We bought some grape plants and needed to get them planted before we took off for a
few days. They weren't going to survive the heat in those little pots. Everyone was
working diligently on their comicon costumes but luckily, Garen finished early so he agreed
to help me out.
One of our favorite ways to grow plants is by using a self water raised garden and we
found the perfect spot for it.
This is where we're gonna put our self watering grapes.
We like to do the self water planters because well, they work really good off the rain barrels
for one with the float in them but also in the desert, it's so hot out here in the afternoon.
And you never really know what that plant needs. Self water works good because the plant
just takes what it needs when it needs it.
Bryson wants climbing plants so grapes seemed like a good choice.
So what are you putting on that?
Gasket Maker
Gasket Maker. Okay [laughing]
Garen digs the rain barrel down a little and digs a ditch to lay the pipe under the railroad
tie.
He then connects the pvc pipe from the rain barrel to the blue self water container.
Garen uses a hose to pvc connector.
The pipe is installed permanently to the self water container.
The float is responsible for keeping the water level up.
He places an off and on valve so we can turn it off during the winter months.
Once he gets it leveled, we add water to the barrel and let it set for a day to ensure
the float is functioning properly.
The next day Garen constructs a platform from a plastic bucket. He cuts hole around the
top and cut outs around the bottom for water flow.
The platform is placed in the container. A piece of fence is used to distribute the weight
and the garden cloth keeps the dirt from falling in.
We almost forgot to add the pipe we use for testing the water level. So Garen makes a
quick cut out of the garden cloth and slips it in.
The dirt touches the water and wicks to the plant. It works like any other self water
container.
We water them for the first day or two to start the wicking process.
When we get back from Comicon, Bryson installs the gutter.
The grapes did well while we were away.
We want to eventually put gutters around Bryson's entire building but for now, we'll start with
the entry.
We've used plastic in the past but these metal ones seem to be better and they're 5 inch
too, so bigger.
The same afternoon it rained. We got to try out the system and it worked like a charm.
I found this on sale for $3 on clearance because I was looking online at rain chains and they
can be quite expensive. They can be as much as, just shy of $100. And so, I'm gonna go
ahead and use this.
We want to have as little intrusion on stuff that's flowing down that gutter as possible.
Four years ago we did a video on our first large self water container. You're welcome
to watch it but be warned, it's REALLY corny.
We've had those strawberries going for I don't know, they've been there for a few years now.
It's been very successful. Every year the strawberries pop back up. And then in the
winter months, we shut down the self water so that it can dry out a little bit. Because
otherwise it can get root rot if those roots sit inside the water. So each year, they pop
back up.
I don't know if it would be successful with every plant, but it's definitely been successful
with the strawberries. So, we're hoping to get the same results with the grapes.
Mom is working diligently to create a garden atmosphere in the courtyard. We will periodically
bring you updates on how that's all going. Until next week, we'll see ya next time!
But we just use him, there's a pool under him. Like a kiddie pool you can see the shape
is round. This one works too. And then we'll plant either sweet potatoes or bell peppers
or something like that when the rains come.
This one you can see, he's kinda dried out because I have to water him by hand because
this one stopped working. It's a blackberry. It's not thornless so it's not really a fun
plant anyway. I think the problem with this one was, it is very high and there was a lot
of dirt here. And my guess is that the weight came down too much maybe on the float. Anyway,
we'll see when we take it apart.
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