My Green "0 Mile Diet"

I’ve been SFG’ng for several years now. I don’t know if the yeilds are higher here as the season is short but it a lot easier to maintian. By raising the beds you can get a jump of about a week with planting.
After my back yard reno this year I will be reconstructing my square foots with an irrigation pipe in the center to hookup water to the plants as required.
Good luck with yours.

Bob

-- I am a strong believer in luck and I find the harder I work the more I have of it. Alberta Canada Zone 3A or maybe 3B

the way I figure it, I get the equivalent of 4 rows in the space of what used to be 2 rows.. .thus “double” (at least)

With our rain barrels, the plan is to have them lined up with the rows and a drip line coming out of the bottom and watering the area. I purchased one rain barrel and it has a hook up at the bottom for attaching a hose.
The rest of our barrels at this time are simply storage and will be “dip and lug”.

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

I’m going to rig a small pump to a preset timer and pump x liters from my holding tanks to a dispensing drum with drip lines on the ends of the irrigation pipe. I’ll let gravity drain the dispenser.
The problem we always have is getting too much produce at once.

I’m still trying to address that.

Bob

-- I am a strong believer in luck and I find the harder I work the more I have of it. Alberta Canada Zone 3A or maybe 3B

hopefully a lot of our veggies will make it into the freezer this year. We usually just eat what we pick right there and then…. not this year. Nope, nope… going to last me months! Well that’s the plan anyway.

The rain barrel that we bought has an overflow outlet on the top so you can hook up more than one barrel. That’s what I’d really like to do.. get them set up in early, early spring and start filling them all and have the outlets lined up for each row. Ok.. so I can dream :)

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

hopefully a lot of our veggies will make it into the freezer this year. We usually just eat what we pick right there and then…. not this year. Nope, nope… going to last me months! Well that’s the plan anyway.

The rain barrel that we bought has an overflow outlet on the top so you can hook up more than one barrel. That’s what I’d really like to do.. get them set up in early, early spring and start filling them all and have the outlets lined up for each row. Ok.. so I can dream :)

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

GREAT PLAN … I truly hope it all works out for you. As always, keep us posted on the progress … :-)

-- "A perfect garden is just a garden to be in-perfection. Mornings to work on it and evenings to pause and look at it." Southeast Michigan, Zone 5a/5b

Deb:
You should be able to get clean barrels around your area if you make a couple of calls.
I have commercial 250-300 gallon jobs but I also have more than my share of 55 gallon plasitics to boot.
I payed $55.00 each for them on the premis they were refundable but alas I am retiring and don’t want more product, so the chemical company gets to keep my money. – How drole!

Don’t get stiffed buying “rain” barrels.

Bob

-- I am a strong believer in luck and I find the harder I work the more I have of it. Alberta Canada Zone 3A or maybe 3B

I bought one, with the overflow and the drain spout and the screen lid… and now three “free” plastic 45 gallon drums as well. So that should get me started. We don’t have them set up yet because I’m leaving the eaves troughs to Rick and he’s been working long hours with only one day off a week so hasn’t had time to get it put up.

So far this spring we have had several rain days called and have either had no rain or just a little. I’m really worried about what our summer will bring. Hopefully we will still get some good rains after the rain barrels are in place.

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

Ever think about separating off your gray water into a cystern?

Bob

-- I am a strong believer in luck and I find the harder I work the more I have of it. Alberta Canada Zone 3A or maybe 3B

need more information!

When we bought our home the original owner was our neighbour and showed us everything about our home (sheesh) including a cystern that actually runs over to the neighbour’s as well—or something like that. Since I didn’t know what it was all about I left it to my husband to handle. I remember some digging going on so I’m not sure what was actually done with it.
Rick and I were talking about it the other day. All I know is: the location of it.

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

That could have been an underground storage tank for potable water and if it’s still intact you could use it to store your gray water.
Basically you take the run off from your shower, tub, washing machine and sinks and run the water off to a settling tank that over flows into you cysterm. From there you reuse the water on your lawn and gardens.

Pretty simple and very economical in the light of the forthcomming price hikes on everything.

Bob

-- I am a strong believer in luck and I find the harder I work the more I have of it. Alberta Canada Zone 3A or maybe 3B

we’ll be sure to look into it further as I know we are in for hot dry summers from here on in..

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

Your “0 mile diet’ is very impressive MsD.Hope everything grows and produces tons for you.

-- Bon,Hastings,Ont.....zone 5a....Always room for one more

our rainbarrel.
Last week we set up an eaves trough and got the rain barrel all ready for the big rain this past weekend. We chose not to use the lower drain pipe on the barrel at this time.
After the rain the barrel was 3/4 full.. yippee!!!
This morning: empty.
Why? Well it seems that the plug in the bottom wasn’t really a plug; the hole just happened to be plugged with stuff. The pressure of the water pushed the stuff through the hole and out whooshed the stored water.

Come on rain – you’ve got a whole lot of catching up to do!! We’re back to square one (well, square two, because the eaves trough is up and working)

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

Can we say “oops”? I’ve made booboos like that.

-- the day you quit learning is the day you quit living.