September 28th, 2011 by Marc Opperman

I haven’t been all that motivated to write considering I’ve spent less than a couple hours in the yard in the past month, and that was mainly just to haul brush to the curb for the City of Austin collection day in our area. The cooler weather has been was nice, but with zero rain during the past few days of scattered thunderstorms, my yard is still a desiccated wasteland, and somewhat depressing to behold.

I did remove a native (and dead) inland sea oats grass from a large pot and move a stray little bluestem grass to the pot. I tried something that I hope will help foster deep roots and some moisture retention in the pot, as well as help some of my potted plants survive drought. And the seeds of the idea came from a project I’d been a part of.

A couple years ago I volunteered on a City of Austin Wildland Conservation Division work project to plant little bluestem in an arroyo on a preserve to mitigate erosion. We used a donated (but otherwise expensive) product called DriWater to help establish the transplants in the absence of continued watering.

The idea behind the product is that a non-toxic, degradable cellulose matrix bearing water within a carton would slowly release the water to the plants over an extended period as soil microbes helped the cellulose matrix decay – ideal for a preserve where watering wouldn’t be available. I heard anecdotally that the product helped and that some of the grasses got established.

Fast-forward to the past year. I have a toddler bumbling around, and one thing we certainly have is a supply of diapers. Occasionally one tears or fails in some way while still clean. It occurred to me at one point diapers probably use the same technology as the Dri-Water does, even if they don’t come pre-loaded with a water supply. (You need a toddler for that.)

I’d collected a few “bad” diapers, eventually to support my experiment. I tore the elastic and extraneous junk off a diaper and, while planting the little bluestem in a pot, buried the diaper pieces in the soil.

Diapers seem to hold buckets of… liquid. I’m curious to see if this helps the transplant grass weather our drought. I might try a planting in a raised bed with some diaper pieces at some point near transplants, or adjust potted plants to have more than one diaper in them. It’s been a week, and so far my transplanted bluestem looks good despite minimal watering.

drought, little bluestem, water

August 20th, 2011 by Marc Opperman

Since Austin is hurtling toward heavier restrictions on outdoor watering (Sept. 6 if our rainfall doesn’t improve), I’m considering a rather drastic experiment – no supplemental watering of anything in my yard.

This more or less means no Fall vegetable garden. But it will be an opportunity to see how tough my various natives are. And if I lose some St. Augustine grass in the deal, so much the better.

I was rather spooked by an article in the New York Times yesterday on the possibility that Texas could see another decade-long drought – it has seen droughts lasting as long as 50 years in the past – and that what we’ve endured so far this Summer could appear mild by comparison.

I’m trying to convince my family to accelerate our plans to move to Portland. So far no success.

drought, natives, water

July 15th, 2011 by Marc Opperman

I’m nothing if not a do-it-yourselfer. I love the challenge of taking stuff I already have and finding the best way to make something useful out of it. Part of this comes genetically – my grandfather was, and my father is, crafty this way. And like them, I keep a lot of salvaged stuff around so that I have options when it comes time to make something.

But one project eluded me – a rainbarrel. It’s been hard for me to locate a source of barrels suitable for tinkering. Most sellers know a finished rainbarrel sells for between $100 and $200, so they tend to price empty food-grade barrels accordingly.

Back when I wanted to make fresh mozzarella, I stopped by Austin Homebrew Supply since they are apparently the only place in town supplying the ingredients for cheese-making. However, they sell empty 55-gallon barrels very cheaply, as well. They have a supply of them because they sell beer-brewing malt syrup in bulk. These barrels are a very sturdy blue plastic with a metal ring and rubber gaskets to seal the top. I bought one on the spot the last time I was there.

It didn’t take too much tinkering to create a functional rainbarrel.

First, I had to clean the leftover malt out of the barrel. Because malt is basically a sugary syrup, this was a pretty pleasant-smelling – if sticky – task. I didn’t use any soap, and all of the leftover water, I poured directly on parts of my garden.

I drilled a half-inch hole near the base of the barrel to accommodate a spigot. I had a cool, weathered brass spigot leftover from who-knows-where.

I also had an appropriate gasket and half-inch nut for the inside to secure the spigot.

Next I cut a hole in the lid of the barrel. The lid already had two threaded 3-inch holes in it, but I needed something bigger to be able to use a proper downspout diverter ($8 at Home Depot). I used my Skil saw to cut a hole in the lid that matched the diameter of the downspout diverter. I had marked this with a Sharpie.

Inside the lid, I fashioned some metal window screen as a catch-basket for debris and mosquito larvae pouring in from my downspouting. Currently, zip ties hold it in place, but I may use a stainless-steel hose clamp in the future. Cleaning the trap is done by removing (and inverting) the barrel lid steel hoop and the diverter assembly.

I built a stand for the barrel using some pieces of 2×6 lumber and cedar fence slats. It’s not gorgeous, but it does the trick of elevating the barrel 18 inches to give me head pressure for watering parts of the yard. The wooden part of the stand rests on some concrete pavers to help reduce the chance the wood rots.

So far I’ve spent a total of $28 to make it. It’s not perfect, though. What this barrel is lacking is any form of overflow arrangement, or way to connect it to a second barrel. Adding a second barrel would be nice since 55 gallons doesn’t go far. I want to figure out a better way to connect the spigot (it leaks a tiny bit). Also, I didn’t remove the St. Augustine grass from below the stand. A gravel base beneath it might be tidier. In April I made a concrete block stand for a friend, and I might try that model in the future. Concrete blocks are cheap.

Still, we’ve had a couple brief downpours since I built this barrel, and even a few minutes of rain fill it completely to the point of overflowing. Now if we’d only have a few more.

barrel, diy, rain, rainwater, water

January 13th, 2011 by Marc Opperman

It appears all the veggies in my yard survived the deep-freeze, though the “deep-freeze” was nowhere near as low as what I thought had been forecast. I can’t honestly say the “heat cisterns” did the trick, but they certainly did give me peace of mind. Lugging over 160 pounds of hot water each of three nights, however, was not fun. At one point I tried to hook a garden hose to the hot water heater tank in the garage to fill my 5-gallon jugs, but that proved slower and sloppier than I cared for.

The frostweed made its annual big show. Being a weekday, I didn’t take new photos even though this year’s display was more spectacular than last. More photos of last year’s frostweed display here.

cold weather, freeze, frostweed, vegetables, water, winter garden

June 2nd, 2010 by Marc Opperman

No, it’s not supposed to spray bamboo, and it’s a far cry from a bamboo water-knocker. But I have been trying to get creative about how I use micro-sprinkler parts. I have a lot of bamboo sitting around (cut at my parent’s house over Christmas), and I love the use of it in Japanese gardens. Plus, bamboo is one of the ultimates in renewable materials.

I’d run out of the pre-made 1-foot stakes that have micro-sprinkler heads, but still had plenty of everything else… 180º- and 360º spray heads, tubing, t-joints, etc. I also had a few extra pieces of bamboo around, stuff in the one- to three-foot range. I wanted more water going to my vegetable beds, and needed a taller sprayer to reach the tops of the plants.

So I made some 45º angle cuts in a two-foot piece, used a 1/4-inch paddle bit to drill out the nodes, and attached a 1-foot metal “spike” to the bottom of the bamboo to help hold it upright. I threaded some 1/4-inch undrilled micro-tubing through the bamboo and attached one of the 180º sprayheads to the top. I secured that with a tiny piece of copper wire threaded through two 1/16″ holes drilled in the bamboo.

I hooked it up and turned on the sprinkler system, but was a little disappointed at first. No flow from the bamboo sprayer. But everything else in the line seemed to be working, and there was adequate pressure when I removed the blue spray head. Turns out there was simply a bit of dirt clogging the spray head. I had forgotten to flush the lines before adding the spray head.

This was a quick weekend project – about 30 minutes to figure out and make. And it’s kinda cool looking. I intend to make a few more to replace some of the troublesome pre-made ones or to augment dry ares of the garden.

bamboo, make, micro, project, sprinkler, water

May 18th, 2010 by Marc Opperman

Had to clean out the fountain because it stopped working a couple days ago. It goes for 3 or 4 months before it clogs itself up with green algae. I can always tell it’s getting close because the glass pebbles start turning green, and the water output drops.

Cleaning it involves taking it completely apart, which involves removing 20 lbs of glass pebbles, removing two levels of heavy screen, and pulling the pump and pipe assembly out. Then I scrub the sides of the pot, flush it, and replace everything. Cleaning the glass pebbles involves a little bit of detergent and a bit of bleach. Two old plastic 5 pound coffee cans serve as the wash and rinse tanks.

Not that any of this is terribly exciting, but the fountain is a pretty important part of my landscape since it attracts birds, helps water the container plants with splash, and serves as our cat’s water source when she’s outside on hot days. (She’s not very interested in the birds, by the way). The fountain also serves as the water-provided-for-wildlife requirement in my Certified Wildlife Habitat. Especially if the cat counts as wildlife.

Plus, I like the sound of it when the windows are open.

fountain, water

April 17th, 2010 by Marc Opperman

With all the rain we’ve been blessed with lately, it’s hard to remember there’s much of a need for conserving water. But in a place like Austin that tends to get only 33 inches of annual rainfall – and all on 3 days as the old joke goes – finding creative ways to keep your garden moist can be tricky. Rain barrels and downspout-based rainwater-harvesting systems have become popular in Austin in part thanks to city subsidies or rebates for the purchase of those systems. I personally don’t have any kind of barrel-based system yet, as the basic cost has always been a little on the high side for us. And for people who don’t have a gutter system on their roof, a barrel or larger cistern won’t do much good.
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rain barrels, rainwater, water

July 13th, 2008 by Marc Opperman

This time of year, when its hot, rainwater is scarce, and the A/C runs almost constantly, there’s a water source I focus on and wonder how to capture. The condensation from our A/C unit drips at a rate that certainly meets or exceeds 1 gallon/hour. There’s easily enough to continuously (while the A/C’s running) water a small raised garden bed.

The water is cool, and the quality should (in theory) be similar to distilled water.

The problems with capturing it are mostly related to where it emerges from the house… near the bottom of the foundation. Also, there’s zero water pressure. It is gravity fed in a steady drip.

Right now I have a galvanized oil-changing pan beneath the drip (about all that will fit) as a means of figuring out the rough rate of flow.

Ideas for making this useful include:
- A small system to pump any catchment to a larger holding tank (rain barrel, perhaps). Issues might include preventing backflow, avoiding loss of overflow, powering it (solar would be nice), and preventing evaporation.
- Extending the gravity-fed method using PVC or copper pipe to the lower elevation in the back yard and letting the drip passively water some small area. Issues with this include preventing clogs or backflow, preventing ants or algae from invading, and maintaining flow.
- Build a small concrete basin that runs into a concrete channel that heads toward the back yard. It would be, in effect, like a small spring. No idea if the flow rate would overcome evaporation.

water