Gardening/water Advice

Barrells on property
to collect rain water..
Use to water plants.

good luck,

C.

Hello K., My advice is to plant only drought tolerant plants. Native plants are another great idea. Once the roots grow deep enough into the ground then they will not need much water and rain should be enough. Mulch helps alot, but so does putting slabs of wood under the ground below the roots. The wood absorbs water and allows the plants access to moisure. Make sure to keep them watered in the beginning. Visit some nurseries and ask their advice. Enjoy your new hobby.

You could always offer to pay 10-15 dollars a week for the use of the water.... I have no idea how much it would cost to use the amount of water you would need but 10-15 sounds reasonable... to me it would be worth it to not have to lug water around!!! :-)

Sounds like you need a good rain barrel. Most garden supply catalogs have some sort for sale. Some even have spigots so that you can attach a hose. If you do not have a way to fill it before transporting, you should talk with the land owner to find out if he is willing to let you fill it from his water supply. God willing, you will get enough rain during the season to keep it filled, but if not, maybe you can work something out with the land owner to fill it again if need be.
Keeping your garden well mulched will cut down on your need to water.
One year that we did not have convenient access to water for our garden (quarter acre size) we buried milk jugs and large soda bottles with the bottoms cut off, upside down next to the major water drinking plants like the tomatoes. When we watered, we also filled the jugs and did not have to water as often.
K

Well, you have to get the water there somehow, don't you? Have you thought about a storage tank on site? Rain could go in and you could use that.

Also, I know some great "green" plant care products that I'd love to share with you if you want!

S.

Hi K.
I'm going with Candy's suggestion for rain barrels. Most hook up to your gutters down spout. But you could adapt yours to have collection wings or something to mimic.
A. H

http://www.diylife.com/2007/08/08/conserve-water-and-save...

K.,

If you mulched the garden it would reduce the amount of water you would be required to haul, because it would keep the moisture in the ground longer, an added benefit would be eliminating the need for weeding. We mulch our garden every year and while laying the mulch at the beginning of the growing season is a huge chore, once its done, the rest of the summer is relatively labor free, except for the harvesting!

Do you have a pickup truck? Could you find a large barrel and put it in the back of the truck, then fill it with water, once you have hauled it to the garden site, you could use a garden hose and siphon the water into the hose and directly to your plants?

There are several ways to start a siphon- you could just suck the water through the hose with your mouth until it creates enough of a flow to keep itself going, or you can get a small pump to do it.

I asked my husband what he thought (a pretty handy guy and good problem solver) and he also suggested if you are handy and the barrel is metal you could put a pipe fitting on the bottom of the barrel, attach the hose to it, and let gravity do the work for you. But he thought the siphoning would be much simpler.

Good luck and enjoy those fresh veggies!