Around the District – Page 17 – Pine Cove Water District

Archive for Around the District

Rain Barrels

Posted by admin on March 12, 2014

If you missed out on our rain barrel purchase program last year, fear not.

Rain Barrel from last year’s promotion.

I now have instructions that show you how to make your own rain barrel, here at the district office that you can pick up free of charge. Or you can go to this address and look it up for yourself if you’d rather.

http://www.shelterness.com/great-diy-rain-barrel-for-those-who-want-to-go-green/

Rain water harvesting is an excellent way to collect water for outside use. If you are interested in learning more about harvesting rain water, I recommend going to Brad Lancaster’s website at http://www.harvestingrainwater.com/. He is one of the leading experts in rain water harvesting and saving and reducing water usage. I highly recommend his books, videos and website as they are a wealth of information. He also shares a lot of information on how to make your property act like a sponge and retain the rain that does fall on it. He has many tips and tricks that we can all implement in our own gardens in order to take better advantage of any moisture that we do receive, such as creating berms and swales.

You can also amend the soil in your garden so that it is more absorbent and retains more water. We have free compost available for Pine Cove water customers as well as wood chips that you can apply to help retain moisture and will gradually decompose over time and add even more nutrients to the soil.

Tags: composting, rain barrels, rain water harvesting, Wood Chips

Posted in: Around the District, Compost, Customer Infomation, From the Office, Garden, Rain, Rain Barrels, Rain Water Harvesting, The Garden, Water Conservation, Wood chips

More Space Saving Ideas

Posted by admin on March 5, 2014

Here on the hill, gardening is challenging for many reasons. A short growing season, water restrictions and poor soil, micro climates and shade are just some of the issues we contend with. As gardeners, we are forced to come up with clever ways to overcome these challenges. Each gardener is different and has different wants and needs for his or her garden, so each person must customize solutions to fit their particular gardening needs.

One challenge many gardeners everywhere face, is space. Or lack thereof. This is why container gardening and raised bed gardens are so wonderful. They allow us to garden without acres of land to till or to fit a garden into a spot that would be unsuitable for a traditional garden. Everything from flowers to fruits and veggies to herbs, can be grown in containers or raised beds.

But now you want to branch out, literally, and grow some fruit trees. A typical 1/4 acre lot can only hold so many trees and if your property is like mine, putting in a bunch of fruit trees would eliminate most of the usable space in my yard. However, if the thought of walking outside and picking the perfect apples for a pie or a big, juicy peach is something you covet, then why not think about espalier?

Beautiful! So neat and tidy.

Espalier is the art of pruning and training trees and their branches to be on one plane. It is usually done against a fence or a wall, however, by installing posts and wires, you can espalier a fruit tree just about anywhere in your yard or garden. It is an excellent way to add fruit trees to your garden or homestead without taking up valuable real estate.

Posts and wires for espalier trees.

Plus the fruit is extremely easy to pick as compared to normal fruit trees. If you have ever attempted to pick the apples from the top of a tall apple tree, you will know what I mean and will appreciate being able to pick fruit easily and without a ladder, from an espaliered tree.

Much easier to pick apples from trees that are espaliered. Give it a try. I will be doing this in my garden!

Tags: espalier, fruit trees, gardening, raised bed gardens, small space gardening

Posted in: Around the District, Community, Customer Infomation, Edible Landscaping, From the Office, gardening, Homesteading, The Garden

Customer Pics

Posted by admin on March 4, 2014

I always encourage our customers to send me pictures from around their yards showing what is happening here in Pine Cove. Sue Hrbek and Wayne Olson sent me these pictures of a blue bird making use of the blue bird house they got from us last year.

This a good time to remind everyone with a blue bird house that now is a great time to clean them out so they are ready to go for this years birds. They may be nesting earlier than normal this year do to the unseasonably warm weather. So let’s be ready for them.

If you do not have a blue bird house of your own, stop by the water district office during regular business hours and we will give you one for FREE! That’s right. We are giving away free blue bird houses. They are made from recycled wood right in the district workshop by the boys, Jerry and Jeremy. Pick yours up today.

Tags: birds, blue birds, houses, nesting

Posted in: Animals, Around the District, Community, From the Office