! let me update you on the plum trees....Both are completely in full bloom now, and the blossoms are getting daily visits from bees! Yay!!!! I'll have to do a complete post about the orchard in the near future, because everything in it is awakening from its' winter slumber.

Lastly, i'd like to tell you that there will be a small garden expansion in the next 6-8 weeks. It'll provide me with more level ground for the swc's/swp's to rest on - that's all. I'm just waiting for the landscaping timbers to go on sale, because they're about $4 each right now. The scrap from the upcoming flowerbed for my wife should provide me with the materials needed, so it's just a waiting game right now.

Take care, and happy gardening!

EG

Things are really jumping now

Steve - welcome, and thanks for following the blog!

Man.....the warm weather and rainfall of late have certainly made everything realize that it's time to start growing. The onions are going bonkers from the abundance of sunshine and scheduled fertlization, and will hopefully form bulbs over the next month and a half. Even though I only show the planting in the picture below, there are 2 more plantings located elsewhere on the property. In total, there are 95 onions growing....Planting sets in October of last year certainly was a good idea, because they over-wintered very well, and gave a good jump for this year's harvest.

Photo below - To my delight, one of the plum trees is in full bloom right now. This particular tree has never produced fruit, but will hopefully do just that in less than 3 months. We love plums around here! If only the weather will cooperate, our dreams of plums will become a reality. Yay! The other plum tree is blooming also, and the blueberries, too. Man...we could potentially be covered up with fruit this year.

Also, I wanted to show how much the largest compost bin has shrunk in size over the last few weeks. I'd probably guess that the ingredients have shrunk by at least 30-40%. The compost turner will be utilized again in about another week, but for now the piles are still very hot. It's a race against time, now.

Photo below - take a peek at this little Early Girl tomato that has finally sprouted in one of the 2 liter drink bottles. Upon further observation of the remaining containers - many things that were wintersowed are beginning to emerge from the soil within each container. Marigolds, nasturtiums, and hollyhock have also emerged so far. This wintersowing stuff works really good!

Photo below - 17 out of 18 bell peppers have sprouted in the largest propagation system too. I didn't think they would ever emerge from the soil, but just had to have a little bit of faith. I need to remember to start these things about 2 weeks earlier than the tomatoes next year, or provide some bottom heat...

Photo below - most of the tomatoes are beginning to get their true leaves too, and these Cherokee Purple are really doing well. In all, there are 118 Cherokee Purple seedlings - of which 94 are already promised to plant buyers in the area. Heck, i'll grow 8 of them myself - because my entire family is hooked on them, now. They are gonna be stocky little things, but several are bent over a bit. Weird.... (Just to let any new readers of the blog know that i'm a competent gardener - I only raise the lights this high when taking pictures)

Lastly, I wanted to let you know that the video of the coldframe opener in operation will be posted on Friday morning, and I hope you enjoy it. It was a pretty windy day while shooting the video, which hampered my description of it just a little. Even though you can't hear me at times, it was still a pretty good video.

Speaking of the coldframe, I noticed several cracks between the boards that it's constructed from in one of the pictures on the last post, which will have to be filled in with caulking or something similar prior to next fall. I just haven't noticed it until now, probably since i'm always in such a hurry. Anyway, i'll get 'er done.

In other news, I always feel good when it's possible for me to do something that brings joy to others - and a couple of packages have been sent out to a couple of gardening friends as of yesterday. Oh, you'll hear about it later this week, I guarantee it...Hehe....

Take care, and happy gardening!

EG

EG's "Ventilator 3000", part 2

Here's some more components used to construct the automatic coldframe opener. This first item is called a coupling nut, and is threaded the whole way through. It's the cheapest, but most critical piece to the entire construction, and was ordered through my favorite store on the internet - McMaster Carr . Since the other coldframe might be  fixed the same way later - I went ahead and bought a couple of them for around $1 each.

Photo below - here's my little window air conditioner thermostat that was salvaged from an inoperable window unit, and has exactly the temperature control range that is needed for the coldframe on a sunny winter day. Because most junked out window units usually fail for reasons other than a broken thermostat, luckily they are in good supply. A person can usually get one from an appliance repair shop for free, if you remove it from the defective appliance yourself.

Photo below - here's an overhead view of the coupling nut sandwiched in between 2 pieces of flat steel. This provides a good connection between the drill and coldframe door, and effectively raises/lowers the window by running up and down the 5/16" all thread rod as the drill turns the allthread rod clockwise and counter - clockwise. As you can imagine, alot of thought went into this little homemade piece, and I changed my mind at least 6 times while trying to come up with the right one. It was definitely the most time consuming part of the overall design, and my brain hurts. Ouch! See? I thought about this little thing for days......

Photo below -  here's a pretty good picture of the micro switches in place. The lower one shuts off the power to the drill as soon as it reaches the completely closed position, and the top one is activated by the deck screw that is screwed into the window frame - which shuts it off when going open. They came from the website above, too , and were around $8 each. When activated by something pushing against the little lever on each, things can be turned on or off - based on which set of contacts is wired to a device.

Photo below - Here's the thermostat, which automatically tells the drill to open or close the window based on internal temperature. The sensing bulb of it enters the enclosed space through a hole drilled into the side of the coldframe. Since the temperature control range of it is somewhere between 50 and 90 degrees - it's perfect for controlling the ventilation system in a greenhouse, hoop cover, or coldframe. This thermostat was previously used to control the ventilation fans of the propagation chamber before the new system was implemented.

Lastly, here's a shot of the complete unit with the 2 little wheelchair batteries connected to the control system. They supply 24 volts to the relay, and also 12 volts to the drill. I won't go into the details of how this is done, because I feel it might be confusing. I'll also refrain from showing the electrical schematic that I designed for this system, because I wouldn't want to be liable for anyone else's shortcomings in working with electrical controls. Not everyone has the ability to understand industrial motor controls, or even relay ladder logic - so EG will be the only one with this information. I hope you understand.....

The final amount invested in this system is about $20, because most things were already on hand. Sometimes it's good to have lots of junk laying around. Hehe...Anyway, i'll show a video of it in action later this week, and hope you like it! Oh, it works.....and works very good...hehe. In the mean time, i'll keep an eye out for a 12 volt drill that is better than this one. This one is really noisy, because it's pretty worn out.....

Take care, and happy building!

EG

Great weather for working outside

Man.....it sure has been nice weather for working on stuff outside the last few days. Oh, you can bet that I took full advantage of it - by making SWC's, transplanting some things in the garden, and also working on "EG's ventilator 3000". Hehe...

Anyway, in the photo below, you'll see the perforated barrier that was made to go in a sterlite 34 gallon tote bin. It was just laying around, and I thought it would make a good addition to my gardening experience. The only drawback is that it'll most likely only last 1 or 2 seasons (because of sun deterioration). Still, it's gonna provide me with alot of corn or tomatoes, I bet! I'm sure glad we saved all of those margarine containers for it last year!

Photo below - here's the tote sitting on top of an 18 gallon bin, for size reference. If planting with tomatoes, i'll try 3 plants - if planting with corn, i'll try about 18 stalks....Where to put it has yet to be decided....

Photo below - The daffodils are everywhere this year, and several will be transplanted to the perimeter of the main garden box. That should make it really pretty next spring....

Photo below - Also, everything that had been sowed in the coldframes during January has been transplanted into window box planters, and placed inside the confinement of the fencing of the main box. This'll keep critters away from them - and Jude, too....You know how she just has to eat everything in sight!

Photo below - I just had to show you this cup. It's 30 oz., and I picked up 50 of them for $2. Talk about a good container for selling tomato transplants in. I may have to go back to get more for selling stuff in....

Lastly, I wanted to show you another idea for making a water level indicator that goes in a SWC. It's a 12" long wooden skewer shoved into a strip of flat styrofoam that was laying around. I really like how it floats in water, and may use this little fella for all of my swc's.

Due to the final arrival of spring, you can expect things to really pick up around here. Shoot......i'll be planting and building stuff like crazy! I hope everyone has enjoyed the nice weekend.

Take care, and happy gardening!

EG

A final addition to the largest compost bin

Rebecca - welcome, and thanks for following the blog!

When it comes to adding sources of nitrogen to the compost piles, i'd have to say that used coffee grounds would definitely be my favorite. They get dispersed easily throughout the nooks and crannies of the leaves, and worms can't stay away from them. Anything that will make worms enter the piles is definitely a good thing! Anyway, the closest Starbuck's is about 45 miles away from where we live, and you can bet that anytime i'm even close to the store - I stop in for their UCG's. Since dear wife was shopping in the area, I asked (ok, I begged) if she would stop in and see if they had any for pickup...Well, here's 5 gallons from the trip. WooHoo! I guess it weighed around 25-30 lbs.?

Photo below - Anytime you can rake some of the top layer of leaves back and see this white looking stuff in the mix, it's a very good thing. This is indicative of rapid decomposition, and also lots of heat. Man, I love it when this takes place....

The frequent rain of late has certainly cooled the piles down just a bit, but all 6 piles register somewhere between 110 and 160. That's not too bad, and i'll just keep checking them every day or so until I feel they need to be turned again. The largest system doesn't need any more nitrogen added to it, but the old bins could use definitely need some more. All of the UCG's collected over the next several weeks will be added to the old bins, because they are gonna be used in next year's garden.

On Monday evening, I used the compost turner to completely turn over the contents in the largest bin system, which took about 30 minutes to do. It's quite a workout from positioning the auger assembly into each zone, but definitely a lifesaver to allow me to turn 3 large bins full of half-finished ingredients in only 30 minutes. My arms feel it afterward, but at least by back isn't bothered at all. Whew....talk about relief!

My stepson Austin turned 2 of the old pallet bins for me on Tuesday evening, and he's pretty fascinated by the heat generated by the decompostion process. Just for kicks, I went ahead and probed the piles that were turned on Monday, and that's when a reading of 160 was measured. Talk about hot! All of the piles have shrunk by 1/3 of their original size, and could possibly provide some finished compost for the garden in early May. I'll definitely have some ready in time to add to the sweet potato containers, the 4x8 melon box, and also the 4x9 box next to the woods around mid-May, because those plantings will be later than the initial ones.

Take care, and happy composting!

EG

EG's Ventilator 3000, part 1

Megan Wagner and Cori Gilkey - welcome, and thanks for following the blog!

I want to thank Karen for the nice email she sent me yesterday. It was really nice to hear from an heirloom tomato gardener from my neck of the woods. :-)

The other day I mentioned that something would be constructed to open the coldframes automatically when the temperature inside gets too hot for the plants' liking. Since you can purchase something from the internet for around $50 that will accomplish this task for you, I decided to construct something that would be cheaper. Immediately, 3 different ideas came to mind that would certainly work well, but only 1 option was even in the ballpark when it came to being under the $50 threshold. This project will be in 2 posts, because i'd really like to share alot of detail in the construction of it. My inventions/ideas are usually very unique, and evolve from a need to accomplish a task in a way that it will somehow make my gardening experience better. The biggest problem is, usually there's nothing on the internet to use as a reference (because it hasn't been built by anyone yet), so i'm just on my own to come up with an idea on how to construct it.

Anyway, I had this old 12 volt cordless drill laying around that had a bad battery, but the motor itself was in pretty good shape. The only downfall is that the gearing/clutch in the chuck assembly is quite noisy when running. Still, it's got quite a bit of torque for turning something, and i'm gonna use it to open the window in one of my coldframes - (thermostatically, of course) Hehe....The force needed to lift the side of the hinged window seems to be less than a couple of pounds - so it shouldn't have a problem with this. Now, it's time to resurrect the previously useless item in the photo below - which has been laying dormant in it's case for about 5 years now.....

Ok, i'll explain things along the way so that you will hopefully understand what i'm talking about.....
The trigger and switch inside the handle is useless for this project, but the motor itself (at the top) needs to be supported by something. So, the motor is removed from the plastic housing for a little bit of modification - then will be re-assembled once again. The switch and trigger are removed and discarded.....

Photo below - here's the motor and chuck assembly. See the 5 different wires that are attached to the rear? Well, we only need the 2 wires that are attached to the brush holders. For reference, this is simply a dc motor that has a permanent magnet for supplying the magnetic field that the rotating member turns in. If the polarity of the supply voltage is reversed when connected to the armature, it will turn in the opposite direction. Oh, you can bet that i've already got a plan together for how it will be reversed automatically for this project.

Photo below - With all of the unnecessary wires removed, this motor is ready to be put back into the plastic housing that it's supported by. A 4 foot piece of lamp electrical cord is connected to the ends of these 2 wires, which is only used to extend them outside of the plastic housing.

Photo below - Here's what will be used to reverse the motor for me. It's an ice cube relay plugged into it's mounting base, that has a 24 volt dc coil in it for making/breaking the 2 sets of contacts inside. (DPDT, or double pole double throw). I'm a little bit concerned with the minimal amount of gap between it's contacts, and may opt for a completely different kind of relay that has a gap that is much wider. Hmm...now that I think about it, I could use 2 of them in parallel to seperate the 2 polarity transitions.....That's what i'll do...

Photo below - Ok, I know the initial thought from seeing the modified drill strapped to the inside of the coldframe is probably "what the????". Well, it had to be this way, and is certainly mounted very rigid by the plumber's strap. A piece of 5/16" allthread rod is placed in the drill chuck that will be used to transmit torque from the motor to accomplish the needed task. I guess this would certainly qualify for the "you might be a redneck" list by Jeff Foxworthy. Ha! While inserting the allthread rod in the chuck with the help of a 12 vdc electric wheelchair battery connected to it, I thought the thing was gonna rip my hand off. I couldn't hold it, because the amount of dc current supplied by the unconventional battery is impressive! Under the right circumstances, this drill is unbelievably strong. I'd put it up against a new 18.8 volt drill anyday, as long as I could use the wheelchair battery connected to this one. Hehe...It's impressive...

Photo below - This right angle bracket was leftover from a previous construction project, and is just the thing needed to create the unit that will run on the 5/16" allthread rod. It was cut into 2 pieces with a hacksaw, then had 2 holes drilled through them for the bolts to go through. I'll also cut the short end of the "L" off, because it won't be needed.

Well, I think that's gonna do it for part 1. Part 2 will be posted about once I get the remaining work on it completed. So far, everything that has been used was already on hand (there's all kinds of crazy things laying around here), but i'll have to invest about $7 on a couple of things later. No big deal...Anyway, i'm sure that this project will be right up there with some of the craziest things that's been built by myself over the last few years, but hey! They always work, don't they? Hehe....BTW, the only power tool that is being used is my "good" cordless drill, because welding the pieces would be an advantage that most people don't have at home. I like to keep things simple, and don't have a shop, vise, or drill press. I just make do with what I have on hand - kinda like MacGuyver. Anyway, i'll try to get the rest of the stuff together hopefully this weekend, and do the final post about it then. After that, i'll shoot a video of it in action. My personal feeling is that without a video of it actually working, then it never happened. Stay tuned for part 2.......

Take care, and happy gardening  building!

EG

A better, cheaper swc made from an 18 gallon tote bin

It's no secret that I like to build self watering containers from various things, because they allow me to put my own signature on some of the many designs already on the internet - and it's fun, too! With any good weather conditions at all on the weekends, i'm usually outside for at least 8 hours each day tending to things and building stuff of course. It's just what I do, because I just don't watch much television. Anyway, i've been getting several swc's ready for other people as of late, because it won't be long before they'll be needing them to grow tomatoes in. Here's my take on constructing a swc from an 18 gallon tote.....

When possible, I like to construct the entire thing with only one container, because it's much cheaper that way. Also, since you get a lid with the tote anyway - why not use it to its fullest potential? For this project, i'll be cutting the lid into several pieces that will be used to suspend the growing medium above the water reservoir, and also to keep the sides from bulging outward when filled with soil. Construction time may be a little bit long for most people's liking, but I just take my time - while enjoying the opportunity to be outside with the birds singing in the background. Of course I take a few timeouts along the way too, because Jude just has to meet her quota of catching the frisbee at least 50 times. Gosh, that dog sure loves that thing.....Anyway, back to the swc. If you'll follow this construction method, the end result will be worth the effort, I promise.

The perforated barrier that the soil mass rests on is cut out from the lid, and several yogurt cups are attached to it by using cable ties. Getting it cut to a perfect fit is kinda tricky, but I always just set the tote on top of it, and draw a line around the bottom with a sharpie pen. Because the tote gets wider as it goes up, the initial cutout will always need to be bigger - but I just add about an inch all the way around when cutting the pattern out with some tin snips. It can be trimmed to fit perfectly later, so no biggie.... Anyway, the little cups are very effective at supporting alot of weight, and you wanna space them out as shown below.

Photo below - I always cut a notch in each as the picture shows, which allows water from the reservoir to pass freely in and out of it. This way, the space inside the cups is utilized for extra water holding capacity, and it doesn't effect the cup's rigidness. Notice that the cuts are made toward the middle of the barrier. This is because any soil that actually makes it into the reservoir will most likely enter around the outside edges, and might clog the holes in the cups, if not pointed away from the sides.

Photo below - The perforated barrier is then lowered into the tote, and checked for fit. Keep trimming the edges until it fits snugly into the bottom - making sure it rests totally on the cups. This takes several attempts to get it right, and always remove just a little at a time.

Now for the fill pipe. This is a 16" long piece of 1-1/2" pvc pipe. Four holes are drilled into one end with a 5/16" drill bit, which will allow water to enter the reservoir as it is filled with water.

Photo below - See this little fella? It's a foam ball that can be found in the arts and crafts dept. at Walmart, with a 16" long, 1/8" wooden dowel rod stuck into it. I just purchase the 4ft. long sticks at Lowes for 48 cents each, which means you can get three out of one stick. Really cheap, and lightweight, too. Anyway, this will be used as a water level indicator.

Photo below - I wanted to show this picture of the perfect fit for the foam ball into the fill pipe.

Photo below - set the tote onto a level surface, then lower the homemade indicator into the pipe. With the ball completely at the bottom, make a mark around the stick where it meets the top of the fill pipe. This is the reference for "empty", and really all you have to indicate. As the reservoir is filled later, the ball will float upward inside the pipe.

Photo below - Now, I cut some pieces from the perimeter of the lid, and attach them to the four sides as shown in the picture. With the perforated barrier and side pieces in place, you can see that there's not much room at the sides for soil to fall down into the water reservoir later. That's a good thing, and the addition of landscaping fabric on top will only make it even better. Self tapping screws are installed through each from the outside, which will keep the sides/ends from bowing out as the soil is added later.

Photo below - here's the landscaping fabric in place, and you're gonna want to curl the edges up the sides as shown. When filling with the growing medium of your choice, take care to put down the mix around the sides first - which will keep the curled edges in place while filling the remainder of it...

Photo below - I always like to determine what the water holding capacity of the reservoir is, which will also tell me how much soil mass the plants have to grow in. That's what's most important - how much soil is available for the plant roots. Anyway, this one has a water holding capacity of 2.3 gallons, which leaves room for about 16 gallons of soil mix for the plants. To find where the 5/16" drain hole should be drilled, I simply point the end to be drilled away from the direction of the sunlight. This causes a shadow where the perforated barrier is, and the hole is drilled about a half inch below the top part of the shadow.

Photo below - As you can see, i've built quite a few already, and (might) do a couple more if I run out of things to do around here. I've also got an old 34 gallon tote bin that might see some action, because I bet 3 tomato plants could be grown in that baby....hmm...decisions, decisions....

Anyway, I just wanted to show my way of constructing a swc from a single 18 gallon tote bin, and hope you find the information useful. In only 4 weeks, these swc's will hopefully be put into action by their new owners.

Take care, and happy gardening!

EG

A day of 4-H competition

Yesterday I took a vacation day from work to volunteer my time for the annual county 4-H competition. Although their were several entries for each class, only a few photos will be posted for each. I judge different categories each year, and this time it was for the following :

Photo below - Here's a pretty good entry for the Blocks Rocks category, and was a creative way to assemble some simple lego blocks.

Photo below - Here is the winning entry from the 9-11 year olds for the extreme birdhouse category. It certainly caught my attention as soon as I walked up to the table full of different ones.

Photo below - This red one was clearly made by a fan of the Alabama Crimson Tide, but he really shouldn't think that a judge that is an Auburn Tiger fan would give him any bonus points for the presentation...hehe...Ok, I really didn't let this effect my scoring of it - I actually scored it quite high.

Photo below - here's some entries from the "what would you build" category. The 2 to the right were high quality, and certainly scored high by myself. I can really appreciate the effort. in building something......

Photo below - as always, at least one kid will make himself standout by wearing something completely crazy. (Notice the yellow hardhat with deer antlers duct taped to the top.)

In all, it was a very hectic day for me because of the number of entries to score and total, but I sure did enjoy it. It's quite rewarding to do something for my community, and I always step up when asked to do so.

Take care,

EG