Water

I re-entered our potager with some trepidation after leaving it to the mercy of our newly set up drip irrigation system for our holiday fortnight. Typically we only got the irrigation set up a couple of days before leaving despite having talked about it for months so we didn't have time to thoroughly road test it so this was trial by fire or rather, water!

Despite my fears, most of the garden is in better shape than it was before we left with the exception of the snapdragons which though they have always appeared to survive very well with little water obviously need more than we allowed for. Most of the potatoes have had it as well but that's probably due to the same insect that has been affecting the tomatoes rather than lack of water. (Interestingly the tomatoes we grew from seed seem to be resisting the disease much better than those that we bought as plantlets so that's definitely the way to go although it means waiting longer for the fruit.)

Although it took a few days to set up the watering system, now that it is done we are happily reaping the benefit of the saved hours spent with the hosepipe to say nothing of the efficient water use :)

Another investment we are reaping the benefit of is our tiny reconditioned water deposit. The rainwater we collected in it over winter has all gone now but today we filled it with clean water to use for cooling off during the heat of these hot summer afternoons. We picked up a solar fountain pump going cheap a month or so ago and we are hoping that by using that to aerate the water and the addition of a tiny amount of copper sulphate we will manage to keep the nasties at bay. Ideally we would like enhance the efficiency of this by using the water to irrigate and then topping it up again and so creating a regular renewal of the water but I'm not sure about the copper sulphate going on the plants. I've used it before as a fungicide to spray tomatoes and peppers (copper sulphate is an ingredient in Bordeaux Mixture, accepted as an organic fungicide) so I guess it will be ok but I'd love to hear from you if you have any experience of this.

In the meantime, if you want me I'll be in the splash pool!


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Location:Loja