By Andrew Haupt
Last week we worked at breakneck speed to get the garden ready to plant this week. I continued adding to the fence and ran irrigation from the well house all the way down the hill. I ended up using 3/4” polytubing rather than trenching and laying PVC due to the cost difference as well as the fact that the goal here is to have the well be a secondary source eventually, drawing from the pond first. Had some issues with the pressure build up from the big drop in elevation -- the couplings were leaking no matter what I did. Adding a 15 psi pressure regulator at the initial point seems to solve the problem.
We also built rows, ending up with 24 rows 17’ by 32”, with 14” paths. I topped each row with compost and laid drip tape down each of them during a marathon Sunday. I also started filling in the paths with mulch. I’m a little worried since it seems that no matter how many times I dig up the grass, I continue to find tough groups of roots. Grass is tenacious -- I get why humans rely on grasses for food.
We hardened off many of the seedlings over the course of the week, and planted out the hibiscus, lemon cucumbers, and some of the cherry tomatoes and tomatillos.
