My first bubble SIP

It's still cool here.  It's in the 50s right now, although it's been warmer already, and last night was 28 degrees.  I still can't put out my tomatoes and peppers overnight.  I figure in a couple more weeks I can.  I did plant some red onions in one of the raised beds between the herbs and the cucumbers yesterday.

Now about the SIP.  It stands for Sub-Irrigated Planter.  A bubble SIP is a planter without any drain holes in it.  The plants get oxygen from a reservoir at the bottom of the planter.  To learn more about bubble SIPs and SIPs in general, go to Inside Urban Green to learn all about them.  I used a blue plastic  box for mine, and put two of my Cubanelle pepper plants in it.  I  can still bring it in at night if need be, and can move it around the garden (yard) as I see fit.  I grew Cubanelles last year and really liked them.  They look like Anaheim peppers except that they are sweet instead of hot.  They're great for salads.

I'm sold on sub-irrigation after last year.  My Grow boxes worked great.  My rain gutter system is set up and waiting for the plants.  Maybe next year I will convert the raised beds to sub-irrigation too.

Here's a photo of the bubble SIP that I made.  It has two reservoirs in it, made from lunch meat containers from Sam's Club.  I drilled a bunch of holes in them and used a couple of Sparkling Ice bottles to make the water spout.

My bubble SIP and the rest of the plants are inside right now because it's cool and windy outside.  I'm getting them used to the outdoor weather, but only a little at a time.

I got a little more done today

I spent part of the day working in the garden, such as it is.  I picked up some seedlings, 4 tomato and 4 pepper, but I can't plant them in the garden for a couple of weeks.  I could have waited before buying them but I couldn't help myself.

The last grow box is done.  It contains six Red Russian kale plants and two sweet basil plants.  That is if the seeds sprouts.  I tried to find kale seedlings but everybody I tried was sold out.  Basil was everywhere but I had seeds to use.

The first two buckets in my rain gutter garden are done.  They are planted with cabbage.  Seeds again.

These are the tomato and pepper plants I bought.  They will have to be brought in in the evenings for a couple of weeks, until the danger of freeze is gone.  My Grandma Haines always said that May 10 was the day that you could put plants in the ground.  Or in the raised beds and sub-irrigated planters in my case.

I've begun planting some things

I know it's still not to the date of the last frost, which my Grandmother used to say was May 10, but I'm getting started anyway.  Everything will probably freeze and die.  If it does, I will start over.

Today I planted two of my grow boxes.  I got my new nutrient patches in the mail yesterday, so I was itching to get started.

The box above is planted with beets.

 The second box has Romaine lettuce in it.
I have a third box but haven't decided what to plant in it yet.

 I planted cucumbers in the right side squares if this raised bed, next to the trellis netting.  I plan on growing the vines vertically up the netting.

The photo above shows my very first rain gutter grow system.  There's nothing in the buckets yet, but they will have tomatoes and peppers for sure, and maybe some kale if I don't put it in the grow box.  If I do, then I will probably place cabbage in a couple of the buckets.

Here's a photo of the float valve in the rain gutter.  I will hook the water up to the house water with a short garden hose and the buckets will have constant sub-irrigation.  I have a second float valve, and maybe will set up a second line of buckets.  The cost isn't too bad, but the potting mix is a little pricey.  It's like $14 to fill three buckets.  I guess that's not too bad.  Especially if I get lots of veggies.  My other idea is to use the "grow bags in the kiddie pool" method.  I kinda want to try it too.  Then I will use the second valve to set up the watering system in the little pool.

I cut two of my trees in half

I bought the two trees in the photo as flowering trees about three years ago.  They were just seedlings.  Last year, they were about twenty feet tall, and I noticed in the fall that there was fruit on both trees, but it was way up high where I couldn't get to it.  So, I figured that this year I would cut them down to about five feet and see what happens. If they're going to be fruit trees, then I want to be able to reach the fruit.  I think they are apples, unknown variety.  We shall see.