Organic Farming
Automating as much of the growing process is critical. There is no need to spend time watering or adding the nutrients by hand.
Automating your watering system takes much of the
drudgery out of the organic gardening experience. It also assures more efficient
use of the precious water, and does a better job of watering every plant evenly.
I highly recommend it!
This process is covered, with illustrations in the Mittleider
Gardening Course, chapter 15, which is available in our products section.
Following is a recap of the procedures.
The first thing to do is to measure, mark, and stake the garden,
followed by trenching and installing the PVC feeder lines.
First, determine what size pipe you can use. If the source is
only a hose bib, then 3/4" pipe is all you need. Watering will be
much faster if you have access to a 1" or larger water source.
Measure the distance from the main water source to the head of the farthest bed,
as you will want a header-pipe that long.
Buy PVC pipe as large as the pipe from the water source, or
3/4", whichever is larger.
Your trench for the header pipe should be 9" deep and very
close to the beds, so the risers come up only a couple of inches or so from the
end stakes at the center of the bed.
Buy slip/slip/thread T's for risers to each bed, with the threaded
T being 3/4", and the slip sides matching the header pipe. Cut your
header pipe so the T's are at the center of each bed, then glue them with the T
straight up.
To make risers you'll need one of the following for each bed:
1) 12"-long 3/4 Schedule-200 pipe,
2) 3/4" slip/threaded female/male connector (to go into the T from the
header-pipe),
3) 3/4" slip/threaded elbow,
4) 2" threaded bib,
5) plastic threaded ball-valve,
6) Schedule 200 PVC pipe, cut to the length of your bed or box,
7) 3/4"slip/threaded female/male connector (for far end of pipe),
8) 3/4" threaded end cap.
To drill holes in your pipes for watering, you need some #57 drill
bits and a drill. To make a jig for marking the pipe, you need a
6"-long piece of 2" X 4" board, a pencil, and a drill bit the
same size as the pencil.
Cut a square piece out of the long side of the board at the middle,
so the opening fits the pipe snugly, then drill a hole from the top down to the
middle of that square opening. Inserting the pencil into the hole, pull
the board along the stationary pipe to mark a straight line. Then turn the
pipe 45 degrees and repeat the line, and another 45 degrees and repeat again.
Stretch a tape measure along the length of the
20' length of PVC pipe. Mark a line every 4" that intersects the 3
lines already on the pipe. Drill a hole where the lines intersect - 3
holes every 4" for the length of each pipe. Thats a lot of holes, but
don't let it scare you. They go very fast once you get started, and you
only do it once - for a garden that'll last 20 or 30 years.
Purchase the digital Books and Manuals.
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