Thank-you for all of the welcoming comments. I plan to reply once I sort out some technical difficulties? (apologies, my newbie-ness is showing?)
In the meantime I thought I would share a bit about what has been on my mind more and more lately. Water. How to conserve, gather, store and distribute it efficiently? Each part of the garden will require different water solutions (no pun intended), and I do not want to be spending half my day watering the gardens.
When researching natural solutions I came across the ancient method of using olla's (pronounced 'oy-ya'), where you bury a clay pot of water. It works via osmosis where water seeps into the surrounding soil when it is dry, and saves the water in the pot when it is wet. I decided it was worth giving a go, and I have a perfect spot for it...behind the long retaining wall where I plan to plant corn, peas and vine growers like pumpkin, zucchini's, gherkins, and cucumbers.
As I unashamedly plan on being a lazy gardener, I created a circuit olla design using dowelling as a water level indicator so I don't have to guess how much water each one is holding at any one time. I read that water pressure/distribution can be a problem when joining olla in a circuit, so I decided to run the tubing through each olla, making 1 hole in the 1st olla (closest to the water source), 2 holes in the 2nd, and so on until the tube ends in the final (8th) olla.
In theory I think it should work? I am still deciding where the water source will come from as I don't want to hook it up to the water mains (we currently have water restrictions - through winter, no less, so summer will be a problem!!!). Gathering, storing and using rain water is my preference but will require more thought and planning. Luckily I am not in a hurry to get it up and running just yet, as I am waiting for the corn seeds to sprout before transplanting them into place...so I have a bit of time up my sleeve? Here's hoping it all works without a hitch? I don't doubt the concept, I have a small question mark around my olla making skills though?
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