This installment turned out to be a pretty big one due to the amount of stuff that was accomplished today. A lot can get done when the time is allotted to do it, obviously. As stated before, I'm on a mission to make the garden be something that exceeds anything we've done with the garden in the years past.
First things first. I picked up a new weed trimmer from Walmart, another battery powered unit. This one shares the same 20v lithium batteries that the reciprocating saw and chainsaw use. This unit is like the chainsaw in that it uses two of the 20v batteries, giving plenty of power for chopping up errant grass and foliage. I ended up getting the unit on discount even though it included everything: charger and batteries, two spools of string and the trimmer unit itself. When I put it to use, this tool exceeded my expectations tenfold. I was expecting this thing to peter out in a short time of heavy trimming but this thing allowed me to trim everywhere I normally trim, around the house, walkways, porch, cars, garden area, even extra areas that I normally don't pay much attention to. I was able to hit wide swaths of ground with the unit, clearing grass all over. The string spool assembly has the feature where I have to bump the bottom for advancing the string as its used up. Also the string that is used is a heavy duty string so the head doesn't have to be the double string unit like most trimmers, its just one string sticking out, slicing through anything in its way. I would highly recommend getting one of these things as it combines the best of both worlds, gas trimmer mobility and longevity and electric efficiency and lack of maintenance. The next thing that I worked on is the building of the new raised bed that will accommodate the cat litter buckets that we planted. As usual, I gathered a batch of scrap wood from the wood pile and prepped the boards before doing my measuring. The first thing was the base frame that will accommodate the eight buckets. Next was a middle board that will help cradle the middle portion of both rows of buckets. A test fit with the buckets ensured everything fit like a glove. Next I took some landscape timbers and cut 3' legs from them for the base. Using the nailgun I got the base table set up. With that came intermediate supports about a foot from the bottom of the legs. This of course will give the raised bed the extra support needed to ensure it doesn't just fall over under the weight of eight 5 gallon buckets full of wet dirt and plants. Lastly were some short 2x4 boards nailed in place around the base to further reinforce the assembly. With that, the raised bed was all done and ready to be set up. With the set up being made from weather resistant landscape timbers, I didn't even bother to put the table on any bricks. The ground under the area was covered in a layer of pine needles anyway so the bottoms of the posts will be good for a while. Anyway, I took the buckets and stacked them into their spots on the table, making the two rows of four. The two tomatoes went to the back, since they will be the larger of the plants. The peppers are in the front. With the whole works set up, this garden is in action. The next order of business was the starting of a new irrigation system. After seeing these new "plug and play" irrigation set ups that use little drip and spray nozzles and some plastic hose that is slip on to the different fittings, couplings, tees, and the sprayers themselves. The whole setup and system is pretty easy to work with. Anyway, after doing a little looking at the components available I figured out how I wanted to set things up so I grabbed a batch of components to get things started. I started off with a 4 way nozzle that screws to a 1/2" threaded PVC fitting. From here I started running some 1/4" poly hose (the hose that goes to the sprayer fittings for the direct irrigation system) to the first few raised beds. The washer drums and the old generation drum beds got the first lines. After that I ran another line over to the fan shell bed and the new generation raised beds. I used the stakes that hold the hose and the sprayers to set up the spreads I wanted in the larger beds then used these little drippers on stakes for the bucket garden. With the lines run, using two of the four taps on the fitting, I then moved on to the main plumbing feed to said fitting. I dug up an area where I laid a water line that feeds the watering dish for the dog. This line runs from the house parallel to the garden fence back to the dog yard. Exposing the pipe will allow me to tap into the line to feed the new irrigation system. Using some surplus plumbing parts I got a tee glued into the line along with some pipe going up towards the four way adapter. The next thing is a way to trigger the water to the system. The best way for this I figured, was using the same type of sprinkler valves I used in the past for the full scale sprinkler system. In order to use the sprinkler valve I ended up having to make a modified fitting that allowed me to adapt from 3/4" smooth to 1/2" threaded. I ended up using a couple of old 1/2" threaded end caps as the outer diameter of these was just a little bigger than the outer diameter of a 3/4" bushing. First I had to drill a hole in the middle of the caps so they can obviously pass water. Afterwards, using the Dremel to sand down the caps enough I was able to glue them in place, completing the modified sprinkler valve assembly. After getting the sprinkler valve plumbed into the line I got the four way adapter hooked up and turned the water on to test this thing out. The sprinkler valve has a manual bypass valve to allow one to turn the water on manually if so desired. I turned it on and the sprayers for the washer drums and the old generation drum halves got a pretty good spray since they were closest to the feed line. The fan shell got a fair spray and the new gen raised beds got mediocre water pressure. While the first test was not necessarily a success, it wasn't a failure either. I will have to move some of the other hose feeds over to the other two ports on the four way adapter so the farther off sprayers and drippers can get a more solid pressure versus being the last in line to get any water pressure. This of course will require another shopping trip for more parts.
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