Gardening Projects at GardenTenders.com

Automated Watering

zeddicus — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 05:30:00 GMT

I am big on automation. I am a computer software engineer and anytime I can get something done automatically without having to remember it or take the time to do it I am happy (provided it’s done efficiently). I put lights on timers when I can, and I even have two Roomba’s who vacuum upstairs and downstairs.
I love my garden. My daughter and I have been adding plants to it constantly since it started warming up. I found out quickly though that watering every day was taking up precious time, but skipping even one day would leave the plants noticeably wilted and dry. I would pick her up from school after work and we would have time to eat dinner, water the plants, play in the yard for a few minutes and then she was off to bed. So I decided that the trade off was to either let the plants die, or figure out how to have them automatically watered.

I started by piping with PVC around the deck starting at a faucet (my house has only two faucets, one front and one back and they are really not positioned well). The pipe runs up to the bottom of the deck, around the front and all the way to the other side. At each end of the deck I put a vertical supply ending in a faucet that sits just above the deck railing. At the front of the deck I put another faucet to allow me to hook hoses up to for watering the lawn (and filling my daughters swimming pool). At the other end of the deck is a fourth faucet for the drip irrigation system.

Not the best picture, but behind the chair in the background you can see the vertical pipe running up from the house faucet. In the forefront of the picture is the new faucet with a timer! The lawns will now be watered bright and early before I even get up from bed.

Here you can see the supply line running under the front of the deck and an offshoot to the drip irrigation line. There is a timer there along with a pressure control valve, backflow valve, and a filter. There is also a drain valve for the whole system (with the red valve) as I don’t plan to have this active during the winter.

Behind the upside down tomato plant you can see one of the two new faucets at the deck level. One I plan on eventually adding a timer with another drip irrigation system on the deck, but with only one plant on the deck right now (the tomato) I just use the faucet to fill the watering can.

The drip irrigation only had one tricky place where I needed to go from the new faucet under a path and underneath a wall to provide water to the upper planting area. A little digging took care of that though.

Here are some pumpkin plants with the new drip lines going to them.

And my daughters sunflowers with a line.

Flowers

And finally the beans and broccoli which are still waiting for their lines.

I should have the rest of the lines run this week and then the timer set up for the summer. We are actually having a little bit of rain today and tomorrow so I turned it all off, but when the 80 degree weather is back, the plants will be very happy they don’t have to depend on my memory and free time to get them the drinks they need.

Chasing butterflies..........................................................

Iris43 — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:14:13 GMT

Well, here you go, one of the first this year. Although I have had monarchs visiting, and there are eggs left on the milkweed. Also saw a beautiful, blue/black something yesterday but couldn’t identify it. Lots of little sulfurs around. I really do have to carry the camera to get butterfly pictures, they are here and gone so quickly. So you see, I really do have to chase them (without the net) to get a pictue. :-)

This one I believe is a Canadian Tiger Swallowtail….................................................................................

Wasn’t it nice that he/she decided to visit this particular lilly….they compliment each other so well…......

Large Log Cabin Birdfeeder

threeoaks — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 03:27:14 GMT

This is a large log cabin birdfeeder I built to scale (1”=1’). The cabin measures 2’ x 4’ with a 1’ wrap around covered porch which makes the overall dimensions 4’ x 6’. The feeder is mounted aprox. 6’ off the ground on a real cherry tree base I had to cut due to disease. As you can see by the pictures, I added exposed posts, beams & rafters. All the lumber was recycled from 100 year old rough sawn pine siding I renoved from a remodeling project. The roof was made with corrugated galvanized steel. The upper most roof section comes off so that an entire 50 lb. sack of birdseed can be poured in. There is a hopper inside that allows the seed to funnel to slots at the base around the cabin into the porch section. Thanks for looking.

The Berm July 5/09

Bon — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:46:25 GMT

Last fall I took all the wild stuff out that was in the berm from the previous owners and cleaned the whole garden out.Then I got more rock and made a couple more layers to hold the dirt and to separate the plants.In late June I seeded it with annuals and they are finally starting to come up.Our weird weather this year has really stunted the growth of a lot of my flowers.The hot spell we had seemed to perk them up some.I put a lot of new stuff in this garden this year and am hoping it will look good when it blooms.I will post new pics when it finally blooms.

Things 'round the place...

MistyBlue — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 03:23:22 GMT

Just a few picts to share. Strangely enough, two of my favorite flowers are yellow weeds! And truthfully, they don’t even smell nice at all! These are just a few snap-shots that I took ‘round the place that I thought someone out there would appreciate!

HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!

Iris43 — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 21:47:08 GMT

Wishing you all a great Canada Day. Hope your BBQ doesn’t get rained on, and I especially hope your fireworks don’t get cancelled bc of the rain. It’s going to get cool tonight, so if you are going out, dress warm.

My BIL is a retired Mountie and he sent me this picture for Canada Day. Hope you enjoy it.

My June Gardens #3

Iris43 — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:10:19 GMT

Ok, here it is the end of June!! Where did this month go. :-(
Starting with the zoom pictures….................................................. #1..The east border. #2..My little veg. garden. #3..Looking across the backyard. #4..The hosta corner.

As we have mentioned bf, the gardens are ever-changing. For instance in this picture, you can see at the beginning of the month the predominate flower was the iris with the little lilac.

This is the same scene, taken this morning.

The gardens in front of the house are full of colour with the end of the peonys, yellow loosestrife and missouri primrose, oriental and day lillys have started to bloom. Feverfew with it’s lime green foliage and sparking white flowers stands out nicely. Even some sedum is beginning to show up. While some of the later annuals have not started to bloom noticeably yet you can see some of the fern-like foliage.

East side of the front deck….....................................................................................................

The jackmanii clematis has just started to bloom…............................................................................

I’m afraid the page is going totime out on me so I’m going to post this much and I’ll try and add more later.

This following picture is the front corner, which had a variety of iris at the beginning of the month, now full of pink/lilac poppies.

The garden on the west side of the house has gone from many iris to delphs, pale pink rose, pink and orange oriental lilys, lady’s mantle, maltese cross(bright red) and the flowering mock orange with the heavenly scent.

Here is a little spot where there is a red carpet rose, missouri primrose coming through the fence, viola in the front and feverfew showing up again. You can see the beginning of the heavenly blue morning glories just starting their winding up the towards the arbor.

One last look at the little gem…...........................................................................................

The next two pictures are the last of the iris…...............................................................................

I love these ‘crazy daisy’ shastas with the ‘goblin’ gaillardia, and a pretty little lollipop lily in the corner….

Muscari

M2Grzegorczyk — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 07:10:34 GMT

Hello

These are the Muscari from my garden. To bad they bloom so shortly.
Hope you like it.

M2Grzegorczyk

Miniature Hollyhocks

GrandmaT — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 19:17:28 GMT

This is the second summer for growing these. Stumbled onto them in a flower catalog and they looked really pretty and quite interesting. Have to say I am really pleased with how they are performing. This summer they have spread a bit and are much stronger plants; so there is no need for staking.

They get 30-32” tall and bloom for 2-3 months. Grow in full to partial sun. Perennial in zone 5.

Lady slippers

Iris43 — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 18:17:31 GMT

Thought you might like to see the lady slippers that are blooming in my pond garden now. I bought 1 plant from a lady in Mt. Forest, 3 years ago when I was driving home from Parry Sound. I didn’t know if it would grow in my garden or not and since it was a pricy plant I just bought one. It came back the next year, which encouraged me, and actually had a new shoot with it. This year when it came up, it had three shoots. I am going to watch for seeds this year. It would be nice to be able to share, without disturbing the original plant.

This first picture is early this month, the three shoots just out of the ground, at the bottom of the picture…

This next picture was taken about a week ago, the flowers are starting to open…................................

Here you can see the second ladyslipper starting to unfold…................................................................

This was taken this morning with all three in fullbloom. In this heat I don’t know how long they will last so I wanted to show them to you now….................................................................................................

It a little hard to see, but behind the lady slippers you can see the jack-in-the-pulpits. In the last picture and the zoom picture, you can see the J-I-T-P in seed. This seed head will turn fire-engine red and will stay there throughout the winter unless something comes along to eat it or trample it. Once the seeds are scattered, they will germinate and more J-I-T-P will result.