Vegetables Gardening - Growing Organic Vegetables

Hi Linn,
I use a soaker hose that is buried about 6 inches below the surface and I use
two 55 gallon drums which catch rainwater and the hoses are hooked up to the
barrels by way of a spicket at the bottom of the barrel. I made a funnel of
sorts by suspending a 3 foot square piece of tarp over the top of the barrel and
put a 3 inch flat river rock in the center to create a depression and the cut a
2 inch hole in the center of the tarp. It sets about a foot over the barrel
which has a screen stretched over the top to keep the bugs and critters out.
Takes about 20 minutes of a good down pour to fill the barrels and it takes
about 6 to 8 weeks for the water to get used up. Oh and I put a lid on the
barrels during the summer to cut down the evaporation.
jeff

For the compensator I know folks who use a brita screw on filter for the
gardens but the replacement cartridges are really expensive and not worth it to
me.

________________________________
From: Linn Bee <smartredd@yahoo.com>
To: Organic_Gardening@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thu, May 19, 2011 11:47:54 AM
Subject: [Organic_Gardening] Re: compensating for tap water

I can't help "compensate" problem. I have the opposite situation in that when I
have to use tap water on the blueberries I worry about excessive lime in the
well water.

What I want to address is the watering itself. Wherever possible, I prefer to
use a root feeder to water 5 or more inches below the soil level. This gets the
water where it is needed without wetting the top of the soil or mulch and get
lost to evaporation. Just a thought.

Love, Linn Bee Zone 5a - 4b South-est, central-est Wisconsin

--- In Organic_Gardening@yahoogroups.com, Di Koehler <dikoehler@...> wrote: This
year I am watering from the tap . . . Our water is quite high pH compared to
the rain water. Any ideas on what to do to compensate? the soil is a bit more
alkaline but I have plenty of compost in and am well mulched.

>

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

• New Members 3