by Greg Alder | Oct 13, 2023 | Watering, Weather |
Which roofing material sheds the most and cleanest rain? Because if you’re collecting rain to use in your garden, then you want as much as possible and you don’t want it to be contaminated. I’ve lived in houses with roofs made of different materials...
by Greg Alder | Jul 14, 2023 | Watering |
I love the efficiency of drip irrigation, but its inflexibility can be frustrating. Learning to kink my drip irrigation tubes in various ways has, however, relieved some of this frustration and added versatility into my system. Let me explain and illustrate with two...
by Greg Alder | Mar 3, 2023 | Watering |
We had some visitors last week, and one asked about the rain tank near our garage. “What do you do with the water?” As I showed him how I could open the valve on the tank and water all of my vegetables at once, I recognized that it was an efficient system....
by Greg Alder | May 27, 2022 | Vegetables, Watering |
My friend Erik recently planted a new vegetable garden at his new house, but now he’s off traveling. So right before he left I helped him install drip irrigation that will take care of his plants while he’s gone — and beyond. Here’s what his...
by Greg Alder | Apr 29, 2022 | Watering |
I water about half of my fruit trees with mini-sprinklers while the other half is on drip irrigation. For example, the citrus trees along my driveway pictured above are all on drip. In this post, I’ll explain why I use drip on many trees, and I’ll give you my best...
by Greg Alder | Nov 19, 2021 | Watering |
I’m always trying to make watering vegetables and fruit trees more turnkey. I don’t want to have to solve math equations every time I water in order to water within the range of effective and efficient, but I also don’t want to be shooting in the...
by Greg Alder | Oct 1, 2021 | Watering |
On September 23 I made this presentation for Sustainable Ramona. Below are the slides I used. Even though some of them are scant on information and in need of explanation, others should be useful by themselves. I’ve included every slide. Keep in mind, however,...
by Greg Alder | Jul 9, 2021 | Watering |
My perspective is that I want to water fruit trees and vegetable plants enough so that they thrive — not just survive — while also trying to get the most production out of every drop. This is, of course, much easier said than done. But here are five...
by Greg Alder | Jun 4, 2021 | Watering |
This is a white sage plant that I put in the ground in late winter. We haven’t had much rain since then so I’ve needed to water it about once a month. Instead of using a watering can or a hose, I find that this drip-irrigation bucket is the best method. In...
by Greg Alder | Oct 30, 2020 | Watering |
Some years back, I wanted to plant fruit trees in a new part of my yard, but there was only a faucet over there. I handwatered the trees at first, but when that work became too much I set up the easiest form of automatic irrigation. It consists of only five parts....
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