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Sunday, January 26, 2014

LOW COST URBAN GARDENING - PART 7

SMART WATERING

Watering is an important part on container gardening.
The crops only have a limit space for roots to absorb water and nutrients.


Look my eggplants, they grow well on five liters lubricant jerry cans.



You can see a clusters of green tomatoes in five kilograms paint bucket.
The limited space is not a serious problem.
If we give them enough water and nutrients, they will grow well.
We usually use residual water from our kitchen sink.
When we wash vegetables, meat or rice, we collect and save the residual water from it.
It really save our clean water.


In Central Java, Water that used to wash rice is called 'leri'.
It have white color like as aqueous milk.
That water has so many nutrition that very useful for plants growth, especially vitamin B (to keep off the plants from stress).
We will dilute it, and ready to apply.
So... it will be an additional 'fertilizer' for our crops.


We also collect rain water for watering our crops.
To reduce the evaporation, we usually use newspaper as a mulch to cover the media.
To save the water, we give watering just on the media.
Flush enough water to the media, not too much.
We only give a little amount of water twice a day during the dry season, in the early morning and late afternoon.
At this time the weather is really favorable for the plant to absorb and keep the water, low evaporation. 
No watering during rainy season, except indoor plants.
We have ever tried simple drip irrigation using plastic bottles, but it's not effective for us who have a lot of containers.
Friend, what will you do to be 'smart' in watering? 
I hope you enjoy this series.
Actually, I want to share you more and more.
See you in the next monthly series.

14 comments:

  1. Welcome Endah!!
    I am admiring your plants. They look very healthy and beautiful.
    I am also cultivating plants ecologically...
    I am sending from distant, snowy and frosty Poland.
    Lucia

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    1. Thanks Lucia. I can't wait to see your garden this spring

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  2. No water shortage here at the moment - no extra watering needed either - the rain is doing it all. I didn't know water used to clean rice was a good plant food. Is it the water used to rinse rice before cooking?

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    1. Yes, is it. We usually use the water that have already diluted to watering plant after transplanting.

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  3. I have raise plants in pots when I lived in the city and it takes a lot of skill to get results like you do.Of course it takes work but work is a good thing, not something bad as some seem to view it.

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  4. Interesting to read you use the rice water for the plants as nutrition. I am sure it is quite a job to water and feed all those pots but the results are so rewarding.

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    1. We usually use residual water from our kitchen to make the liquid of Local Micro Organism to enrich microorganism in our soil. So it will improve our soil quality

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  5. I have loved these series, you explain things so well. Some people catch the rain water that comes of the gutters of their house in to a large barrel.Then they Connect a hose to it, to water their garden. I love catching rain water in 5 gallon buckets..to water our plants.

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    1. I think it's interesting using a hose and make watering installation.

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    2. it is, do you have an email ~ I would like to send a picture showing you the barrel and hose.

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    3. Yes, thaks before. endahmurniyati@gmail.com

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  6. How smart of you to use the rice water to nourish your plants. They look so very happy and healthy! I also love that you have been so creative in your use of containers. Now when I see a container, I'll have to ask myself if a plant could grow in it before I throw it away or use it for something else!

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    1. Thanks. This is the time to optimizing everything that we have. So... everything will more useful for us.

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