Tag: swiss chard

Garden – 05/24/2010

Posted on by AuSable

Once again I got myself into another little side project with the garden. This time it has to do with setting up a makeshift irrigation system as cheaply as possible for the garden.

For the last couple of years, I’ve been thinking about how to run a water line over to the garden area as easily as possible. Since dragging around a 100′ hose in the yard is just too cumbersome. And trenching the yard to put the irrigation line underground is just overkill.

Once again, Menards was having a sale on plumbing/irrigation parts, and while I was looking at the sales flyer the idea hit for running the irrigation piping on the top rail of the fence going around the yard, and just securing it to the fence rail with zip ties. So with a plan in place, it was time to pick up all the parts for this project.

It turns out that this whole project only ran me about $50, and that included the crimping tool which was $9.99. Yeah I could have done this even more cheaply and gone with plastic quick connect fittings which would have been ~$6 total instead of $22 total for all the brass fitting. But for me, the extra $16 was worth the splurge.

I guess we’ll see over time how this set-up hold up to the weather.

Thinking Spring 2010 – Garden pre-planning

Posted on by AuSable

Other then the freezing rain coming down the last couple days, I’m trying to think warm. And with spring a couple of months out, its time for me to start some of my garden pre-planning, about what I want to plant this year. One of the first things that I’ve done this week is order myself a 2010 seed catalog from Johnny’s Selected Seeds. Yeah I like jumping on their web site, and surfing around for stuff, but sometimes a hard copy just makes things a little bit easier. Two items that I’m thinking of ordering from Johnny’s are some Lovage seeds and maybe some Stevia seeds.

I’ve already picked up a packet of Burpee Swiss Chard – Fordhook Giant, while I was at Menard’s getting some Miracle Gro potting soil. And I’m also kind of curious if anything will grow out of the seeds that I saved from the Aji Limo peppers that I got from my farmer neighbor. But I guess we’ll see if anything pans out of the Aji Limo this year.

If anyone has any suggestions on what I should grow this year, now is definitely the time to let me know. So just post a comment with your plant ideas, since I’m always looking for suggestions. Thanks.