Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Easter Grass


I had been wanting to try to grow our own "Easter Grass" for the past two years, and finally I am doing it this year. The reasons for doing so, are that we can  not stand the fake plastic grass that gets everywhere, and want a more sustainable natural method of decorating the kid's Easter baskets. They were very excited to grow grass for their baskets, and helped fill the little tray with soil and put down a layer of wheat berries and then sprinkle them with water. We currently have a 5 gallon bin of wheat that we intend to grind into flour, so I was able to steal a few handfuls to use for the Easter baskets. Below is picture of the wheat six days later.

Irrigation System


This spring I decided to expand my irrigation system with a micro sprinkler system. It is by the same brand as the drip irrigation system that I installed last year for my potted plants in my patio, and connects to the timer. For the last few years I had been using a soaker hose for the non-potted plants, but been having to replace the hoses pretty much every year. So when I was going to buy a new one for this year, I started looked at other options, as the base system for the micro sprinklers is slightly more than twice as much than the soaker hose, I decided to try it, with the thought that this will last me much longer than the soaker hoses had been, and will be cost effective in the long run. I have been happy with the level of control that this gives me. I can adjust the amount of water getting to different plants in ways that the soaker hose never allowed. We'll see how it does in the heat of the summer.