New Garden Steps

A project last week was to replace some garden steps. It seems like just yesterday I put these steps in. Some of them needed replacing, I have been reminded they have been there for 23 years. Oh well, it was time I guess, designing a yard is fun but one must remember, all things have a life span and maintenance is always there. I had to go buy a chainsaw to cut the bridge beams that I was going to use to make the new steps. I bought a Poulan Pro Chainsaw with a 16 inch bar. I am happy with it, I love a new saw, that cuts wood like butter. The bridge beams are recycled for the second time in their life. First as railroad bridge beam, second as posts, creating a driving barrier for remodeling of a parking area, I retrieved them and now they are steps. Recycling is good.

Tags: Minnesota Gardens Home Garden garden steps

Watering the Garden

We decided to try have more efficient use of our water usage in the garden this year. This spring the rains were few and far in between. I had read some where that regular watering with sprinklers was about 60 % efficient . I read about using various drip techniques, that are supposed to be about 90% efficient. We had tried a drip hose years ago and were not happy with it. I kept getting twisted around we just did not like it.
What we came up with is a pvc grid system.
First adaptability was important to us so none of the fittings or pipes are glued together. As it is not a pressurized system the fittings do not want to blow apart. This allows the system to be reconfigured as needed. I drilled 1/16" holes every 6 ".

The hose connection was created by buying plastic hose adapters, cutting off the ridges I found it fits inside the 1/2" pvc pipe very nicely. I didn't take much experimenting to find out the most even distribution is when the hose connection is in the middle of the grid. I will be posting more on this..

Tags: Minnesota Gardens Home Garden vegetable Garden watering Garden