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water Irrigation for a LARGE garden

I want to look at some local places, but I found someone on Ebay that is selling 55-gallon plastic blue barrels for $10, and like $30 for shipping. I'm sure you could buy more than one with minimal in additional shipping.
 
Note sure how it is where you are at, but around here I can find USED food grade blue 55s for 10 bux too. And I can fit 7 in my short bed full size truck. Then shipping is only the cost of gas!!! I bet you could find some semi-close to you!! I have a few cut in half. I plant in them and use them to store mulch and stuff!!

Checkout Craigslist if you can transport a few!!! Craig's should also have the large totes!!
 
I bought mine off of craigslist, make sure they are bio not cemical previous content, paid $25 each but now i see the 3 times that much.

Yes they will grow algae in them, at the end of the season i brake out the pressure washer but a garden hose and long handled brush will work fine.

Green houses use them quite often, they may know!

SC

P.S. wow nice plants POTAWIE!!!!!!!! Where's the picture of the real cash crop.LOL
 
I was microwaving my rainwater yesterday to warm up before watering the seedlings and got some strange looks from my family. Great points on the huge water tank and black plastic. I hope to use those ideas this year to deal with Seattle's colder spring and fall seasons. Keep the great ideas coming!
 
Got me some Pro Mix ya'll!! Same place also has those blue 55-gallon barrels for $30. I'll probably wait until next week, but I may get me one or two of them. They had soy sauce in them. Any ideas on how to get the smell outta them? Maybe some bleach?
 
Hot Pooper said:
They had soy sauce in them. Any ideas on how to get the smell outta them? Maybe some bleach?
Click to expand...

Hay Popper , maybe try some rice or spicy chicken chow-main, or maybe use those watering barrels for the Oriental hot peppers.LOL

Chlorine Bleach for the most part is just electrically charged salt water, want to use it; go head just rinse good of coarse and the residue parts per million left over won't hurt a thing,

But water should suffice, maybe a little soap if you want, dido the above cleaning statement.

I hope that you can find those barrels a little cheaper $30, seems step, but I live in a part of the country that uses thousand, $5 all day long, wish you could find the big tanks, really the cat meow.

O just a thought, maybe to keep the cost down you could use a siphon action right through the top instead of trying to tap the bottoms, You had that figured out didn't you? ya I know leave it to me to point out the obvious.LOL

Well it sound like you still have quite some time to get it all figured out, I'm sure it will be a class act when your done!

Keep it hot my friend, SC
 
Ok...here's the question....on that plastic mulch...do you think I could just go to Lowe's and buy some plastic that comes in rolls? I think painters and home builders use them. Hell, last year I bought a 50' roll of black plastic sheeting and made a slip and slide down the slope of my yard.
I don't think I will need a 4000' roll. So, I could probably get a couple of 100' rolls and be good to go.
Oh, and I don't know if I have told you yet Spicy, but Im sold on the drip irrigation. The way my house is set up, as well as the positioning of my buckets and little mini garden's placement, a drip irrigation set up will work PERFECT. That and its pretty damn cheap! :dance:
 
Hey there Poopy-boy, here's a suggestion for you. Go to your local carwash and ask if they have any of their empty soap containers. Most of the time they will give them to you for free. Make sure you wash the residual out REALLY well and it should do the trick for you. I got one the other year and made a compost tumbler out of it. Had some leftover lumber and pipe so the whole project ran me about $5 total.
 
Hay hot pooper.

You could, but unless you can find a roll 100' X4' or 3 you could buy a say 30 X 12 and cut it, The material is not the same, the plastic i use is stretchy and conforms to the ground, but I believe you will get the general idea of whether or not you would do it again, with out the cost. on the other hand its kinda like a cheap musical instrument, even a professional can't make it sound good and will be disappointed, if you know what I mean.
The right product for the right application. If Its all you can afford I would definitely give it a go the principle is there.

Congrats on the irrigation thing, your gunna like it! Glad to here things are coming together for you! I want to see some progress Pics. don't forget!!

You got a handle on it Popper. Keep it hot. SC
 
Hey SC, do you get more than one season out of that plastic? I'm trying to be as environmentally friends as possible. To date, I've only used newspaper and straw for mulch / weed control. By the end of the season, it all biodegrades and can be re-incorporated into the soil. Most newspaper inks are plant based, so I don't even worry about that either.
 
Whats up Red,

I can not answer that Q, last year was a first for me on the plastic deal and now I would never ever do it any other way!

When I purchased that plastic I bought the none biodegradable, because it was cheaper, so the screen capture pic I posted earlier of the plastic price is the biodegradable price.

Not sure which you would prefer, personaly I like to rework my soil several times every spring, bringing those cut worm, grubs and what ever else to the top to get cooked by the sun and then replasicate.

The next time I buy this plastic I will be buying the biodegradable so I can just till it in, and move on.

What ever you decide, keep me apprised. This old dog is still learning new tricks.

Keep it Hot. SC
 
I may give the biodegradable plastic a shot in my second raised bed. I've always had good luck with the straw / newspaper but not at the scale you are at SC.
 
I have a cistern (3000 gallon) that was already here in my old farm house. I put a swimming pool pump (free from sister) in and put underground 2" pvc out to this setup. Works well and provides very high pressure for hoses or I can fill tank and do drip irrigation if I wanted...The 4" gray PVC was also free :) I like free!

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