Raised Beds

Hello All,

All three of you, that is. :)

I had a meeting with my sponsor. Unfortunately, he made me aware of a few mistakes in my system. I won't have enough PSI to make my automatic pump work, or the sprinklers, for that matter. I could have the tank raised, and just use the average drip heads, but I have the sprinklers, so I'm going to use them. As of now, I have simply attatched the timer to the hose spigot and left it temporarily.

I plan to test the greywater/float valve system either way. I'm hoping the PSI will either build up, or magically be enough to work the sprinkler drip system that is in place. If not, I will do a simple laundry to landscape system that will be effective for my fruit trees.

I'm building two raised, double dug beds and focusing heavily on soil ammendments. One will be above soil, the other above concrete. It will be interesting to see the amount of water lost and the difference in plant growth on both beds.

I am planting seeds now so  I will have a harvest during the winter months. The only winter we have here is some rainfall, and the ground may get below 50 degrees once. I doubt the plants will show the least sign of struggle.

It was a good day to be outside, the weather was great, and my aunt and cousin came to help me with my project. I've been showing everyone I know this blog, and my garden, and it's getting around the community already. I even went out into the Farmer's  Market and told people of my project. I have met with the agricultural director of Irvine's Great Park. He is working towards a Urban Gardening proposal for the Great Park and really liked the ideas in my proposal. I look forward to working with him.

Here are some pictures.

 I had a few hiccups in building these beds, but I am grateful to the folks at Elk-East Farmstead for teaching me the basics during my internship this summer. I used 1x6 by 6 ft cedar fencing reinforced at the corners with a 2x4 cut to length. The bed over the soil will be one plank high (6") and the bed over the concrete will be two planks high (12"). It is very important to use a wood that is unlikely to rot, like cedar or redwood. If you can spend the extra money to get redwood 2x6's instead, I would recomend it. You can even screw right into the ends of the boards, due to redwood's tendency not to split. In my beds, I simply tacked the ends to the 2x4 with 21/2" screws.

Setting up the drip irrigation near my nectarine.

 My aunt Karen and cousin Natalie helping out.

The (almost) finished soil bed.

This Old House

So,

I'm setting up an automatic grey-water drip irrigation system. It's pretty cool. I'm pretty proud of myself.
Unfortunately, I broke the hose spigot off the side of my house. It took two trips to the hardware store and lots of frustration.

Either way, it's fixed now. Here's what happened. I learned how to solder, though, so I'm happy about the new skill.

 There was a coupling that attached the above "T-joint" to the hose spigot shut-off valve. I snapped that in half and it's stuck int the joint. What you are seeing coming out of the house is the main water line, and coming down is the sprinkler system, which has been shut off due to excess and inefficient watering.

 The only way to fix this joint was to solder. I tried using the simple fix of a washer and nut compression joint shown below, but of course it didn't fit over the T-joint. I cleaned the outside of a piece of half inch copper pipe with sandpaper and the inside of the broken pipe. Then I proceeded to put on the soldering paste and solder with a torch. It was definitely scary, and I thought that I needed to have the solder on the outside, but it turns out you need to heat it enough to fill the inside gaps. This may have been obvious, but I had to be told this by a very helpful neighbor. It worked on the first try, so I am very excited that we were able to turn the water back on in the house.

You've probably seen my plans for the drip irrigation system in my post entitled "Oh My Sod!".
The cool part about those plans is it's all automatic.

Materials:

• 32 gallon trash can with lid
• Sharp knife
• Float valve
• Hose bib with barb
• Automatic water timer
• Braided toilet connector
• Toilet connector to hose bib adaptor
• Hose bib to Drip line adaptor
• Waterproof epoxy
• Drill and appropriate hole bits

Steps:

1. I didn't have the appropriate drill bits for the holes that I created, so I used a knife, probably not the best idea. I put one hole in the bottom of the trash bin for the float valve, and one for the barbed hose bib. I would seal these with epoxy unless you have the drill bits that create a a perfect hole. I found that I had problem with them leaking, so after the installation put waterproof epoxy because the caulking didn't work.




2. I attached a braided toilet connector to the float valve. Then I attached the hose bib adapter, so I can attach the connector to the hose spigot that I just fixed.
   
   
   
   
3. I pushed the barbed hose bib through a hole in the front, low down, opposite the float valve. To this, I attatched an automatic water timer. To this you can attatch a drip line converter if you're using 1/4 inch drip line.
   
4. I'm going to drop the end of the output hose from the washing machine over the top edge of the trash bin. This way, the float valve will keep the water circulating, and full to a certain point, but the grey-water will be stored and available for use in the drip lines. The automatic timer will let water though the exit at whatever increments I set, and having the float valve installed will insure water circulation and that there is enough water at the ready.

Using the grey-water from my washing machine will recycle 20 gallons for each load of laundry into my garden. If we wash only one load a week, that accumulates to 1,040 gallons a year that would have been wasted otherwise. Of course, you must use biodegradable/nontoxic soaps, but the extra filtration through the tank and drip water systems will help control toxins. The food will be safe to eat, not to mention the added benefit of pest control. Many organic farms will use biodegradable/nontoxic soaps as pest control. I don't think there will be a heavy enough accumulation of soaps to have this effect, but never having done this before, I can't be sure.

Sprouts and Soil

Here are some pictures of my first little sprouts coming up! So excited! I feel like a real farmer now. I can't wait to put in my new beds. I underestimated the solidity of the soil, as I was discussing in a previous post.

I took the soil out of the wicking pots to swap for a mix of compost and potting soil. I have a feeling that this will work better, and I think you do too.

Anyway, I just wanted to show off, so here goes.

Oh My Sod!

Sadly, my wicking experiment is not going as planned. I know now that you need a well aerrated and loamy or sandy soil to wick up water from below. Definetely NOT clay.

Why I didn't think about this beforehand, I'm not exactly sure. Unfortunately, this means that this year I'm going to have to bite the bullet and water from aboveground.

I'm thinking about installing a temporary grey-water drip irrigation system. The downside to this idea is the grey-water won't get filtered as well as it would through the wicking bed. Not at all, in fact. The grey-water will potentially gum up the works. I'm thinking of adding a freshwater flush on a timer to alleiviate that problem.

So this is the extremely basic outline of a drip irrigation system. I plan on using low-flow spray attatchments that will use less water. The thick black lines are walls, the red is what I'm going to put in, the green is what I'm planning to put in a little in the future. The thin black lines are the garden that I already have in place. Please excuse this terrible paint rendition of a drip irrigation system.

The grey-water will flow from the washer into the water tank so there is no risk of backflow into the washing machine. I'm thinking I'll put a ball-cock valve in the tank and connect it to the hose spigot so there is always a set amount of water in the tank. From there, I will attatch a timer to the drip line so it is watered only during set times. I wish there was a groovier way to do the timer part, but nothing comes to mind.

If anyone has any ideas or questions please comment!

Herb Spiral?

So this is my take on an "herb spiral". More of a Permaculture-esque raised bed. I didn't have adequate materials to make the spiral shape. I had few bricks or rocks, so I made a small square instead. I'm planting white sage, thyme, greek oregano, valerian, stevia and cilantro.

The purpose of making the raised bed is to eliminate the need for adding fertilizer and additonal ammendments for a period of time. The layers of materials decompose to create essentially a raised compost pile.

Materials:

• Soil
• Dried leaves
• Unfinished Compost
• Compost
• Leftover potting soil

Then you simply layer the materials accordingly. It is best to use a layer that will aerrate the pile and allow for drainage. I did this with some of our unbroken clay soil. You can also use a type of gravel or wood chips. If you have any green materials like grass or food scraps you can layer them in between brown materials.

Personally, I added a layer of drainage material, (clay) and then a layer of compost.

Then I added unfinished compost and a layer of leaves.

To finish the pile, I added finished compost and some old potting soil.

Then you're done! I watered in most of the layers. And now I can plant directly into all sides.



How to Make a Wicking Bed

So here is the details on how to make an underground wicking bed. I made mine 8' long x 14" deep x 3' wide.

Materials

• 10' of Drainpipe
• 2 PVC Endcaps
• 1 PVC/ABS Elbow and 1' length of pipe to fit
• ABS/PVC Glue
• Gravel (the bigger, the better)
• Plastic Dropcloth
• Landscaping Fabric
• Shovel
• Rake
• Compost
• Mulch

Steps

1. Put down a layer of compost about 1/4-1 in deep over bed area
2. Take out any invasive plants (weeds, groundcover, ect)
3. Dig a really big hole (8' long x 14" deep x 3' wide)
4. Make sure the ground is level on the bottom for even water flow
5. Fit elbow and 1' length of pipe to end of drainpipe
6. Cut drainpipe to fit and glue endcap on
7. Put down plastic dropcloth
8. Put down landscaping fabric to prevent gravel from tearing holes in dropcloth
9. Add gravel until drainpipe is covered
10.  Put down lanscaping fabric

11. Fill with dirt that you have dug up

12. Rake and cover with compost layer

13. Cover with mulch layer and rake smooth

     Below are some pictures of me planting my raspberries (my grandmother's favorite) in my self irrigating pots. Next to the raspberries are grapes and a mini dwarf pomegranite that piqued my interest at the nursery. To the right is my first planted fruit tree! It is a semi-dwarf navel orange tree, and it already has blooms, so I can't wait to see what it does this year! I also planted some blueberries along the back fence, which I'm sure there will be pictures of soon. Also, I found 5 little ripe strawberries from a plant that we've been growing since last year. What a surprise!

Self Irrigating Pots

     Today we worked on Self Irrigating Pots, or SIPs. Also, glued together some pieces fo my wicking bed. I'm getting to know the people at the local hardware store well because of all the times I've been in there recently. It's a good opportunity for me to tell people about what I'm doing, they all seem really intrigued.

    I had some  help from a friend who lives down the street and we put together our first pot in about 45 minutes and whipped through them after that. Unfortunately, I made some mistakes to start. I bought some 20" pots wth holes in the bottom, and obviously the water leaked out. Also, I forgot to put in the overflow, which is very important. I left off today with a leaky pot and a dead drill in hopes that tomorrow will hold more promise. The good news is, my friend thought it was such a god idea that she's putting some in her backyard, too!

How to Make a Self Irrigating Pot

Materials

• Plastic storage bin, 5 gallon bucket, or large pot (preferrably without holes in the bottom)
• 2' of pipe (I used PVC)
• Storage bin lid, bucket lid, or other similar material that will fit inside pot (I used a metal fencing)
• Bricks (Optional)
• Wick, can be a premade drain or 4" length of pipe with holes
• Landscaping fabric
• Mulch, compost, coil

Steps*

1. Measure depth of water basin to about 3-4"
2. Measure width of tub at this point and cut fencing to fit
3. Cut two holes in fit fencing to width of drain and pipe.

4. Place bricks in bottom of container for support.
5.  Drill holes in bottom of pipe.
6. Place wick (drain) and pipe (holes down) in respective holes in fencing.
7. Place fencing, wick and pipe on top of bricks.
8. Cut landscaping fabric to fit over fencing, leaving holes for pipe and wick. 
9. Drill overflow hole below fencing line.
10. Fill with soil and/or compsot and place plant into SIP.
11. Water from 2' pipe until water comes out the overflow hole.

*According to my specific project.

Wicking Beds

     Wicking beds are my new favorite idea. Basically, there is a french drain or "weeping tile" under a raised bed that you fill with water from a downspout. (Or a super groovy greywater system). The water then wicks up from the drain into your bed. There are many benefits besides the obvious saving water. This is where I first learned of them: http://www.energybulletin.net/stories/2011-05-31/bottom-diy-guide-wicking-beds.
     Since I began my research, I made a few tweaks to the design. Everything is going underground, and I'm using laundry machine and fresh water to fill the beds. I've dug a hole about 8' long x 3' wide x 14 in deep. My plan is to put an overflow drain underground with the bed to create a swail effect. This excess will supplement my herb garden from the ground up. Here are some pictures, more to come.
P.S. I did it all myself. :)

Greywater Guru

     So I met with Leigh Jerrard today at an impossibly hard place to find in Los Angeles. Let me just say that LA makes me crazy to begin with, but getting lost four or five times didn't make it any better. Fortunately, Leigh knows the area and calmly talked me through ridiculous directions.
     Leigh is a fantastically nice guy who agreed to meet with me to discuss my Permaculture Project whe no one else would. We basically planned a super groovy greywater system that is automatic. I'm creating a wicking bed and hooking it up to this amazing system in hopes that I won't have to worry about my little darlings.
You can check out the Greywater Corps here: http://greywatercorps.com/gallerypublicschool01.html.
Leigh is going to be sponsoring my project, so I look forward to keeping in contact with him! He's wonderfully helpful and if you have any questions about a greywater system, he's the guy. Details about the greywater system to come. You can check out my wicking beds in the following post.