- Author: Ryan Daugherty
I recently helped one of our local student gardens install a drip irrigation system in some raised beds. During the installation, I had to explain why we were using ½” tubing for most of our system instead of ¼”. Some believed that using the smaller tubing would give us better pressure, like putting your thumb over the mouth of a garden hose. I explained why this would actually result in less pressure and worse water distribution throughout our system. This misconception is common, so I thought I'd discuss it here.
If you think there's no way I'm about to talk physics in a garden blog, prepare to be amazed!
First, a review. Friction is the force that opposes the sliding or rolling of one solid object over another. There are a few different types of friction, but the one most relevant to our irrigation lines is kinetic friction.
Kinetic friction is the force that opposes the movement of two objects in contact while in motion. Think of it like using the brakes on a bicycle: when you pull on the brake lever, the brake pads contact the wheel, and the kinetic friction between the pads and the wheel opposes the wheel's forward motion, eventually stopping the bike. As water moves through our irrigation lines, it is in contact with the inside of the tubing. The kinetic friction between the water and the tubing surface opposes the water's forward motion, resulting in a loss of pressure. In irrigation lingo, we call this "pressure loss from friction" or just "friction loss."
If you could see a cross-section of your tubing while water was running through it, you wouldn't see a solid cylinder of water. Instead, it's more turbulent, with empty space, bubbles, and vortices. If the amount of water moving through the line remains constant and we decrease our tubing diameter, that empty space shrinks, and more water comes into contact with the sides of the tubing. More surface area of the water in contact with more surface area of the tubing generates more friction, resulting in more pressure loss.
Like tapping the brakes on a bicycle, there isn't much friction generated when it's just your thumb at the end of a garden hose. The real pressure loss comes from consistent friction over distance, like holding the brakes down until the bike stops. Multiply even a small amount of friction over any real distance, and you're looking at significant pressure loss.
In response to this, drip irrigation experts developed “rules” or guidelines for drip irrigation. For ¼” tubing, we call it the 30/30 rule: no more than 30 feet in any given run of ¼” line, drawing no more than 30 gallons per hour (GPH). More than 30 feet generates too much friction loss, and hydraulically only so much water can move through any given volume of tubing, hence 30 GPH. For ½” tubing, it's the 200/200 rule, for ¾” it's 480/480, and so on. As our system grows in length and demand, our tubing diameter has to increase accordingly.
If we don't match our system to the length and demand, we risk poor distribution uniformity. We might have to overwater or underwater one part of our garden to properly water another, leading to water waste and poor plant health. For most home landscapes, 1/2" tubing works well since we seldom run more than 200 feet on a single line.
These principles are simple but powerful, and by understanding them, you can make more thoughtful decisions in the design of your drip systems to get the most out of them.
- Author: Ryan Daugherty
It's a common frustration that anyone with a garden or landscape can relate to. I think that the temptation to apply undiluted herbicide stems from a widely held belief that the language on the label about human safety, environmental hazards, and the mixing instructions are just veiled regulatory activism designed to water down an effective product, sacrificing potency in service of some ulterior green agenda.
If you're like my friend and the conventional concerns aren't persuasive in the face of your weed woes, you may find it more persuasive (like he did) to know how declining to mix herbicides can actually make them a less effective tool in your quest for weed vengeance.
Misapplication Can Be a Waste of Your Time and Money
Herbicides can be broken up into several different categories, but two big ones are contact vs. systemic. A contact herbicide damages only the parts of the plant that it touches. Systemic herbicides translocate, meaning they move throughout the plant and poison the entire plant regardless of the point of contact.
Many well-known, home-use, brand-name weed killers sold at your garden center are systemic herbicides. When you use an excessive dose of systemic herbicide, it can damage the conductive tissue at the point of contact. This means that the material doesn't get translocated effectively and ends up working more like a contact herbicide, burning the parts of the plant it came into contact with and leaving others healthy and able to regrow. Systemics typically cost more than contact herbicides, making your cost per application higher.
Using systemics undiluted (and thus using more product) means that your cost per application is even higher than that. If you didn't mix your herbicide, you may not get the control that you need, and perhaps worse, you will have paid a premium to do it! This wastes your time and money. Don't do it to yourself. (And it's not legal and could be unsafe to you or animals.)
Microbial Breakdown
Some herbicides boast longer control for weeks or months. In the pesticide industry, this is called “residual action” or “pre-emergent action” in the weed control game: an herbicide that continues to work for a period of time after the application to ward off future weed incursions. Several things affect an herbicide's residual action, but one of the big ones is microbial breakdown.
Soil microbes are microscopic life forms like bacteria, fungi, protozoa, etc., that live in the soil. They break down all kinds of materials in the soil into their basic parts for use in their own growth and development, with different microbes being better adapted to breaking down one kind of material or another. Those materials include herbicides, which is great news because it means that herbicides don't hang around in our soils forever. However, it can be bad news when we abuse herbicides.
When we over-apply our herbicide either through dosage or application frequency, we could create a microbial imbalance in the soil. We kill some species of microbes vulnerable to the material while encouraging the population of others that are adapted to thrive on breaking down that specific material. In addition to the implications for the health of your soils, this imbalance also means that our residual herbicides are actually shorter-lived as they come into contact with a super population of soil microbes that break it down more rapidly. This is called “enhanced microbial degradation,” where pesticides are broken down more rapidly than they would be under normal conditions, even within a few hours. Like systemics, residual/pre-emergent herbicides typically come at a premium price, and your money can be wasted if your applications start becoming dinner time for a booming population of hungry microbes.
It will also mean that you won't get the longer-lasting control that you wanted and paid for, making breakout weeds and headaches more likely.
Spray Adjuvants
When you buy an herbicide, you aren't just paying for the active ingredient(s); you're also getting what they call the adjuvant package. Adjuvants are materials added to the herbicide formulation not necessarily to make the poison more poisonous, but to enhance the act of applying the herbicide itself.
If you were an herbicide manufacturer and you had a product that would work great if it didn't just bead up on the plant's surface, you would add an adjuvant to reduce the surface tension of the product. If it is too thin and runs off the plant before it can deliver the material, then there's an adjuvant for that too. Does it break down and become inert at certain soil or water pH levels? Does it gum up sprayers? Does it foam? Are the droplets too fine and prone to drift? Adjuvants have you covered. There's an adjuvant for nearly any application.
When manufacturers formulate their adjuvant packages, they do so with the assumption that you will follow the mixing instructions on the label. The adjuvants are designed to work best at the concentrations listed. Some of them are even activated by mixing them with a solvent like water or oil. If you apply the herbicide without mixing, then the active ingredient may not be delivered, or its mode of action hindered, all because you thought you knew how to use the product better than the people who designed and tested it.
Manufacturers want their products to work and to make you a satisfied customer willing to repeat your business. The label is how manufacturers communicate to their customers how to use their product for best results. When herbicides are used judiciously and responsibly, they can be powerful tools, especially when integrated with other weed management practices such as mulching, hoeing, and sensible irrigation practices. But don't skip the label!
Failure to follow label guidelines can lead to unintended consequences not just for the environment but for your busy schedule and your wallet as well.
/h3>/h3>/h3>- Author: Dustin W Blakey
Vegetable gardening is both an art and a science, and an important technique for success is crop rotation.
By rotating crops, you can improve soil health, reduce pests, and increase yields. Continuous planting of the same kind of plant in the same place every year is a recipe for creating problems.
Here are 8 rules to follow for effective vegetable garden rotations.
Rule 1: Have Light Feeders Follow Heavy Feeders
Heavy feeders, such as tomatoes and corn, consume large amounts of nutrients from the soil. Following them with light feeders, like carrots or lettuce takes advatage of this difference.
Rule 2: Include Some Soil Improvement Crops
Soil improvement crops, such as legumes, enrich the soil by fixing nitrogen. Planting crops like peas and beans can naturally enhance soil fertility, reducing the need for chemical fertilizers.
Rule 3: Rotate Plants with the Change of Seasons
Different plants thrive in different seasons. Rotating crops with the seasons ensures that your garden is always productive and that soil nutrients are used efficiently throughout the year.
Rule 4: Rotate by Plant Families
Plants within the same family often share pests and diseases. Rotating by plant families (e.g., moving from nightshades to brassicas) can break pest and disease cycles, promoting healthier plants.
Rule 5: Use Rotation to Reduce Pest Populations
Pests can quickly become a problem if the same crop is grown in the same spot year after year. Rotating crops disrupts pest life cycles, reducing their populations and minimizing damage to your garden.
Rule 6: Rotate to Deprive Weeds of Light and Space
Different crops have varying growth habits and can outcompete weeds differently. By rotating crops, you can deprive weeds of the consistent conditions they need to thrive, thereby reducing weed pressure.
Rule 7: Winter is a Good Time to Use Cover Crops
Cover crops planted in the winter protect soil from erosion and add organic matter when they are turned into the soil. They also help to suppress winter weeds and can fix nitrogen, preparing your garden for spring planting.
Rule 8: Don't Be Afraid to Change Your Rotation Plan
Flexibility is crucial in gardening. If something isn't working, don't hesitate to adjust your rotation plan. Pay attention to your garden's needs and be willing to experiment to find the best solutions for your specific conditions.
For more information
There are many resources online that cover garden rotations. There aren't too many bad ones, in fact. Perhaps my favorite is a book called Crop Rotation on Organic Farms: A Planning Manual by Mohler & Johnson. You can buy the print version, but it's also available as a free PDF file. It's nerdy and information dense. Probably overkill for the casual gardener, but if you get serious about gardening or Organic production, it's excellent.
For a simpler introduction, see this article from the Royal Horticultural Society.
/h3>/h3>/h3>/h3>/h3>/h3>/h3>/h3>/h3>- Author: Ryan Daugherty
Most of us grew up with a lawn. For many of us, mowing the lawn was a part of our weekly chores growing up; yellow spots were treated like a black mark, and a dandelion popping up was like a declaration of war. We have all been brought up in or have participated in lawn care culture in one way or another, without many of us having much of an idea why. Why is the lawn so quintessential in our culture?
The concept of a lawn didn't really exist until relatively recently. Grass was used in landscapes as a frame for more interesting fare, like in the Gardens at Versailles, using it as the tapis vert or green carpet. In fact, before the 18th century, the word lawn itself didn't mean what it does today. The word laune meant a glade or clearing in a forest. Later, as we domesticated livestock, it came to mean more of a pasture where cattle would graze. The concept of the word "lawn" being used to mean a manicured grassy area was first recorded in 1733 in Europe. When lawns were featured in landscapes at the time, they were a status symbol of great wealth. You had to be wealthy to own land, and even wealthier to own land that generated no profit and just looked pretty.
A grass lawn as a landscape feature is largely the influence of "England's Greatest Gardener," Lancelot Brown, commonly known by his nickname "Capability" Brown, because he would often tell his clients that their property had the capability for improvement. Capability was a renowned landscape architect, known for a radical new style at the time called a "gardenless garden" as opposed to the patterned gardens of the day. The hallmarks of Brown's gardenless style were big undulating seas of grass leading straight up to the manor, with scattered plantings of trees and man-made lakes. He designed the landscapes of over 170 of the finest estates in England, making him one of the most prolific and influential landscape architects to come out of Europe. When the American aristocracy (many of them founding fathers) visited these estates, they were enthusiastic about what they saw and incorporated lawns into their estates back home in places like Washington's Mt. Vernon and Jefferson's Monticello. Thus, lawns as a landscape made it to a fledgling United States.
As the United States began to grow both in population and economically, the country took on a decidedly urban look with cramped housing for the new immigrants flooding into the land of opportunity. The European notion of getting away to the countryside couldn't really be practiced because we didn't have countryside; we had a wild, rugged frontier, which had its charms but being a relaxing place to have a picnic wasn't one of them. In response, there was a shift in the ethos of American landscape architecture. There was a growing thought that we wanted our landscapes to be open, welcoming, and ample. Around the same time, "The Father of American Landscape Architecture," Frederick Law Olmsted, designed Central Park in New York. His design heavily featured large grassy areas, strategic plantings of trees, and man-made lakes. Sound familiar? This work influenced other communities across the country to follow suit and design their public spaces with turf as a prominent feature.
Later in 1868, Olmsted would have the opportunity to work on the designs for the first planned suburb in Riverside, Illinois. He required that the houses be set back 30 feet from the road for… you guessed it, a lawn. This suburb served as an example for more housing developments not only because it fit into the aesthetic philosophy of landscape architecture at the time but it was also convenient for building architects and city planners. When an architect is drawing up plans for a whole subdivision of beautiful and functional homes and there's blank space on the page, it's easier to fill it in with a generic lawn than to draw up garden plans.
It wasn't until a hundred years later in 1950s-60s America that suburbs took off. Amid civil unrest taking place in urban centers across post-war, post-depression America, the latest generation of homeowners were ready for a quiet life away from the city, but close enough to have the modern consumer conveniences. The American Dream had shifted from the homestead to a white picket fence around one of Olmsted's lawns. Having great curb appeal was how you kept up with the Joneses and a tight lawn became an expectation. More importantly, those homeowners raised the largest generation from the largest baby boom that this country had ever seen within that culture, ensuring that the shared hobby of lawns would persist.
The lawn became an American icon and a symbol of communal identity and pride. Generations later, lawn care is a billion-dollar industry and Americans still love their lawns.
- Author: Ryan Daugherty
Water is essential for nurturing vibrant gardens and landscapes. By leveraging water meters, we can effectively monitor water usage, detect leaks, and optimize irrigation practices, ensuring every drop contributes to the sustainability and vitality of our gardens.
Understanding how to read a water meter is invaluable. It allows users to gauge water usage over time, detect leaks, and facilitates utility billing based on actual water consumption. Knowing how to read a water meter is great for tracking your yard's usage and spotting leaks.
How to Read a Water Meter
Most water meters are situated outside near the curb in a concrete box, marked with "water." Use a meter key or large screwdriver to remove the lid. Always check for spiders or other critters before reaching inside.
Understanding the Display
There are three types of water meters: straight-reading meters, digital-reading meters, and round-reading meters. Each type operates differently, displaying and indicating water usage differently.
-
Straight-Reading Meters: Have black numbers on a white background. Usually, for residential meters, one sweep of the face equals 10 gallons or 1 cubic foot of water. The black numbers with a white background reflect the current meter read either in 1,000 gallons or CCF (1 CCF=100 Cubic Feet).
-
Digital-Reading Meters: Display a flashing indicator when water flows. The display might alternate between the meter reading and the flow rate.
-
Round-Reading Meters: These are less common and feature several separate dials. Read each dial from left to right, noting the value indicated by each.
Calculating Usage
Take a reading and run your irrigation. After you're done, subtract the previous reading from the current one to determine the water usage within that specific period. For instance, if the previous reading was 3,000 gallons and the current reading is 3,500 gallons, the usage is 500 gallons.
Basic Leak Detection Using a Water Meter
Some meters have flow indicators, like a small triangle, star, or gear that moves when water flows through it. This can be useful in detecting leaks. Ensure no water is being used on the property: turn off faucets, fixtures, automatic appliances like ice machines, don't flush toilets, and turn off the irrigation system. Look at the low-flow indicator on the meter. Any movement might indicate a leak.
If your meter doesn't have a flow indicator, mark the position of the hand or record the numbers on the meter. Wait for a while, such as 30 minutes, without using any water. After that, recheck your meter. Any change in position or numbers indicates a potential leak.
Subtract the initial reading from the final reading taken after the waiting period to calculate the leak rate (gallons or cubic feet per minute).
Understanding how to accurately read a water meter and perform basic leak detection will make it easier to manage your water consumption efficiently and identify potential issues for timely repairs.