The Wolf’s Garden – Part III
I was cruising around the Craigslist “free” section, and came across somebody with “free bricks and garden stuff” so, I called and left a message, to see if I could get in on the freeness. Then while I was waiting to hear back from that person (actually, I’m STILL waiting to hear back from that person), I was looking around “ehow” at garden stuff and came across an article on how to make an “upside down tomato garden”. Now THAT is cool! Other than the buckets (which are super cheap), I’ve got everything I need to do tomatoes upside down this year! And from what I understand (I’ve looked around a bit more since I found that article), you can plant at the top of the bucket too (like, peppers, or basil, rosemary, parsley, whatever you want). Since I’d planned to do hanging strawberries anyway, I’m really, really excited about the prospect of having hanging tomatoes. It gives me that much more ground room to space everything out that will be planted down there. YAY! I think I’m going to paint my buckets with dark brown texture spray paint so that they don’t look trashy. Now I’m wondering, though, how best to water them, while remaining within my “as free as possible” confines. I think I’ll buy a hose splitter @ home depot (those exist, right?), and an extra hose, or drip hose (depending on cost, and availability on craig’s list). I’ll run one hose up along the top of the cage to get into the strawberries, basil, rosemary, and tomatoes, and the hose along the bottom will have to take care of everybody else.
Today (Saturday), Iorek & I went over to the closest nursery/building supply store, and had a look about. We found the right sort of fencing for the garden, and asked the guy who was walking around the area how much the fence cost. He quoted us about $29 a roll – and a roll will do the entire garden, I’m almost sure. Then as we were turning to walk away, he asked us what we were going to use it for, then smiled conspiratorially. “We’ve got seconds, y’know. If you’re interested in something that’s just a little less pretty, I can give you a roll for $15.” Holy Cow. 50% off? So we checked them out, and they’re fine. They’re better than fine. They’re fantastic. So now we’re talking about just exactly how to do the frame so that it remains sturdy. PVC? No. Wood? I don’t know. Maybe. Rebar? Kind of a pain in the ass, because of the welding and bending that I’d want done – and taking up the yard guys’ time isn’t the greatest idea in the world. We’ll see. Iorek found me some rock (from rock bags in the yard – like sandbags, but sturdier) for the walkway (that person from the craigslist ad still hasn’t called back), and I had an idea the other day when I was having coffee with Jennifer, and trying not to study Physics. I think I might be able to make some pretty, free (or close to it), mosaic stepping stones from some of the broken glass in my mom’s stained glass stash. It’d give me a chance to hang with her for a minute too, which I’ve not done in a while.
So once I figure out what the frame will be made out of, and how to do it, the garden is a go, it looks like. I’m excited, but I’m getting impatient. Really impatient. 
I’m excited for you, too! Looking forward to more pictures, as well …
Now, about your questions: yes, hose splitters exist; and I highly recommend a drip hose no matter how you can score it. They water more slowly, and if positioned properly, direct the water where it’s wanted and minimize spraying into the air—which is not only wasteful of the water but if leaves get overly wet, they become vulnerable to fungus and other problems.
I’ve decided to (try to) content myself with an indoor garden this year … but with a twist that would be unexpected to most people. More on this at my place … [ain't I awful, teasing like that? /me laughs]
I also have a couple of hanging baskets for strawberries. I have a fantasy about having fresh, ripe strawberries all winter long.
Given how long your garden is going to be, don’t forget to give some thought to head loss when setting up your system.
[Sunni]:
Oh, thank you! I had wondered which to use. I’m actually considering trying to make a drip hose that only drips in some places along the line. If I turn the water on very low, I don’t think it’ll spray out of those areas, if I poke enough holes. What do you think?
[Kirsten]:
Thank you SO much. I had wondered if such a table existed. I’m going to go nerd out on that in a few seconds.
You should think about making one of those miniature green houses. It’s just a wooden box, as big (or small) as you want it, covered in clear plastic. If you were to attach the frame to a hanging basket, and then attach the plastic, (with the growlight inside of the system), you could have a humidity, and temperature controlled green house hanging in your living room!
At, say, 2 ft.^3, you could totally make this yourself… OR you could do it hydroponic style, with the strawberry forest. Do you know anything about that? I’ve got links to it here somewhere… *digs around*… well I DID have links to it…. OH, here it is:
Strawberry Towers. Enjoy.
Uh, I should note that you don’t wanna do strawberry towers in your living room. I mean, duh, y’know… but, I thought I’d just kinda point that out.
Hi -
I found this blog through Sunni’s blog…thanks! Very interesting.
I’d love to hear more about growing vegetables indoors. Also, if it’s in a wooden box, you could transport it too…which helps if you move around a bit, as I sometimes do.
Thanks for the links to the strawberries…
Lila Rajiva
You’re welcome for the strawberry link. And to add to it, I think I’ll throw in a link for where you can purchase strawberry towers (these are a bit different than the ones I originally linked to) – if you’re not into DIY projects: Purchase Strawberry Towers.
If you’re an associate of Sunni’s, you’re welcome here.
Making your own drip hose? I’m sorry, my dear Sister-Predator, but you have passed through my small realm of knowledge and experience … and I really don’t know enough physics to hazard any guesses about what you propose. Good luck with it!
And on the subject of greenhouses, I saw a cute, clever adapatation in a very small yard the other day. It was of the semicircular, clear-plastic design, but instead of being a full semicircle, it was a quarter-circle … looked quite like a sail under full wind from certain angles. I hope that helps with visualizing what I’m trying to describe; I’ve never seen a greenhouse like it before.
If you were running your soaker/drip hose on the ground, you could just poke holes in an old water hose and do it that way. Since you’re also needing to water the hanging stuff, I see three options… 1) water yourself every day (and sometimes 2x per day in the heat of the summer, 2) install some type of drip irrigation like this article, or 3) you can use bottle irrigation for the hanging plants like this.
One thing to remember with the bottle irrigation, if they are in full sun, that water is going to get HOT. When watering through a hose, this is not normally good for the plants since it can scald the plants but I do not know that it will have the same effect since the bottle irrigation would be draining at a much slower pace into the soil so it would have time for the heat to dissipate before hitting the roots of the plant.
Oh, and if you choose wood for the framing stuff (which sounds like it will be the best choice) be sure to watch out for pressure treated stuff. The chemicals that pressure treated wood is treated with can leach into the soil and veggies you’ll be growing. But you probably already knew that
No, I didn’t already know anything about pressure treated lumber! Thank you! I knew that the stuff they treat railroad ties with was bad, but i didn’t know about the pressure treated stuff. I’ll ask Iorek before taking anything form the yard.
And thank you SO much for the irrigation tips. I absolutely love the bottle irrigation thingie, and will be using those rather than the home-made drip hose that I was trying to explain earlier. What I meant by making my own drip hose, was just getting a regular hose, and poking some holes in it where I wanted it to leak, and then putting a cap on the end, and turning on the hose to a very, very gentle drip. But I like the bottle irrigator a LOT better.
[Sunni]:
That sounds so cool!!!! I wonder why they decided to make a greenhouse like that. Does it help the plants from being too shaded by one another? Does it deflect wind? Hmmmm… Curiouser and curiouser… I’ll have to look around a little online and see if I can find a reason for that.
I was in Walmart today. Looks like I may be looking into those greenhouses as I saw Quinault strawberries in the garden section and they sound perfect for my area in containers.
I also checked out hose-splitters. A Y that attaches to your spigot and lets you attach two hoses to it with on/off valves for each of the two hoses cost only about $2 for a plastic version and about $6 for a metal version. I recommend the plastic version because even if it isn’t as sturdy, it’s not going to corrode and get stuck to your spigot. I had one hell of a time getting a metal one off one of my spigots after a few months of use.
Yeah, there was a big to do about it a couple of years ago in that it was used for a bunch of playgrounds and such and kids were getting arsenic poisoning from it. I’m sure they’ve changed their formulation by now, but to me it’s not worth the risk. Since we don’t know what they treat that stuff with, we don’t know what it will do to the soil or plants. Mr. D and I just use rough cut lumber from a small local sawmill. It looks nice and rustic but it is also just wood – no paint, no chemicals, no treatments.
I think the primary reason was space: it’s in a small yard in a nearby town, and if memory serves the yard also had a playset for kids … so my guess is they needed to balance their land uses. That said, this property is high on a hill, and it can get fairly windy ’round here … but there are many commercial greenhouses in the area as well, probably to extend the long growing season even further. (Not meaning to rub it in, Kirsten!
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In my indoor garden quest, I found a great setup to build clear shelves yesterday, and at a terrific price too. Couldn’t find the traditional cinderblocks though, so I’ll be trying something else that should work okay. I’m looking forward to getting it built.
[KIRSTEN]:
Advice duly noted. Thank you very much, field researcher! I will have to see if I can make one of those indoor greenhouses as a Science Sunday project one week when I’m not trying to make a garden, or get the house clean.
[DARE2]:
Holy freaking famoles. It doesn’t sound worth it to me either. My husband assures me that none of the lumber in the yard is pressure-treated. So at least I’m safe there.
[SUNNI]:
That’s so cool! Are you going to post pictures on your blog? I know you’re more into the freedom-type discussions (well, I guess gardens discussions are freedom discussions, eh?), but I’d be interested in hearing a little “why for?” and “how to” about your indoor garden shelves.
You asked, and I shall be delighted to oblige. Don’t expect anything quickish, though (for several boring reasons).
You are wonderful.