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.