Garden IV

I never did run a sprinkler or hose out to my raised bed where I am growing cucumbers, which means that when it hasn’t rained (we’ve had a rather wet summer), I’ve been hand carrying water out to the meadow. We just finished a trip where we were gone for 5 days, and rather than trust the forecast, I set up water bags to drip moisture into the soil.

Photo description: wilting cucumbers in a water trough converted into a raised garden bed with a trellis holding two bags of water

The trellis was quite helpful for installing the bags. I set the flow rate low, 5ml an hour, and made sure all the outlets dripped.

Photo description: closeup of the gauge on the drip line, showing the flow rates at the high end of the range, this junction twists in the middle to control flow

It turned out that while we were gone it rained nearly everyday, so the low 5ml flow didn’t really matter. I should have done my math first, at that flow rate the bags should last 10 days. I am hoping that it will help with this week’s heat wave.

Harvest

I’m glad I found the harvest apron when I went out to the cucumber patch and coop. I hadn’t been out in a couple days and I found 5 cucumbers and three eggs!

Photo description: looking down into a handmade harvest apron loaded with three eggs and five cucumbers, muck boots just visible past the apron

First cucumbers

This year my husband moved the metal trough “raised” garden bed out into the meadow where there is more sunlight. I set a trellis in the middle and planted cucumbers. I have meant to run a timed watering line out there, but it hasn’t happened yet. I haven’t had to hand water often, though, because we’ve been receiving frequent rain. It has worked. I’ve been harvesting cucumbers!

Photo description: first two cucumbers from my garden in a metal water trough with trellis

I’m training the vines up the trellis to keep the cucumbers off the ground, which works really, really well.

I have not installed deer deterrent yet in the form of a fence or barrier. That is on the to do list.