Saturday in the garden

Lilacs are blooming!  Here's a bud.  (Some of the tomato seedlings pictured last month are in the background.)

Accomplished Saturday: weeding, spreading compost, setting up the rain barrels, fixing the wheelbarrow tire, picking up bricks from a coworker, watering strawberries, raking and shredding leaves... and feeling rather sore and tired at the end of the day.

We are putting out rain barrels even though we are not past the last frost date here in Nebraska because temps during the day are high enough that Belovedest thinks it won't get cold enough to freeze an entire barrel of water, which will retain some heat from the daylight sun.  A partially-filled barrel can afford to freeze, as the ice has room to expand without splitting the barrel.  We'll keep you posted....

Here's the long, long tap root of a small and innocuous-looking dandelion:

Hope all of your spring adventures are going well!

Lately....

My camera has had ISSUES.  Very sad.  I managed to fix it by pushing random buttons.  (Yes, truly.  Don't try this at home.)  So I haven't been taking a lot of photos lately.

Here is one of my niece over Thanksgiving, before I got the camera squared away:

"Tree croquet is not really working out....."

Here's one of my current projects:

Yesterday my Beloved and I harvested 17 pounds of potatoes from eight plants:

We still have some carrots in the ground, but once those come out, we can total up the garden produce and see if we met our goal of 150 lbs from the garden.

We also FINALLY put the rain barrels away.  The daytime temps were high enough that even though night was below freezing, the barrels didn't get enough ice in them to crack.  But we still cut it way closer than I would have liked.

Hope everyone is enjoying their Saturday!  I'm going to go make gift bags for next year's craft fair while I wait for my friend Stacy to come over.

Planted today!

We are WAY behind schedule!

Today we planted:

carrots
lettuce
beans
peas
cucumbers
beans
watermelon
pumpkin
and some flowers.

The garlic went in at Halloween, the potatoes went in at Easter, the new strawberries and blueberry plant went in in early May, and we are waiting for the tomato seedlings to get a wee bit bigger to transplant them.

Belovedest is also figuring out a way to daisy-chain our rain barrels.  He didn't like having one so close to the house, although it's been there for years now.   There is a rain barrel class at SCC some time this summer for those who would like to make one of your own for cheaper than you can buy one.

And Andy and Ann (plus kiddos) gave up a whole lots of grass for the compost pile.  I've got high hopes that it is going to heat things up out there!

Now I need to get the seed packets and the garden calendar, and write down when we can expect them to germinate and when we can expect a harvest.  We used A LOT of last year's seeds and A LOT of self-harvested seeds so I'm not sure what our yields will be like.

My Barrel Runneth Over

Look, Ma, the overflow spout on the rain barrel really works!

It’s been raining a lot here lately.  This photo is from last week, but if anyone is curious as to how much water can come rushing off of a roof, this gives you some idea.

Decorating Rain Barrels... Or Cheap and Easy Reverse Stencils

All you need are scissors and name tags!

That is, presuming your design is small enough.

This idea can easily be adapted to all kinds of sturdy objects, particularly outdoor stuff and items that you aren't worried about the labels damaging whatever surface they are applied to.

I wanted to spray paint our rain barrels, but I also wanted to leave a bit of the blue showing, as the plastic is such that you can kind of see through it to tell how full the barrels are.

1. Draw and then cut out your petals.  If the edge of the design includes the edge of the sticker, it will be much easier to separate the sticker from the backing.

2. Apply your name labels.  Don't stick the whole thing down firmly--leave a bit so you can easily pull the label off.  Make sure to apply the stickers so all of the not-stuck-bits are in the same place on the petals, as there will be a blurred edge in those places and if ALL the petals have the same blurred edge in the same place, it will look like it was done on-purpose.

3. Spray paint everything.  Let it dry completely.

4. Peel off the name tag labels/stickers.

5. You can carefully scrape off the residue or let it wear away eventually.

6. Enjoy your pretty flowers!

Today I....

... can't find the card reader for the camera.

And I create the Weekly Round-Up by looking through my photos.

So here's my plain vanilla best...

This week I
... almost finished a challenging freelance article. 
...harvested the last of the carrots and beans
... and today, Belovedest and I disconnected, hosed down, and put away the rain barrels.  He had drained them Thursday night in anticipation of the cold weather, but they are now put away upside down for the winter.  We decided to clean them out in the spring... when it is warmer!
... am panicking because I'm in a Craft Fair on Saturday and consequently I have a To Do list as long as my arm.... and I have ONE free evening this week. (How did that happen?)  My days off are filled with too many meetings, although I should have some time Tuesday afternoon and a little on Thursday. 
... am reading Journal Bliss: Creative Prompts to Unleash Your Inner Eccentric by someone named just Violette and it is making me want to doodle and play and I can't!  (Next week.  Unless I actually make it into that play I'm auditioning for.  But soon. I'm going to stop being so busy... soon....)

 Also coming soon-- how much $ did we save from gardening and rain barrels?  I can now do the math since it is the end of the summer..

Rain Barrel Tip

Make sure you clean out your grates.  One barrel was nearly plugged with all of this:

We plan to post how much $ we saved on watering at the end of the summer.  I am always amazed and delight how often environmentally friendly = frugal.

Weekly Round-Up

This week I....

... received this dress form from Singer as a first prize in a creative competition!  I can make a mini-me now.  (Only it will be exactly the right size.)

... played Bohnanza, also known as the bean farmer game, with some good friends.  The Magician and I both enjoyed it, which does not always happen!

.... harvested fat stubby carrots.  Apparently we need to really soak them when we water them?  Remind me to ask Doug the Master Veggie Gardener....

.... was given this by my niece Arwen.   Isn't it lovely?

.... unpacked canning supplies.  I'm hoping it isn't as complicated as it looks...

.... noticed that the rain barrels are now empty.  Yup, we used the last of the water up watering our garden.  Now we're back to the hose until it rains....

.... thawed some frozen strawberries to add to my oatmeal.  Mushy, but still tasty!  For how I froze them, click here.

Happy Weekend, Everyone!

Yesterday we picked our first royal purple beans!

Today we emptied a 50-gallon rain barrel watering the garden.

Tomorrow I'll be posting pics of Shakespeare on the Green, the beginning of my latest project, and hopefully a trip to a botanical garden.

Have a great weekend!

Rain Barrel Update

We put out our rain barrels May 6.  We decided to not worry about the last freeze day being May 15.  Hopefully that is ok.  I'm hoping that since water retains heat somewhat, it will make it through a frost, should we get one.  If it doesn't, you'll hear all about it....

Last year's rain barrels coming out of the garden shed.

Belovedest also got another rain barrel to put next to the shed which is actually near the garden

This drain looks like it will go right into the barrel, but when we poured water into the gutter, it arced out and landed in the center of the lid..

We had to shorten the gutter.  Happily, my dremel came to the rescue.  We've ended up using it much more for cutting than crafting, but I'm going to work on that.

Then we tested it:

The barrels have been full!  Pretty much as soon as we put them out, it started raining regularly.  You're welcome!

TIPS:

• Elevate your rain barrels!  You'll get more gravity power to move the water where you want it.
• Water your houseplants and garden seedlings with rainwater.  Water softener water will kill them.  We discovered, fortunately, that our outdoor faucet water doesn't go through the water softener so we use that when we don't have rain water.
• Decorate your rain barrels before they are full of water.  Yup.  I forgot again!.
• Before buying one, check your local agencies like the extension service and city offices.  The rain barrel class that we took was sponsored by the city watershed management office, and was cheaper than buying a similar barrel.  My sister lives in a city where they are free.

Rain Barrel Winterization

The even described below took place around Oct 19.  It's just taken awhile to get this posted - ed.

The temperatures have started to dip down in the evenings.  And as freezing temps were arriving sometime this week, it was time that we drained out the rain barrels and prepared them for winter storage.

There was, of course, a problem...  In order to put in the two rain barrels in the spring, we had to cut away part of downspouts.  With the barrels removed, we had to figure out how to re-attach the rain drainage as we didn't want any water coming back to the foundation in case of an early winter shower.

I checked around various hardware stores and was surprised to find that there was a lack of pipe couplings for rain spouts.  I mean the kind with one side larger than the other so that it slides on an existing pipe.  The only kind I found was the "elbow" shaped ones and those just wouldn't work for what we needed.

So I had to cut and crimp the attached spouts and slip on the old drain pipes that we cut away in Spring.  Then we used zip ties screwed into the walls to hold them in place.  In the end I also duct taped the seams and zip tied the tape in case the tape would peel during the cold winter months.

Now the spouts are securely in place and there should be no issues with rain or run off.  So we hope!!

Rain Barrel Hiccup

Cue music:  "I just love a rainy, love a rainy night!"

Last night we looked out the window at a downpour so torrential that we could hardly see and listened for tornado sirens, when we noticed that the rain barrels overflow were hardly trickling.

The rain barrels have been full for weeks. (We have two.  We need more.  The next class isn't until August.)  So any water that goes in should promptly go out the overflow.  What gives?

Rain Barrel Update

Forget cats and dogs.  It's been raining elephants and hippopotami!  (Especially a couple of nights ago when thunder woke me up at 3 am so I could watch the lightning and wonder if there was water in our basement because we have no idea how to work the sump pump thingy that came with the house.)

Our rain barrels are full and we haven't needed to use them yet since it has rained at least once a week since we set them up.  (I know you are supposed to use the water to avoid mosquitoes and algae, but since the water pours into the barrel before spilling out through the overflow, I figure it hasn't been stagnant enough to create a suitable environment for those unwelcome guests.  If I'm wrong, I'll let you know....)

The only hiccup was that the intake got clogged with tree debris and had to be cleaned out to keep water going into the barrel.  But that didn't turn out to be a big deal.

I haven't gotten a chance to paint the second barrel, though, because it's been constantly full!  So that blog post won't be any time soon.  Stay tuned...

How To Make A Garden Hose Extension or a Really Short Hose

I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to add end pieces on to a piece of cut hose.  Not a big deal, as it turns out.

We did this so we could leave the short hose hooked up and not be taking it on and off constantly.  Eventually, whatever gets the most screwing and unscrewing is going to wear out, and this little hose piece will be much easier to replace than the value at the bottom of the barrel.

Painting A Rain Barrel

The rain barrels we made in the rain barrel class are a bright blue.  And while it's a nice color, it doesn't really go well against the side of the house.  So... we decided to experiment with painting one to see how it would turn out.  And every learning experience for us is also of benefit to you, our dear readers!  So here is the account of how things turned out.

In the rain barrel class were told that there are really are two options for painting a rain barrel:  1) put down a primer first and then your paint on top of that or 2) use Krylon paints as they have a type that works on plastic without the need for primer.  We went with option 2.

I took a paint chip from the bottom of the garage door (it needs to be re-painted this fall and that'll be a project we'll blog about, too) to match up paint colors:

We went with this lighter shade of Krylon Fusion Satin For Plastic paint.  It actually turned out to be a perfect match as the gutters and drains were the lighter shade anyhow (we didn't think to actually check the gutter color as for some reason, in our minds, it was the same as the brick and house color...).

The next step was to add a strip of painters tape down one side.  The reason for this was so that we could still see the water level in the barrel once it was painted.   A plastic bag was placed underneath as a drop cloth and we elevated the rain barrel on some bricks to make it a bit easier to paint.

And the painting begins.  When painting, be sure to do so on a sunny day that is not too humid and one with less wind.  The key is to move the spray evenly to get a consistent coat.

When we were in the store, we wondered how many cans of paint would cover one rain barrel.  We estimated that one would not do the trick and so we bought two cans.  We were right as one can only got us to 2/3 of the way around.

Then it was time for the outside of the lid:

and the downspout extension (which was originally green):

We then had to let the paint dry for 15 minutes.  One could then touch the paint but you were supposed to wait another hour before moving the painted item.  So we set the timer and waited.  Here's the final, painted rain barrel:

Looks nice, no?  And a glimpse at the side of the rain barrel with the blue peek-a-boo stripe:

Ok, now here's a few extra items of note regarding our project:

 A.  We decided not to paint the metal lid ring.  One can do so but we figured the paint would just scratch off too fast from anytime we had to open the lid.  So we skipped it.  But you can do so if you want.

B.   The extra cost of the two cans of paint came out to an additional $11.98 plus tax ($5.99 each).

C.  You can seal the paint with an extra coat or two of sealant.  We chose not to.

D.  Even though the paint adhered to the plastic well, it isn't really scratch proof.  In fact, it can still scratch pretty easily.  We wonder if sealing it would make it hardier for wear-n-tear?  So be careful when moving it back into place so you can keep your paint touch-ups to a minimum.

We're not all that jazzed about how easily it scratches, actually.  Ellen from the class said, "sand first," and even though the paint can said "no sanding or priming," Ellen was right.

For our next barrel, we're going to try priming because J. Pario wants to use some acrylic paint in places. Yes, my wife is going to paint flowers all over hers....

Rain Barrel Class Part II

This morning The Magician and I took the rain barrel class again.  We were delighted that the instructor used our blog post about installing our rain barrels as part of the class!  (Click here if you missed that post.)  The blog has been useful!  Hooray!

This afternoon we spray painted the first rain barrel.  It would have made sense to paint them all at once, yes?  But I want to do stencils on mine and so that will take a bit longer than we have time for today since we are taking Grandma Rose to Saturday evening Mass in Crete.  So we just did one. The Magician will write the post for that tomorrow.

Our First Rain Water Collection

It rained .18 inches last night.  I estimate we have a total of 27 gallons in our rain barrels.   
(The plastic isn’t completely opaque and there are stripes that divide the barrels into thirds, making this calculation possible.)

Math + small business idea = reality check

Last night The Magician and I priced rain barrel fixings at two hardware stores.  (The class included a handy list with photos, which was a huge help, as was Marthy at Menards.)

Here is the scoop.

The barrel itself, from Jones Barrel Company in Omaha, NE = $19

Note: We don’t live in Omaha.

Costs per barrel (the fixings for the intake grate, overflow, and spigot) = $35.33

One-time costs (mosquito screen, caulk, zip ties, and two bits for an electric drill) = $29.34

Ergo:

1^st barrel = $64.67

2^nd barrel = $50.00

3^rd barrel = $45.11

4^th barrel = $42.67

5^th barrel = $41.20

6^th barrel = $40.22

Rain Barrels Installed

We didn't get to the store to price parts for more rain barrels yesterday and instead we got ours put into place.  Rain is coming!  But my mother ("hi Mom!") has a vehicle big enough for three barrels and she is headed to Omaha tomorrow so I hope to snag three of them tomorrow.

~How to set up rain barrels.~

You will need:

• Something to elevate the rain barrel. (We used two cinder blocks.)  Remember that a full barrel weighs 440 pounds and plan accordingly.
• A brick or rock to weight down the barrel so it doesn't blow away like an empty trash can
• A hack saw to cut your drainpipe
• Something to convey the water from the cut drainpipe to the opening of the water barrel
• zip ties (depending on the item above)
• screws (again, depending on how you are connecting the downspout to the opening of the water barrel)
• Someone to take pictures of you because you are cuter when you use tools

More Rain Barrels?

Today I found a supplier in a town about an hour away that sells used/refurbished barrels for what I thought was a pretty reasonable price.  They're only open M-F, 8-3:30, though, and neither of our vehicles will hold more than one, so there are some logistics to work out. 
This evening the Magician and I are going to price parts and see if it is cheaper to make our own or take the $49 class again.  We're also going to try to get them set up in the yard, now that the epoxy has dried.  Stay tuned!