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

New Strawberry Patch

My wife decided to enlarge our strawberry patch. It was pretty small, I had already started taking down the rocks and was not about to put them back for the picture.
We decided to create a raised bed for them along side the edge of the garden.
Using my trusty trailer I filled up up the area with good composted dirt. Then went through it with my trusty BCS tiller, to break it down.
coming to the front are a few rhubarb plants of several varieties. Then the asparagus.
At the entrance are wedding onions. More about them later.

Tags: Minnesota Gardens Home Garden wedding onions strawberries

BCS 205 Garden Tiller Review

Here is my story on my 20 year old BCS 205 tiller. (a sweet machine) I had a front tine tiller that bounced me around for years. About 20 years ago I did some research on tillers and the name BCS kept coming up as the top of the line tiller. All gears no pulleys or belts to wear out.It has proven itself to be well worth the price. Also it was touted as a very fast spinning tines compared to other tillers. It has a PTO [power take off],one can use to add other tools. I had gotten the snow blower attachment, I wouldn't recommend the snow blower for Minnesota winters, it is single stage and can't deal with the volume of snow that we get. Down south it would be fine.
After 20 years of course they have of course changed models, my local dealer no longer exists. I finally have a issue with my carburetor. The tiller still works well but a drain on the bottom of the bowl began leaking a little., in trying to fix it, I screwed up the bowl gasket. I have tried creating my own new one several times, I soldered the drain plug. A temporary fix.
This spring I went to take it out from the shed it started then died. I realized the nut holding the carburetor bowl on was gone, gas leaking all over the place. Finding parts for a 20 year old tiller is a challenge, one can find places to find new BCS tillers, but until I came across earthtoolsbcs.com they had the parts, gasket set, bowl,jet & nut for it. I'm back in business.

Oh,full disclosure, a purely personal review , got no connection with anyone. Paid full price for the parts from Earthtools. :)
Tags: Minnesota Gardens Home Garden BCS Tiller

Grapes in Minnesota

We decided to go with the St Croix grape, I told the nursery I wanted a table grape, so I took his suggestion of the St. Croix. After I got home and we planted it I got around to reading thre label. It said the this was the one red wine variety that Elmer Swenson has released. It is Vinifera like wine quality with low tannins and good hardiness -32F to -40 depending on who you read. Ripens midseason and has a semi-trailing growth pattern. Good resistance to black rot and powdery mildew. Also makes a suitable seeded table grape. I got the impression seeds are going to be in any table grapes I plant here. It's in the ground, planted next to the garden arch. We'll see how it goes.
Tags: Minnesota Gardens Home Garden Planting Grapes

Which Grape ?

I want to plant some grapes this year. There seems to be a variety of grapes one can plant in central Minnesota. I figure I want to stick with a real hardy variety to use as a table grape. I don't drink so have no interest in wine grapes. Not that that matters but it's another story. I have been thinking of King of the North or Swensen Red. Not sure, what I can get my hands on I suppose. I'm looking for ideas on this.
Tags: Minnesota Gardens Home Garden grapes