The water wagon delivers water to my rain tank. Click here for high-resolution version.
During the previous two years, I didn’t do any vegetable gardening. Instead I’ve been buying fantastic organic vegetables locally from Brittany and Richard, who make a nice living selling vegetables from their gardens.
But this year I was inspired to get back into gardening again, I hope in a way that won’t defeat me when high summer arrives with bugs, ticks, briars, heat, and humidity. I’m late to no-till gardening. I finally realized that, with a no-till garden, most of the work can be done early in the season, and summer maintenance should be greatly reduced. My ideal temperature for outdoor work is around 50F. That’s March weather.
It was reading about perennial leeks that inspired me. Leeks are one of my favorite vegetables, but I don’t live in leek country. Grocery stores usually have leeks, but they’re expensive and shopworn. Brittany and Richard say they can’t grow leeks profitably because the leeks take so long from seed to harvest. But Brittany and Richard happily started some leek seeds for me in their greenhouse while I made a no-till leek bed. I bought a big load of leaf compost for the job. I already had a lot of well-rotted chicken manure.
If it weren’t for the drought we’re in, I’d already have moved the baby leeks from the greenhouse into their new leek bed. But we’ve had hardly any rain for weeks, and there’s no real rain in the forecast. The entire southeast including Florida is under a high-pressure system that is keeping moisture away. Temperatures also are 10 to 20 degrees above normal. I think I’ve decided to go ahead and plant the leeks anyway, after the leek bed has had a good, long soaking from the rain tank.
I’ve had a rain tank that Ken set up several years ago. When there’s rain, the roof of the shed catches it and spouts it into the rain tank. The tank is up the hill from the garden. A buried pipe carries water downhill to the garden. When there’s no rain, my nearest neighbor brings out his water wagon. He pulls it with his Jeep or with a tractor. There’s a gasoline-powered water pump on the back. Just down the road in the woods in a small stream that is always flowing. So water is always be available for the neighbors’ garden and for mine without having to use well water.
⬆︎ Filling the water wagon from the creek. Click here for high-resolution version.
⬆︎ The leek bed, with a drip hose. I’ve made a longer, narrower row with room for six tomato plants, four cucumber plants, and some basil. Click here for high-resolution version.
⬆︎ Doodle-bugs like the dry weather. Rain, I’m sure, messes up their traps. Click here for high-resolution version.
