Self Watering Planters 2011

In a previous post, I wrote about making a self watering planter, or Sub-Irrigated Planter if you prefer. A lot like the Earthbox planters you might find in Walmart. I took some advice from the makers of the "Global Buckets" videos on youtube, and connected the planters with a thin aquarium hose and siphon. I must say, it is working great. The tomato planter sucks water like crazy, but the lettuce planter has water to spare. By connecting them, it is like having a single 50L reservoir shared by all the plants.

Well, this year's rooftop garden at my school has more diversity than last year.
I have (from left to right) lettuce, watermelon, bell pepper, cucumber, and tomato in the vegetable section.

And the blueberries I planted in the fourth planter last year have exploded in growth. Amazing growth. The honeyberries have not grown as well as the blueberries, but they look to be doing well.

Future plans for the self watering planter garden:

I am planning to make a large automatic waterer based on the traditional chicken waterer. I am thinking of taking a 30-40L barrel, and drilling a hole about 5cm down from the top.
Then I will fasten a deep tray to the top of the barrel. A second option would be upending and standing the barrel in a large plastic storage case.
The hard part will be flipping it over. 30-40Kg.... not impossible, but pretty heavy.
The water will fill the tray until it reaches the hole, where the vacuum created by the bubble at the top will stop it.
After that, connecting the nearest planter with a siphon will begin the watering.
The planters and the reservoir will seek the same level, and water will gradually be released from the barrel as the water lowers to the hole, where it will "burp" out some more and send a bubble to the top.

I hope to have enough capacity to last for a full week between fillings.

April Showers Bring Orchard Flowers

I thought I would do a post about my orchard and what is flowering. Mmmmmm.... I sure hope that we get a good harvest this year!

A yellow cultivar of Rubus crataegifolius a wild raspberry of Japan

It is hard to see, but hidden in the garlic is a Actinidia arguta (hardy Kiwi)

My water supply. I stuck a hose in a small pool on  the creek, and let it siphon down. When I am not using it, it drains into the same creek.

A loquat Eriobotrya japonica, Cultivar "Tanaka"

My quince Cydonia oblonga is about to flower.

Asian Pear Pyrus pyrifolia Cultivar "Hosui"

Indian Blood Peach Prunus persica

Santa Rosa Plum Prunus salicina

Nectarine Prunus persica

Summer in Ibaraki

Figs ripening

Raspberries too

One of my peach trees- Indian Blood Peach

Persimmon "Fuyu"

A keyhole garden bed of edamame (green soybean)

(I don't care how others tell you how to pronounce it, the proper pronunciation is flat, like "eh-da-ma-may" and NOT "eh-da-MA-may" or any foolishness like that. I know, I live here.)

Me and the boys, beating the heat in our "jin-bei" Very thin hemp cloth shorts and loose top. Wonderful things, really.

Berry Good Berries

Mmm.... Fresh berries!

Now which is more delicious?

The Black Raspberry?

Or the Boysenberry?

 

The black raspberries had a wonderful rich flavor, a bit tart, but bursting with flavor.

They boysenberries had a bit more sour note to them, but those big druplets are like a whole fruit by themselves!

I just can't decide. I love them both.

Goumi Liqueur

We have a goumi bush in our yard, under the Paulownia tree. Every year we are innundated by gadzillions of the little red berries, which are sour and astringent before fully ripe, and just sour as lemons after they are ripe. What a bargain.  We have tried making jam out of them for a couple of years, but this year we decided to try something new.

Start with one kilogram of goumi berries. Make sure you pull off each and every one of the stems from the several hundred berries. That should keep you busy for a while. 

Ok, you have the one kilo of berries, now you need to put them in the jar. 

 

Cover them with one kilogram of rock sugar. Well, any kind of sugar will work.

Now pour 1.8L of "White Liquor" over the berries and sugar. White Liquor is basically a 35% grain alcohol. Japanese Shochu, Korean Soju are good, Vodka... Well, I guess it might work. Everclear- That would work pretty well.

 

 Now this is the hard part..... Wait three weeks before drinking.