How about a gardening thread?

	Quote:	sups
	I know I could buy drip irrigation pipes and the whole lot of installations or ask a friendly neighbor who is by chance not away on a holiday etc ...but I am looking for other alternative ideas that would work to keep my garden from drying out while I am away. With indoor plants is pretty easy but I am looking out for solutions for outdoor plants and veggies. thanks

You can use a few PET bottles and adapt this idea
http://www.gizmag.com/aquasolo-self-...g-system/9613/

[sups]

thanks argus...i was thinking of dong that and now i have instructions or the same..ha ha

[JanerMacP]

	Quote:	sups
	thanks argus...i was thinking of dong that and now i have instructions or the same..ha ha

I did this in my garden (you can see them in the pics) and maybe it was because they were raised beds and not the denseness of regular ground, but they were a bit of a bust. I could hold the hose in the bottle for 10 mins and they will not fill up. The water just constantly drained out.

To be safe I'd pay someone to come water your garden every day or second day (it'll depend on the heat).

	Quote:	JanerMacP
	I did this in my garden (you can see them in the pics) and maybe it was because they were raised beds and not the denseness of regular ground, but they were a bit of a bust. I could hold the hose in the bottle for 10 mins and they will not fill up. The water just constantly drained out. To be safe I'd pay someone to come water your garden every day or second day (it'll depend on the heat).

	Quote:	sups
	thanks argus...i was thinking of dong that and now i have instructions or the same..ha ha

I think the best thing is to have a pin hole in the bottle cap as well as the bottom of the bottle, so that when it's inverted semi-buried in the soil, the water drains out very slowly and air can enter the top (previously bottom!). I'd give it a trial run and see how it goes. Good luck, Sups!

A reminder about compost. If you mainly put grass cuttings on your compost heap, it will just turn to messy mush and not compost. The best way to add layers is to use torn up wet corrugated cardboard- it works wonders. I actually layer mine with horse manure, and that is even better (btw horse manure always available here for free- PYO

[sups]

thanks for te ideas.Currently i am experimenting with PET bottles. one has a trickle hole the other one is cut to make a solar irrigator. keeping fingers crossed..they function at a very slow pace though!

[Tom1234]

	Quote:	sups
	thanks for te ideas.Currently i am experimenting with PET bottles. one has a trickle hole the other one is cut to make a solar irrigator. keeping fingers crossed..they function at a very slow pace though!

I ended buying a battery-operated valve from Landi that connects to an outside tap and I set it to switch on once in the evening and once early morning for five minutes each time. I attached a length of hose to this in which I had drilled a few holes and then I laid the hose over all the plant pots.
I blocked off the open end of the hose.

I came back yesterday after two weeks and it had worked perfectly.

The valve was 50CHF and 15m hose was 10CHF.

Unless you have a hose T-piece so that the hose loops back on itself, you'll get much less water pressure at the far end of the hose.
I'll get one for next time but I got around it by siting the plants that needed the least amount of water at the end of the run and the the ones that needed most at the beginning.

I had it running for a couple of days before we went away to check that it was delivering the right amount of water.

[Maria80205]

Very interesting info about self watering. I'm planning to plant some more veg for fall harvest. When typically is the first frost in Zurich? Mid September?

Thanks

[sups]

Tom1234,
Cool, could you make a picture of this watering thingy esp the valve you are talking about. it could be a clever investment for the summers hence forth.
I finally landed up buying a trickler which is similar to having a holed hose pipe but it was hard for me to adjust the water pressure.
there are self irrigation timers etc one could buy but they are a bit too expensive somewhere over 200fr which i think is too much for an hobby gardener
I tried the pet bottle system...didnt work too well for me.

[sups]

	Quote:	Maria80205
	Very interesting info about self watering. I'm planning to plant some more veg for fall harvest. When typically is the first frost in Zurich? Mid September? Thanks

it is very hard to say, this year since we started off late with spring and summer I hope and suspect tht the winter would show a late arrival. generally i would count somewhere around beginning to mid october with the night frosts...but you see NO GARUNTEE!

[meloncollie]

Are pepper plants ever grown from grafts?

I bought a small-leafed pepper/chili plant simply labeled as 'Pepperoncini, Violet, scharf', no botanical or common name.

Early in the year the plant produced small dark purple chilis - mild (or rather, 'Swiss scharf' ) tasting but nice. About a month later, while the purple chilis were still ripening, a second crop of flowers appeared, lower down on the plant. These have produced bright red chilis, pleasantly hot.

Any idea why one plant would produce two sorts of chilis?

A hybrid reverting to norm I suppose. Great fun

There was a lilac near where we lived in UK. When we first moved there it was all white, apart from 2 normal purple branches. Little by little over the years, the 'normal' lilac color slowly took over (called 'reversion) and by the time we moved here, 20 or so years later, there was just one branch of white left. I suppose it is all lilac now.

[Tom1234]

	Quote:	sups
	Tom1234, Cool, could you make a picture of this watering thingy esp the valve you are talking about. it could be a clever investment for the summers hence forth. I finally landed up buying a trickler which is similar to having a holed hose pipe but it was hard for me to adjust the water pressure. there are self irrigation timers etc one could buy but they are a bit too expensive somewhere over 200fr which i think is too much for an hobby gardener I tried the pet bottle system...didnt work too well for me.

Here's a link to similar ones. I couldn't fine an exact picture. Mine was the GF36 from Landi and it was CHF49.90.

[runningdeer]

	Quote:	sups
	there are self irrigation timers etc one could buy but they are a bit too expensive somewhere over 200fr which i think is too much for an hobby gardener

Not sure what you mean by this, but we have a Gardena timer hooked up to faucet and the drip lines for outside, works like a charm when away. Don't know how much it cost, but don't recall it being too expensive. And as it is going on 5 years or more, it was a good investment. Just cut and put together the drip lines depending on each years garden layout. Used for garden veg and potted plants as well.

[sups]

	Quote:	Tom1234
	Here's a link to similar ones. I couldn't fine an exact picture. Mine was the GF36 from Landi and it was CHF49.90.

thank you Tom ...I will try getting one from Landi for the next time.

[Kamarate]

So... weeded the garden before my long holiday and came back to a jungle (and courgettes which can now safely be considered marrows). I'm only one person with basic tools and limited time - any suggestions on the quickest/easiest way to deal with this huge mess? Please?!!

[Tom1234]

	Quote:	Kamarate
	So... weeded the garden before my long holiday and came back to a jungle (and courgettes which can now safely be considered marrows). I'm only one person with basic tools and limited time - any suggestions on the quickest/easiest way to deal with this huge mess? Please?!!

Yes, do the weeding as quickly as possible before the seeds set and disperse.
Otherwise you'll have even more to deal with next year.

Do a section at a time so you feel you've accomplished something.

[TidakApa]

	Quote:	Kamarate
	So... weeded the garden before my long holiday and came back to a jungle (and courgettes which can now safely be considered marrows). I'm only one person with basic tools and limited time - any suggestions on the quickest/easiest way to deal with this huge mess? Please?!!

	Quote:	Tom1234
	Yes, do the weeding as quickly as possible before the seeds set and disperse. Otherwise you'll have even more to deal with next year. Do a section at a time so you feel you've accomplished something.

I agree with Tom1234,
You have to keep on top of the weeds to slow down the next generation.
Weeds are easier to pull out when the ground is wet, so if you have a big job, try to time it after a shower of rain.

Failing this, there is always the option of 'weed netting' the place with a fabric.
It's ugly as sin, and it isn't 100% effective either. It also prevents a light shower from soaking into the ground.
I don't like it, but it will keep a weed population down.

..... I guess I would be out of place with the suggestion of a herbicide (so I won't).

Other than this, with gardening and agriculture in general - You reap what you sow.

Gloves and elbow grease is the only way - one reason why serious gardeners actually dread going on holiday.

[Kamarate]

Boo - not the answers I wanted to hear, but unfortunately the answers I thought I would. Thanks, all.