Watering Schedule

WATERING SCHEDULE: (If you can't make it to the garden your assigned day, you can talk to another family about trading for that week or having them cover for you when you can't be there)
Monday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
Thursday: Lighthearts
Friday: Cannons
Saturday:

I am taking the initiative and starting a watering schedule. I thought we could each take a day to check up on the garden and water if needed. We went to check on the plants that we planted on Monday. The pumpkins that we planted and didn't cover with a frost blanket had all dried up. We had covered the sugar pumpkins and some of the plants in the front. They look okay - I think partly because the frost blanket kept the moisture in. We removed the frost blankets and watered. We only watered for about 2 hours. I think it will need to be watered again tomorrow. If you have any questions on how to turn the water on, you can talk to Rick, Paul, or me.

Cyndi and I were talking and also thought it would be good to assign a part of the garden for each family to be responsible for weeding. When they go on their day to water, they can focus on their area of the garden.

I hope this is okay. If there are any other suggestions, or ideas, please let us know. Should we meet as a group at some point to work out some details?

Happy Gardening!
JAN

Family Home Evening

At the end of our great work day on Saturday, we talked about getting together for Family Home Evening tonight at 6:00pm to work on some more mounds and planting. I can't remember who all was there when we talked about it so I thought I would get the word out to whoever wants to join us.

Saturday, April 25th

I believe the plans are as follows:
10am Rick, Paul, and Larry were planning on going out to the garden to prepare for some planting and work on the lettuce and (what else?)

1pm Blues and Lighthearts will be there to help plant corn and do whatever else is needed. Rick and or Paul will be there to help direct us.

Do I have that right?
JAN

Welcome to the blog

I have granted those who have signed on administrative privileges. That means you can edit the posts, customize the settings, and add side bar items. I thought we could each keep track of our own plants at home on the side bar as a
"TEXT". If anyone needs help with the blog or have any questions on what to do on a blog, let me know. I would truly be happy to help. It's what I like to do.

I also added each of your emails to notify you when a post is made. If you want your email removed, you can do that in Settings or let me know and I can take care of it.
Thanks, JAN

The peas are planted

Even though we found out that it's probably a bit late, we got them in the ground. Bro. Neilsen came by and helped with the water. Instructions are below. He explained what happened with the rototilling. They got it done the first time - they were planning on going over it again, but the rototiller broke. The soil still is not great, but it sure was better after rototilling the other day. It looks like we'll need to do each section with the hand rototiller before we plant.

Rick worked on the water situation. He is adding a hose bib before the valve on the north end. He went to do that and found out there was a crack in the brass fitting, so he will be fixing that on Monday.

Bro. Neilsen said the best way to prepare the soil would have been to rototill it twice, and then water the soil real well, then wait two days and then plant. Maybe next year.

Instructions for Watering

Paul, can you read over this and make sure I got the info right? Thanks, JAN


You can click on the picture to the left to enlarge.
To water the garden using the hose bib:
1. Attach the hose to the hose bib (that will be connected at the valve at the north end of the garden). No valve needs to be turned on, because the upper valves should be open (If they are not, follow the directions below).

To water the garden using the sprinklers:
1. GREEN VALVE Turn on both valves located at the west side of the garden. This will activate the sprinklers on each side of the garden. They are spaced uneven on each side to allow for proper coverage.
2. Turn the valves back off when the desired amount of watering is complete.

If the water does not turn on when the valves at the garden are turned, then the follow steps need to be taken.

1. RED VALVE Check the valve in the center of the pear farm (the red valves). There are three white tubes sticking up out of the ground. There will be a red "T" in one of the tubes. The red "T" needs to be moved to the center tube. This is the line that goes down to the garden. To turn the valve on, you need to turn the "T" a quarter turn to the left ("righty tighty" turns the valve off, "lefty loosy" turns the valve on).

2. If the center valve is already on and there is no water at the garden, or if you turn it on and the water doesn not start running, then you need to check the water at the pump house.

3. BLUE VALVE To turn the water on at the pump house, you need to enter the pump house and locate the valve closest to the door. This is a small green wheel that you turn until it is all the way on (turning to the left). If you have to take this step, take note to see if any sprinklers inadvertently have switched on. If this happens, you need to locate the valve for those sprinklers and turn them off. (There are three other lines that run of this same line - if you need help locating them, you can call Paul, Janet, or Bro. Neilsen.)

4. If none of these steps work, then there is probably something else going on and Bro. Neilsen needs to be contacted.

Brother Neilsen plans on leaving the valves open for us. If for some reason the valves are not on, then here are the instructions on how to turn them on.

We need a name!

We need a name for our blog. Is there a specific name for our group? I'd love to hear some suggestions!