I think this is a "good omen" for my garden plans on the first day of Spring....

[Richard Steele]

Sweetie and I got our first rain barrel built and installed
last Sunday afternoon.

And they were callin for rain yesterday, so I got up early
and cleaned the gutter before she went to work. (Because that's
a two-person job. I don't work on the roof unless there's someone
on the ground, watching me with a phone in their hand, knowhutImean?)

So, it never did rain yesterday- I got a full day of work in outside,
on the other side of town.

But it started to sprinkle late in the evening, and kept sprinkling
all night.

I got up this morning at 7:00 AM and our new rain barrel is FULL!
I thought it might have a few inches of water in it, so I shoved it
to see...

OOMPH! The barrel didn't move, and I shoved myself backwards!
That bad boy is -FULL- of water!

62 gallons that we can use outside, from a single night of light rain. Holy SHEET! :wow:

(We're now thinking of adding 2 more- one for the back porch gutter, and
a second one to hold the overflow from this one.)

Drought and "water use restrictions" are now a thing of the past for us-
our garden is gonna get watered all summer long, thanks to $70 of materials
and 3 hours of "working together" time!

Richard

[NMDemDist2]

1. I need to do that too. I have an old water softener system I can cannibalize

for one barrel, but need to knock together a stand for it

so many chores so little time.......

the good news is I threw some seeds into the 'kitchen garden' a couple weeks ago and everything sprouted except the lettuce.

I think I buried the little seeds too deep, poor things, but as a brand new veggie gardener, I'm pretty darned pleased :bounce:

I need to get some more seeds in today anyway so I'll just seed the area again with lettuce I think and I found a good tip online on how to deal with those little buggers.... says to mix them with a cup of clean sand (which I have for icy steps) so I can see where they're going.

I'll try that today and see how it goes

did you put a screen on top of the barrel? and what about mosquitoes? inquiring minds want to know....

:hi:

[Richard Steele]

2. Screen:

We bought a barrel that looks kinda like this:



The downspout doesn't actually go INTO the barrel;
since the barrel lid has a 1' recess in the top,
we just drilled holes in it and positioned the
downspout over it.

We bought a roll of fiberglass "window screen" cloth,
cut an 18' square, and wrapped it over the top of the lid,
holding it in place with a ring of copper wire
twisted tight into the gap under the lid.

It ain't neat and pretty, but it was quick and cheap
and it will keep the mosquitos out.

And we put the foot from a pair of Sweetie's old pantyhose
over the bottom of the downspout to filter out anything that
washes down from the gutter- I think it worked pretty well, since
it's full of dead leaves & random sediment this morning.



Glad to hear you seeds are doing so well;
I've had some minor success in that area myself.
Cleaning up last month, I came across some tomato seeds
that my mom had sent me three years ago, from one of her
"Brandywine" plants that had been especially productive & tasty.

I assumed they were long gone, but went ahead and planted them
in an egg carton in my kitchen window for "just in case"...
and wouldn't you know it, they've all sprouted!

Mom said it was a MONSTER tomato bush in her yard up in PA;
I can't wait to see how they do down here in NC!

[NMDemDist2]

3. nicely done and frugal too!!

:applause:

[Richard Steele]

4. You're a quick one! I added a "PS" edit to that post, but you had replied already! nm

[NMDemDist2]

5. i planted my old brandywine seeds outside a couple weeks ago

along with a yellow pear tomato. I saw one sprout this morning of the yellow guy so I'm still hoping for one of the brandywines to come up

we've had some pretty cold nights the last couple weeks, so I'm not surprised they are being slow. I'm a brand new gardener this year so if I get ANYTHING to grow I'll be happy!! and reading about the seedlings/hardening off/transplanting routine just scared me hehehehee

next year I'll be in better shape to do all that though, we are rearranging the den so I can put some shelves in front of a southern window and I hope to have lettuce all year in there AND some space for babies next spring.......