# Help! How to Garden without a water hose?



## deb

I haven't gardened in over 4 years and I need your help making it work this year. 

My Mom was diagnosed with lung cancer 4 Springs ago and I didn't get my garden in that year. After Mom died, I couldn't bear to garden; Just looking at seed catalogs reminded me of her and brought on waves of grief. 

Talking it over with DH earlier this year, we decided that we (I) would have a vegetable garden again. DH tilled up the plot, but from now on the garden is pretty much my responsibility. We have very sandy soil, but we've gotten some very nice produce in the past. 

The only problem is I won't be able to water the garden with a hose this year. We do get a fair amount of rain, but it comes in spurts and the ground dries out fast. In the past I've been able to tide over the garden over by watering with a garden hose, but the only spigot is in the basement and using it floods the basement! It isn't a washer problem, the spigot is not working properly. We don't have cash for a plumber right now so fixing the spigot isn't going to happen immediately.

I've been watering with 1 gallon milk jugs, but that is messy and hard on my knees. Does anyone have anything they use to bring water to their gardens? Have you seen anything cool that you think I could copy?

You help will be most appreciated.

Deb
in WI


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## holleegee

Use lots of mulch. It will help keep the soil from drying out so fast. I use a layer of newspaper (about 5 or 6 pieces thick) and on top of the newspaper I layer straw, grass clippings, dried leaves, peat moss, rabbit poo, goat poo, just about anything I can get my hands on.


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## Lynne

Mulching will hold the moisture in longer. Do you have access to old hay, grass clippings, newspapers, etc.?
Iâve filled up 5 gallon buckets using the bathtub spigot, then use a pint jar to water each plant.

Or

Hose And Faucet Adapter

http://www.hardwareandtools.com/invt/6713309?ref=gbase


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## donsgal

deb said:


> I haven't gardened in over 4 years and I need your help making it work this year.
> 
> My Mom was diagnosed with lung cancer 4 Springs ago and I didn't get my garden in that year. After Mom died, I couldn't bear to garden; Just looking at seed catalogs reminded me of her and brought on waves of grief.
> 
> Talking it over with DH earlier this year, we decided that we (I) would have a vegetable garden again. DH tilled up the plot, but from now on the garden is pretty much my responsibility. We have very sandy soil, but we've gotten some very nice produce in the past.
> 
> The only problem is I won't be able to water the garden with a hose this year. We do get a fair amount of rain, but it comes in spurts and the ground dries out fast. In the past I've been able to tide over the garden over by watering with a garden hose, but the only spigot is in the basement and using it floods the basement! It isn't a washer problem, the spigot is not working properly. We don't have cash for a plumber right now so fixing the spigot isn't going to happen immediately.
> 
> I've been watering with 1 gallon milk jugs, but that is messy and hard on my knees. Does anyone have anything they use to bring water to their gardens? Have you seen anything cool that you think I could copy?
> 
> You help will be most appreciated.
> 
> Deb
> in WI


Get a $6 plastic swimming pool at Walmart and put it under your spigot in the basement to catch the water and hook up the hose. Then, you can bail out the swimming pool if necessary to empty it out between uses. (pour the bailed water on the garden too, while you're at it.)

donsgal


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## Aeirios

donsgal said:


> Get a $6 plastic swimming pool at Walmart and put it under your spigot in the basement to catch the water and hook up the hose. Then, you can bail out the swimming pool if necessary to empty it out between uses. (pour the bailed water on the garden too, while you're at it.)
> 
> donsgal


 Genius :bow: Was thinkin along the same lines.


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## belladulcinea

I keep a 5 gallon bucket outside the kitchen door for the water that is run while waiting for it to get hot or any other water that would go down the drain. I pour that into the bucket and then have a small pail that I dip into the bucket for the garden. It's easier to handle that way and I can get the water right on the plants. It's also very good exercise. I don't usually wait to fill the whole thing up as it is easier to carry the big bucket out to the garden 1/2 full. I did this during the drought 2 years ago and it worked very well.


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## steff bugielski

I have buckets under my down spouts and shed roofs. Then the buckets are easy to carry to the garden to water. Sometimes I fill the watering can from the bucket to water small things.


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## chickenista

Take 2 liter bottles ...poke a few holes along the base of the bottle... I choose to do it on just one side if I am watering a specific plant and several if I am watering a group of plants... fill with water and compost/manure/epsom salt tea or whatever your favorite feeding concoction is and place next to plant/plants you want to water.
You can adjust the rate of flow from the bottle by opening and closing the lid a bit. A little more open.. faster water flow.. a little more closed..slower flow. You can make it last all night.
When you want to water just fill each bottle. It takes a minute or two, but you don't lose any water to run off this way. I do it for my squashes, melons and any other plant that needs more steady moisture.
Then mulch like crazy!!!!!


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## Mid Tn Mama

I'm sorry about your mom. It will be therapeutic for you to have this garden. 

All good ideas so far. Try not filling the buckets so much if it hurts your knees. Or are the knees hurting from carrying up and down stairs? I keep a bucket in the shower to fill while the shower is getting warm.

You can scoop out a bathtub or a kiddy pool faster if you cut off the top of a milk jug leaving the handle. the sides of the jug are square and make it perfect for bailing out the tub or kiddy pool.


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## FalconDance

I used to capture the grey water from the kitchen sink and watered the base of each plant only from the bucket. The soap repelled most of the bugs who thought about helping themselves to my veggies and the bits of food composted right into the soil for later. (Going back to that this summer.)

Other than that, we still bucket water from the cistern to the garden - it's far enough to the garden from the house that the hose is ridiculously slow.


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## WanderingOak

How big is the garden? If it isn't too big, one thing you could do is rig some soaker hoses onto a five gallon bucket, and run the hoses through the garden. Then, place the bucket on higher ground above the highest point on the hoses, and fill the bucket using gallon jugs.

My hose bib froze two years ago, and for a while there I was just using an old-fashioned watering can that I was filling in the kitchen sink.


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## wy_white_wolf

If you have gutters you could build a rain catchment system using plastic 55 gallon drums. Spigot on the bottom of them to hook a hose to them.


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## Grandmotherbear

I have a 5 gallon bucket catching my AC drip for the new sod and the sweet potatoes. That and saving the shower water= saved our garden in the drought of 2001. We carried a LOT of buckets.


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## deb

Mid Tn Mama said:


> All good ideas so far. Try not filling the buckets so much if it hurts your knees. Or are the knees hurting from carrying up and down stairs?


I injured my left knee and it created a Baker's Cyst in the back side of my knee. The pain got so bad I could barely use stairs or walk after being in a chair. My Dr sent me to PT to get some exercises to help my knee heal. The physical therapist said my habit of locking my left knee/leg is making the cyst worse so I'm trying to re-learn how to stand/walk/step up without locking that knee. The change in my posture and how I hold my left leg is very tiring for the rest of my body. I can do about half to a quarter of the physical work I used to do and I can't kneel at all. 

I am curious about putting newspaper down with stuff on top. Does this allow the moisture to get into the soil or does it only keep what moisture is already in the soil? What does the newspaper ink do to the soil? 

How can I add a hose bib to a bucket? Are there any websites that show this?

Thank you so much for your help!
Deb
in WI


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## clamjane

Chickenista, you are a genius. That is the best watering idea I have heard in awhile.


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## WanderingOak

deb said:


> How can I add a hose bib to a bucket? Are there any websites that show this?
> Deb
> in WI


You would add a hose bib to a bucket the same way you would a rain barrel. There is a link to instructions at the bottom of the page.

I hope this helps.


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## Windy in Kansas

I agree with heavy mulching and also working lots of organic matter into the soil to act as a sponge to hold moisture until the plants need it.

If you don't object to chemicals you might like to check into the use of polyacrylamides.
They are a moisture holding product and are used in such things a diapers, made into a slurry for bareroot trees, into soil moist chunks for potted plants, etc.

A very high quality cross linked polyacrylamide (CLP) product will hold 600 times its weight in water. That means a brown sugar sized one pound box will hold a barrel of water. 

Placed in the top 6 inches of soil they absorb snowmelt and rainfall and give the moisture to the plants as needed. Yield increases from uneven water stress is a side benefit. I read of one report a few years ago telling of Kandy Korn producing 7 ears per stock instead of the typical 1 or 2. In a Colorado trial more fruit was produced from a CLP treated site with no irrigation than an irrigated plot without CLP produced.

Your call on whether you wish to use them or not. I have read labratory testing results for chemical uptake into the plant tissue doing by universities in the U.S. and Russia and am comfortable that they are safe to use.

Hydrosource Western Polyacrylamide has considerable information on their web site. A Native American Indian web site has very limited information but claims to have the best pricing for polyacrylamides which still isn't cheap because of shipping. I'm not home so don't have the web addy in front of me.

I bought a few hundred pounds of CLP and picked it up direct from a sales agency a few hours away. Unfortunately for me the owner died and now I would have to have the product shipped in. The alternative would be to buy the extremely overpriced products aimed at flower gardeners and most often sold in very small quantities instead of 50# bags which cheapen the per # price.

Lots and lots of peat is somewhat of an alternative. CLP lasts several years in the soil as long as it is not exposed to sunlight. It cycles through fully water charged looking like a chunk of gelatin and looking like a rock sugar crystal. If possible it is always best to charge the CLP with the purest water available the first time. It holds more pure water than any other.


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## bbbuddy

I can't imagine calling a plumber for fixing something as simple as a spigot.

Go to your local hardware store, and ask them how to replace the one you have, buy a spigot, buy a pipe nipple if the one the spigot is on is rotted out, and replace. All you need is some teflon tape and a pipe wrench.

I'm a 60 year old woman, plumbing like this requires no training.


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## ChristyACB

Agree with bbbuddy, it is scary the first time to do anything related to plumbing but it is just like beer drinking...once you break the seal...well, you get the rest.

Anyway, if it is just the spigot, it is about a 10 minute fix and costs a few bucks for teflon tape, the nipple and the spigot. There are sites online that will give you a picture by picture demo of it or you can stop at the book rack at the Lowes or Depot that you are getting the stuff at (if you are going there) and look it up right there in their plumbing books. 

Until then, I did something really tacky looking that really worked after I planted the grass behind my house last month for erosion control. One extra piece of PVC from the hoop houses, a small hole in my screen not yet fixed and a funnel created a nice way to get the water wasted at the kitchen sink right into the yard. Very tacky looking but it worked so well I almost miss that set-up now.

Good luck.


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## SCRich

Deb I am sorry for your loss, yesterday was 4 years for my Dad and he was the one with the Ag degree before he became a Vet. I guess a lot of what I am doing is because of him so it's troublesome at times. 

The barrel idea is one of the best ones, place one or two or more under downspouts and when you buy that spigot to fix the basement one buy another along with some putty and a nut and just have at it. Yes once you fix that bib you will not need the rain barrel but why not have it, it's going green!

I was going to do that this weekend at my new house but did not. Got to decide where I want it and then I got to cut the downspout to length, I will probably take mine one step further with an adapter to go from spout to barrel lid so the water is not exposed and a skeeter crib. Once I cut this new spouts to length I better be real sure that is where I want it! I have metal barrels, bought 4 of them for $5 each at the Apple Orchard. Get a load of this, they were filled with apple juice concentrate, PRODUCT OF CHINA!!! AT AN ORCHARD!! A hose bib may cost what $3.50 for a really nice one and some putty to keep it nice and sealed about $2. Just get a food grade barrel surplus if you can if not buy a clean (NON CHEMICAL) plastic or metal one.


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## DennisNYS

The above info about the ease of replacing the spigot is all true. I would be more than happy to walk you through the whole process, if you would like.
I also have "prolly" half-dozen old non-leaking spigots in the barn, I would be happy to send you one, if I have the correct replacement..no charge. I replaced all mine with the quarter-turn, anti-freeze model.
Can you tell if the pipe inside the house supplying the spigot is copper ?
I believe copper is much easier to work with, at least for me.
Just let me know.
Good Luck.


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## deb

WanderingOak said:


> You would add a hose bib to a bucket the same way you would a rain barrel. There is a link to instructions at the bottom of the page.
> 
> I hope this helps.


Yes, this is great. Thank you for posting the link!
-deb
in wi


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## deb

DennisNYS said:


> The above info about the ease of replacing the spigot is all true. I would be more than happy to walk you through the whole process, if you would like.
> I also have "prolly" half-dozen old non-leaking spigots in the barn, I would be happy to send you one, if I have the correct replacement..no charge. I replaced all mine with the quarter-turn, anti-freeze model.
> Can you tell if the pipe inside the house supplying the spigot is copper ?
> I believe copper is much easier to work with, at least for me.
> Just let me know.
> Good Luck.


Thank you for your offer and all the plumbing advice! 

We have an 1860's farmhouse that has most of its original fixtures and the plumbing is mixture of cast iron and galvanized pipe. DH and I both have plumbing experience, but we don't feel comfortable changing the spigot ourselves due to the age & condition of this fixture and pipe as well as the cast iron shut off valve for the water supply. We live out in the country and going into town to get parts for unexpected problem takes a lot of time, especially if the basement is flooding!

We've been saving to have the cast iron plumbing replaced in Fall and we'll also get the spigot replaced at that time.

Thanks again for the offer
Deb
in wi


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## SCRich

I got to say what seems simple enough ain't necessarly so. I decided to just make the barrels up today like everyone said and get them ready to put under the downspout. Easy idea but not easy if you can't find the parts. I spent about 1 hour at Lowes and Tractor supply and came up with a cobble to the hose bib. TSC...forget it I give them maybe 5 more years in the area and they will go under, they don't have ANYTHING you can't get at Lowes or Wallmart anymore, it's a shame. THen off to Lowes and you can get a bib but how do you attach it to the barrel ? I bought a 3/4 bib so there will not be as much restriction on the water slow but you can't find a rubber or fender washer that would fit the thread. I was planning on a bib, large washer, rubber washer, another rubber washer inside of the barrel, another large flat washer then a nut. Well try finding something to fit 3/4 thread at Lowes, you are SOL. I ended up buying a patch of rubber and a 3/4 coupler to use as a nut. My concern is that no coupler or adapter really threaded all the way on the bib so I don't know how tight it's going to be to sandwich in on the bottom of the barrel.

Now I know why Internet sources can get away with $15+ dollars for a couple of cheap parts to do the job. No one can find that washer and nut locally to do the job on the spot!

Rich


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