Good info. I save gallon milk jugs and fill them from my rain barrel, then put them in the greenhouse in the back section, under a shelf that gets little sun. I have had a few ‘go green’ through the years, so those just get dumped. I have about a dozen on hand at any time, though I don’t store them over winter - they freeze and thaw and leak and just make a mess.
Otherwise, I use that water in the spring when I’m starting seedlings, and then all season long when I have pots of things to water daily, and in the fall when I’ve got salad greens growing in there. It saves me from dragging out the hose for that task, plus it’s that magical rain water! :)
I’m thinking about tarps for the IBC tanks. The tanks are clear enough to get enough light to grow algae. I guess those tarps that are brown/silver and do silver side up for most of the year and brown side up for winter to help keep them from freezing. Tarps will be ugly but oh well. Better than green slime water clogging up the drip. Seems like after the green slime, comes little swimming things too.
I’ve been using it too fast for algae to grow but it won’t always be that way. Had a little once but it rinsed out easy and was only near the bottom. Don’t really want to add bleach/chlorine. Most anyone with city water and a garden is likely watering with chlorinated water at 1ppm or so and it doesn’t seem to hurt anything. Would prefer pure rain water though.
Hello! Lots going on here the last few days. Most of it has had nothing to do with gardening in any fashion.
Number 2 son and his wonderful girlfriend returned from their trip to a few places in Europe. We kept their cat here, although she really didn’t like being here. Or maybe she doesn’t like me. Anyway, we all have survived the ordeal with few scratches (ok, I endured 3 of those over the days).
We rarely get to see our kids for long. That proved the case this time, too, BUT we did spend about 10 meaningful hours together, hearing about their trip and whatever adventures they took on. We are so glad that they had a wonderful time! They learned a lot about history of the places they went, and the art and architecture, the foods, and the culture of the peoples. They had a really good time. It made it worth whatever we did back here in their absence.
As a treat, I took their car to the car wash yesterday, in part because one of the pine trees that he parked under produced sap that smeared in their front and back windows. Then I felt compelled to vacuum the mats and seats. Then I thought, wouldn’t it be nice if I could get the dashboard a bit cleaner? It was very dusty. Before I realized it, I had detailed their interior completely! I guess I was in the groove, and didn’t want to stop until I would’ve been comfortable in it. It didn’t feel like work. I was a little worried that they would feel I overstepped my bounds, but they were actually TRULY surprised and very grateful!
They bought us lunch! That was a lovely thank you, BESIDES all the gifts they brought for us from their travels.
The weather today was exceptionally beautiful. Temps were lovely with a steady breeze.
After the kids left (with some shishitos as a parting gift), I noticed that another one of my potato planters looked ready to harvest. 5 baby red potatoes were planted around Mother’s Day, and today I dug up 25. Score!