live, learn, feed the family and be more self sufficient.

Plus more vitamins than store bought.

Here's to your health.

John

 

Great idea. Any of you green thumbs out there have any suggestions for irrigation using minimal water at low pressure. How about drip irrigation? Have read that it is the best way to go. Need irrigation for fruit trees, veggies and flowers. Water is in short supply here during summer. Too much right now.
Also need info on how to stabilize red soil that turns to clay when wet so that water does not drain quickly. I can easily build a few dams and trap the great volumes of water we receive during the rainy season but even with a dam the water disappears quickly.
Where can I purchase some sweet corn seeds and have them mailed to me?

 

Mexstan - there are tons of seed places on the web. I order organic heirloom seeds for all of my crops.

Red clay - that is all we have here. Bag your grass clippings and pile them up, cover them, and let them go through a heat or two during the summer. Use this in large amounts to till into the soil. May need to add some peat moss also. This will raise the PH for you if you need it and also help keep the soil soft. The more gren you add to the garden for mulch etc. the hgher the PH will go. We have a low PH here due to the clay. You may have the same thing.

Irrigation - I use drip/soaker hose...problem is that the end closest to your hook up will leak more water than the end farthest away. You can also take 4" Pvc and drill serveral 3/16 holes in the sides and put this in the ground next to your plants. Leave to top accessable. Take you water hose or jug and fill each piece of PVC at each plant and it will slowly water the plants down deep at the roots. Works VERY well especially if you are feeding with liquid fertalizers...

Just something to ponder......

 

sweet corn = MERIT (yellow), silver Queen (white), Kandy (yellow w/ white spots)...these work well for me, but the Kandy turns out tuff and I will not be growing it again.

 

[quote author=Mexstan link=board=10;threadid=19946;start=0#msg187614 date=1064241454]
Great idea. Any of you green thumbs out there have any suggestions for irrigation using minimal water at low pressure. How about drip irrigation?
[/quote]

I've heard of some people trapping the condensation that comes from their air conditioning system to water their livestock or crops. Actually I have a 5 gallon bucket under mine to water the dog. In the summer it will produce 10 gallons or more of water a day. I dump it in the morning and night each day during the summer, and it is always full. I just throw the excess water on the yard, but I have heard of people saving it in a big water tank for other uses.

 

Good pint,

I have my pipe routed to the Caladiums in the flower bed. They love lots of water and they are getting it. Be careful with this water however. Most time thisis not in a sunny location and algea/fungus will grow. This will give your flowers and veggies more problems than you will want to tackle. I have algea growing around mine, but the Caladuiums do not seem to care. You will need to control this.

Mexstan - If you store your water, look into doing water tests for PH and poisions from runoff. Use copper sulfate to control the algea and fungus. Calcium is vital for a plant to thrive. without it, you will have many deases, especially in tomatos.

Try mixing sand in with your red clay. this will allow the water to penetrate instead of run alway from the plants.

If you have to add lime, do not go overboard. Excess lime prevents your plants ability to take in and process the calcium. GET A SOIL SAMPLE TAKEN.....

 

Mexstan, maybe a dry well will work for you. Bury a large container in the ground, with a drain leading to it. It'll hold the water cooler in the ground and with cover, won't evaporate so fast.

 

Thanks for the answers so far. It will be a long time before I have any grass clippings. Also in this part of the world air conditioners and central heating is not necessary. Our climate is fairly constant the year round and we seldom have any major temperature changes. Nobody I know of has any heating except for a small plug in heater that may be used occasionally for a few hours. Don't know of anybody that has air conditioning except maybe some offices or commercial buildings.
The water I want to trap is in three areas where a lot of soil erosion has occured and I can easily use the eroded areas as the dam. A dam wall is easy to construct at the end of each eroded area. In total I am guessing that this area could be close to an acre. If I can do it right the water will be about 4-10 feet deep. All this water and much more goes to waste every year during the rainy season.
The rainy season is close to coming to an end here so there is no rush for all of this. During the upcoming dry season I want to get everything prepared. In the meantime I have lot's to learn and hopefully you farmers and green thumbs can guide me. So how about one or more of you soil gurus hooking up your 5er and heading down for some first hand guidance.
This area where my property is located is in an area of a lot of really poor people. My long term plan which I have discussed with the local politician is to do whatever I can to use the land. He does not understand everything I would like to do but likes the concept. I am hoping that some of my methods wil be inovative enough that it can benifit the poorer folks in the area and that they can copy me. The folks there are really nice but just don't know much. In many ways it is a place stuck in time. Love it there.
I am still looking very seriously at a building or two using the rammed earth method. Have located a guy in California that has built many houses using this method and has written a few books about it. His company can do the soil analysis for me and recommend the proportions of sand, cement etc that is required to be able to use the local soil for rammed earth construction. They wlil even provide a test sample.

 

And if you use a DIESEL powered tractor, it would be on topic. Might have to change the CTD to MTD (Mitsubishi Turbo Diesel)
I can here it now.

Dodge truck rolling down the road
with a big CTD.
Dragging bush hog and tractor
that powered by an MTD.

Turbo is a whining.
Sure does sound sweet.
Before everyone get to complaining
I'm gonna beat feet.

Shortround out

 

SR You can't use MTD because that is already in use by another company.
I could use a tractor and a trailer but am broke for now. Even a Bush hog would be useful.

 

Mexstan - Boy, you have a lot of work ahead of you!

This could get expensive depending on how serious you are a bout the garden. Grass will be no biggie....

John

 

Yes, it can be expensive, but I have to find a way to do everything on the cheap. Not just because I don't have much cash but because I want this project to be an educational example to the poor people around me. I feel that I should be able to set the example so that it will raise the standard of living for everyone even if they are presently dirt poor. I just need to find out what examples to set and then how to do it.
Being able to build a dam that stops the water from perculating back into the soil would be a great help to many here. Some of the old style houses (shacks) are still adobe. If I can develop my idea of rammed earth they can build a bigger and better house for a lot less than they build now. And much more. I will be picking the brains of you knowledgeable guys a lot from now on.

 

You don't have much to work with. Let us know when you start the first project and what it is. Then try to fill us in on your resources...sounds rough to me....I really have it easy...not sure if I could help or not.

anyway, let us know....

John

 

Who else got the dirty fingernails?

we'll be pulling this thread from the archives in a week.

Nobody farming I guess.....

 

Thanks John. Will keep you all posted.
Actually my first job is to finish the road I have started going into the property. It is quite long and I have to make about three causeways for the water runoff from uphill. Then finish the gate. A few weeks ago was at the local scrap metal dealer with my wife and she noticed some large sections of steel fence there. They came from one of the local factories when they expanded. My wife decided that they would look good as a gate. So bought two large sections (5 pesos a kilo) and am busy modifying them for a gate. Actually, they should look quite good by the time I am finished.
After that the priority is water. I have a very small spring there plus a small river. I am told the river almost dries up towards the end of summer. Have just discovered that there is some sort of government program whereby they supply solar panels, pump, pipe etc for irrigation. Am looking into this now. This is part of another program where the government supply fruit trees for next to nothing. After I expressed an interest in the fruit trees to my local politician next time he saw me he told me that he had reserved 100 fruit trees of each kind for me. Whoa, give me a break. The land is not even cleared yet. I get also pine and fir trees for around 5 cents PLANTED!!! That is a great deal. Am considering getting fir trees planted all around the perimeter of the property and each side of the road.
So, lots to keep me occupied. I still have other stuff to keep me occupied as well. Am I bored? Heck no!!!