Lessons learned while gardening in a drought...

Thank you ~ I was wondering what powered it. That appears to be a convenient size. May I ask where you found it?

Hmmm podster- I must ask the resident man of the castle, when he gets home. :) I don't remember what place he ordered it, just online.

Uhhh... I think I found it. Harbor Freight. It's a guy thing ~ lol
Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

Right now, I could use my shop vacuum. It has the capability to pump out as well as suck water.

But I think when I shop for a pump, I want a marine pump. When we have need for the water is not always when we have electricity.

The HF site did have some marine pumps listed at good prices. DH always has a battery around here.

Ideally, I'd like a pump that would be ac/dc but I think I better get the containers set up first.

Thanks Moxies_garden!

Podster, I have a little marine pump that I got from Harbor Freight that I use to water the plants at my front gate (1/2 mile from the house). I found a big water tank that someone was throwing out and my son bought a small trailer that a friend was rebuilding for a boat and never finished. The tank which can hold up to 500 gallons sits on the little trailer with the pump and the battery (old car battery). I can hook it up to either the tractor or the 4wheeler easily, drive it up there and fill all my tree gators fairly quickly. The toughest part was getting the bottom sized down to water hose size on the tank. Oh, and the pump requires female hose fittings on both the intake and outtake. Didn't realize that at first and had to cut a perfectly good hose to put a second female fitting on it. Pump was around $30. My DH is already panting over a bigger one, it's a man thing. LOL

Joy

And it is a man thing ~ dare we tread over that edge? lol

Good ideas on your tank and trailer. Thanks.

I am hoping you saw some of the rain yesterday?

We have had 3.75" of rain total since last September here at the farm. We are just a couple miles as the crow flies from an oxbow in the Brazos river and the river bottom and it seems to really disrupt the weather that comes out of the W/NW. Anyway, we got about an inch from that rain, I am doing a major happy dance. It is amazing not to be covered in dust all day.
Due to time constraints and livestock "misplacement" I have had all my old stock tanks that leaked converted into planting beds for my garden this year instead of my big 50 X 50 garden/dairy goat pen. The drought has taught me that the plants in the 4' tall tanks maintain very well with minimal mulch where the 2' tanks are good only for my herbs and small plants because they dry out too fast no matter what I do. And my basil, rosemary, oregano, thyme, and mints have done wonderfully this year in them. And I like them just outside near the kitchen (duh).
We have even more birds here that are strangers to the farm. Yesterday morning I had 3 Sandhill Cranes stop in to the pond, 2 White Ibises, and a Wood Stork. We even have 5 or 6 Baltimore Orioles visiting, another oddity around here. But my biggest surprise was the Whooping Crane that flew through my trees about 10' off the ground till it reached open pasture to rise. I was heading back to the house for my camera when it passed me. I just stood and gaped.

That is so cool. I love the orioles but we have only seen one in these past 35 plus years of east TX.

You have definitely seen the bright side of the bad drought this summer. I admire anyone that makes the best out of a bad situation.

I also like the idea of your leaking stock tanks being repurposed. That is a very interesting way of 'container' gardening.

podster- I found the post I had lost..telling you where we got the pump. I was having a "duh" moment, looks like.

"podster-Harbor Freight..or however it's spelled. I think the pump itself was 69$, and DH picked up some fittings to be able to add the water hoses."

We, too, have had many birds at our feeders and fountain that we cannot ID. I have about a dozen bird books and often go to the Cornel University site, "AllAboutBirds.com". We have never had this many fledglings of all ilk. We have been bird watchers for over 10 years and it is a lot more exciting than one might believe. Especially since we have a show right outside our windows in the sunroom where our computers face out. Often a bird or two will have some identifying difference from the others and we get excited when they return. How is that for two retired ole people? Keeps our blood pressure low. hahahaha

Birdwatching is definitely rewarding. It challenges you to track down the IDs and research their homage.

Moxies_garden ~ thanks for the pointer. I had suspected it was HF ~ seeing as that is the 'guy' go to place. I have been looking and think I want a marine pump which will also work with a 12 volt battery if the power is out. Thanks much!

We have Bullocks Orioles here for the first time. They showed up just a few weeks ago .. it Oriole grand central station around the humming bird feeder every day now. They line up on the fence waiting their turn. My mother even has a few using her feeder. It took me quite a while to identify them since I have never seen such a bird in my life. The hummers are not too happy about it either!

Never thought to look at Orioles. Will check that out. Thanks, Lhasa.

These are about the size of a mockingbird and have the markings on top but are bright yellow on the underside.. wonderful birds but they are very skitterish!

Up north when we fed the orioles, they'd love orange halves that were put out on a flat shelf and a friend would put some grape jelly on a jar lid for them too...

Think I will try that......just in case. Just a minute ago a gecko was flattened on my window in front of my desk. Because I have the lights on inside the bugs are coming to it. He is waiting patiently for his turn. Better than any tv in the world. More action than you could believe right outside my window. Love it, love it, love it. He just moved....hiding.

I was trying to figure out a way to attach a littl dish of jelly to the feeder stand today!

Be right back. Going to Cornell U to see if I can id my bird.

We have had NO bugs this year until very recently. My mothers tomatoes and peppers did not produce because there was nothing to polinate them. She usually has tons of tomatoes.. the plants were full of blooms.. only had ONE tomato! So funny.. good thing I don't like tomatoes.

This gal would nail the lid for the jelly to a board and set it on her deck rail or on the bird feeding platform.

Nope, not an oriole.

"Allthingsaboutbirds.com" is the most comprehensive site I have found. Even gives you their song.

describe your bird.. maybe we can help you.

Just sitting in my empty GH visiting with my sister on the phone. A bug came traveling across the floor and a scorpion ran out with his stinger up. That is NOT the kind of action I like to see...

Wow.. I would totally freak out! I don't know why but scorpions are the one thing I have had nightmares about since I was a little kid. I could not stand the sight of one even on TV until just recently.. I finally managed to face my fear enough to be able to see them on TV. Found one in my home about 20 years ago.. ran outside.. called my parents from the neighbors and had my father come over to take care of it!!! LOL I'll face ANYTHING over a scorpion.

Tammie, just a note of caution to keep the jelly fresh. Perhaps replace it everyday. The danger is that it will go bad and cause the birds to get sick.

LouC, tell us about your bird and hopefully we can ID it for you.

Carla

Carla ~ thanks for that word of caution. In this heat that could be a real problem.

I feed the hummers and change those daily whether they are empty or not for the same reason.

Our little town is under

Zone 8b, Heat Zone 9, deep southeast, TX on Lake Sam Rayburn
I have used rain barrels, well water, and placed an 18" deep, 5' wide, preformed, plastic pond liner into soil where evparation water from my Air Conditioner drops into it. I have a continual water supply from this source. I have used it all summer on my raised flower beds, successfully.
Neil Sperry suggests that we continue our watering into the Fall/Winter season, also.
Thanks all, for great suggestions on water conservation.
HAPPY AUTUMN! : )

Thanks Ms Sudie ~ as always some good suggestions. You are so close to the lake, is it down badly by your home?

I have used the condensation from my A/C for years.. an 18 gallon container under the outlet that is frequently full. I have to remember to keep it emptied by filling other containers or watering the yard or flowerbeds. The only time it is not full is when our humidity is staying below 8%.. then I go weeks without any water in it.

It is said to be excellent for using on plants and could be considered "found" water.
Wishing I had access to that moisture. Our a/c drain was plumbed directly into the tub/sink drains.

One of the few bright spots of the drought is there has not been any powdery mildew on my Zinnias and this is the first time ever for that to happen..Same for the squash ...

I still say, "in the future, all homes will be built with access to the grey water". Only makes sense.

I agree Christi.

Grits ~ I always feel there is a bright side to everything and hadn't even missed the PM on the pumpkin vines. Another bright side from this drought.

Agreed on the grey water Christi and times like this should inspire many to make changes.

Last year I told one of my nieces about my grey water system and she said it would be against city regs where she lived(California) I am pretty sure that I have noted before that certain plants don't take well to the water from the washer and seems to get some leaf burn ,but I want to add that my dishwasher is not part of that set up as I am pretty sure the DW soap has some very nasty compounds in it ..My question is what do Y'all think about the dish washer soap ..Harmful or not? Seems to me that all of the plants most affected are members of the Cabbage family ..Yeah I know it has another name but I can't spell it..

It depends on what type of dishwashing soap you use. I use Seventh Generation dish liquid which is all right for grey water use. Fortunately our little grocery store handles it. It is more expensive. I've noticed when I run some dishwater and add this soap before dinner, by the time dinner is done and those dishes need washing, it has already broken down. There are a lot less suds.

Even their soap for dishwashers is o.k for greywater. I've not used it or their laundry soap. http://www.seventhgeneration.com/Dishwasher-Detergent

and a couple of links from their site
http://www.oasisdesign.net/greywater/
http://greywateraction.org/greywater-recycling

Thanks Pod I am going to look into the seventh Gen. stuff We were using the Great value from walmart but quit because it caused the drains to stink swithched to cascade and drains smell better ,before the switch started putting a tbs. of baking soda in the dishwasher with every load and that solved the odor problem .but we decided to switch rather than fight ..LOL

My pretty pretty Rhodedendron dead from the heat and drought but I have seen some suckers coming back from it's roots

Another one this was probably my most photographed plant

Grits ~ that is beautiful! I do hope it comes back for you. Will it come back 'true' from the roots?

The long term water supply for Texas is looking ominous. I am not out searching for bad news but keep coming across articles that spell doom for the water supply even if this drought doesn't continue.

In this area many with water wells are losing them. Dried up... may need to build a two holer. ; )

Always wondered just who would want to accompany another to a "two holer" hahahahaha