Rain barrel tidbit

Growing up Grandma had a large flat rock off to the side of her front door where a small rain barrel sat. We were required to stand on that rock and take a scoop of rain water to wash our feet off before coming into the house. The water was always cold and clean. Her barrel had a lid on it, which she would crack whenever it rained to catch what came off the roof. I tell people all the time, Grandma was the original "green" queen. Nothing escaped her when it came to recycling or re-purposing things. But those are other stories waiting to be told.

We have 3 barrels and from the looks of the formula below, we are missing out on capturing a whole lot more!

How much rain you can catch:

Rain caught (gallons) = (inches of rain) x (0.6) x (portion of building footprint in ft2)

For example, if your home's footprint is 1,400 ft2, and you want to know the amount of water that comes from a ¼ inch of rainfall the equation would look like this:

Rain caught (gallons) = (0.25) x (0. 6) x (1,400) = 210 gallons.

However, remember that storage is limited to the capacity of your system. If your rain barrel holds 50 gallons, then 160 gallons will be lost.

Getting good as being cheap..

You know how I like to squeeze a dime. Well, growing your own veggies is a sure fire way to shave some bucks off the ole weekly grocery bill. So far, we have harvested a bunch of hot peppers, a least 10lbs. of potatoes and 11 patty pan squash. Adding up what we would pay for the squash alone is a cool savings of $14, or $13 if I take out what I paid for the seeds.

It's a win-win situation, I have many squash to come from my 6 plants, so of course the amount of savings will only go up. Just starting to get a few tomatoes. Down to my last meal of potatoes, peppers a growing and I just noticed today I have green beans!!! Corn is tasseling so won't be long until we're munching on some ears.

Yehaw...I love my itty bitty garden!!

Oh Happy Day

Corn continues to do well and looking forward to seeing some ears forming!


Dug up the first 2 potato plants and got enough for 2 meals. Only have 5 more plants so don't expect to get but maybe this box full. Very happy with what I did get, so I'll definitely be growing more next year.


Getting squash and the plants are continuing to do great. Bees have been all over them and got at least 5-6 more that will soon be ready.

My My

How time flies...

We have found the dreaded eggs of the vine borer on the squash and have waged biological organic warfare. So we'll see who wins. They look so good right now.


Spirea has never looked prettier or pinker.


Sunflowers are heading up and some have started to bloom.


The corn is well.... amaaaazing!


This week the beans are up in the 1st bed. Yesterday they popped through the surface and by the end of the day they were up at least an inch or two. This morning they look like little plants! The other bed of beans is starting to pop up so I expect by tomorrow they will be close in size.



And how does your garden grow?

Small Space Gardening

Never ceases to amaze me what can be grown in a small space!

The corn's up and seems to be growing before our very eyes.


Squash has doubled in size.



Tomatoes have perked up.


Added another level for potatoes.

Corn mounds and a "Garden update"

Native Americans grew corn in small mounds. Last fall I received some corn seed from one on my Almanac buddies with directions to grow the seeds in mounds. It actually seems like a logical way to plant corn when I think about. Growing 5-6 stalks in one small mound would make pollination of the corn silk easier as the pollen would not have to travel as far to the silk. It's pretty neat to think how each piece of the silk makes a kernel. Small wonder on how it all works. Going to plant some miniature Indian corn as well.


Many years ago...to the tune of 9-10 years, Trevor and I actually planted some Indian corn in a small 4x8 raised bed. I did get 20 or so of the cutest little ears in yellows, purples and reds. I tried planting it again in 2006, in rows and only 2-3 ears matured. Little did I know they actually recommend growing corn in 4x4 blocks to aid in pollination. So the year I planted in rows actually failed due to lack of cross pollination. Hmmm. So we'll see what happens this year, I should be good as my corn bed is close to 4x4.

My chives bloomed for the first time, nice little balls of lavendar. I picked one off and ate it....whew...was it hot! And I had nice onioney(is that a word) breath for hours... hehe


Squash are already putting out their true leaves and they just popped up on Thurs. Now that's a good sign. I put some left over straw around them for mulch.


Potatoes looking good, and much bigger than 13 days ago.


Peppers are planted in dirt, I just mulched them with leftover straw.

Now the watching and waiting begin!