Garden Sprinklers

The sprinklers in our yard proved to be quite tricky. 

At first we thought that we only had six sprinkler heads. After switching on the water, we soon found many more and not all of them in working order. In fact, we found two lines generously watering the concrete block walls around our property about a foot down under the ground. 

Whoever decided to just run an uncapped pipe to the wall...who knows what they were thinking...

We first had to decide what zones we needed.

1. Grass

2. Vegetable Garden 

3. Flower Garden

Three solenoids (water valves) for three zones.

Each zone can be switched on or off independently from a central computer/timer. We managed to capitalize on a more energy efficient unit that ended up only being $10 after state rebates. It even has a rain catcher that would change the amount of water used for a rainy day.

For the vegetable garden, we didn't want to waste water on pathways so we decided to go with micro drippers. That meant that we needed locations of raised PVC pipes to tap into.

These locations were determined by the locations of our raised garden beds. They are great for your back and easy to tend. Each box got a PVC pipe coming up the center.

That pipe split to a tee which we then used a transition piece to switch from PVC pipe to a black flexible pipe.

This flexible black pipe is then tapped into with smaller micro-tubing that can be plugged up when not in use. The micro-tubing can be cut to whatever length is needed to reach your plants. The micro-tubing needs to be soaked with hot water in order to get around the small connectors and drippers to fit tightly. The drippers come in a range of volume released per hour. We used only two types: green drippers (2 gallons per hour) and red drippers (4 gallons per hour). There are also smaller drippers for plants that require even less water. We also used soaker tubes for smaller plants that are located closer to one another. The soaker tube has alot of small punctures along its length to basically "ooze" the water out and onto the ground.

  The pressure on the line can easily blow the connectors off if they are not connected properly as well. We tested our pressure at one of our hose bibs (spigots) with a cheap pressure gauge from the hardware store and compared it with the required max pressure allowed for the drippers. Our pressure turned out to be high so we bought a pressure regulator to place on our PVC pipe. We put it on after the solenoid (between the solenoid and the garden).

After checking that all of the connections are water tight (where they need to be), we were then able to  finish off our system by setting our timer. Our sprinklers go off twice a day in the summer and once a day in the cooler months for about five minutes at a time.

No more watering by hand! We finally get to sleep in!

Score!

Mmmmm Garlic!

We went to college in the central coast of California and every time I drove to school from the Bay Area, I had to drive through Gilroy.

The Garlic Capital of the World!

If you have never been, it is a must. Just driving through on the freeway, you can tell why they call it the garlic capital. Mmmmm....It smells so good. They even have a garlic festival every summer.

It is on my bucket list...

Needless to say, we love garlic.

So we just had to try growing it. 

We simply bought some garlic heads from the store and then popped off the cloves and stuck them in the dirt. Be sure to leave as much of the paper on the cloves as possible.

The super tall green spikes is not the garlic. Those are green onions. The garlic are the thinner shoots behind them.

When over half of the shoots have gone yellow and dry, it is about time to pull them out of the ground. Don't wait until they are all dead or the garlic won't come out right.

Next, they need to be hung and dried for several weeks before they can be edible. The most common way to hang them for drying is by braiding or at least the prettiest way.

Being a girl, I do have some braiding experience.

Not looking too bad if I do say so.

It was kind of fun! Though messy. It might be best if the braiding is done in somewhere that can be easily cleaned.

Once done with the braiding is done, hang the braids up in a dry place, out of direct sunlight. Our garage worked. Four to six weeks later, we had really small garlic. 

What did we learn? Maybe next time try elephant garlic instead of store bought. Garlic is very finicky to grow, so be aware if you are going to try it yourself.

Goodluck!

Cork Board Frame

Those of you that went to our wedding two years ago may remember that we used corks for our name tags and table numbers. Something similar to this little beauty down here.

Well, needless to say, we ended up with quite a few extras and some leftover corks from some of our more enthusiastic (maybe drunk) friends. Two years later and those corks are still taking up room in our garage. So I thought, we needed a project to finally get some use out of them.

Enter Pinterest, where I found this picture. Follow the link on the picture to check out my craft board.

First thing was to purchase this frame from IKEA. It is called the Ung Drill. No idea what that means in Swedish but heck, its IKEA. Only $29.99! A steal, believe me, we checked everywhere. (Or at least Ross, Aaron Brothers, TJMaxx, and Homegoods didn't have anything in this price range) It is plastic mind you but still looks pretty good. You will have to remove the glass that comes with the frame, but be careful. We broke ours when we tried to get it out. It didn't look like it was meant to be taken out like that. Keep the cardboard that comes with it though. You will need that later.

Next stop was Home Depot for some spray paint. Be sure to pick out one that is good for plastic. Any color will do. If you are more adventurous, Michael's has a greater array of colors and shades, but Home Depot's prices are about a third cheaper.

Be sure to wear clothes you don't mind getting dirty and maybe some glasses to protect your eyes and some gloves. Place plastic or paper underneath to catch any extra spray and be sure to do this in a well ventilated space. Our backyard and some extra moving boxes worked fantastic. 

It did take us a few coats to get every crevice of this frame. Be sure to go at it from every angle to cover it all.

The next step was to place some cardboard backing into the space where the glass used to be. Take  the piece of cardboard that came with frame and trace two additional layers of cardboard to fit into the frame. We found three layers of cardboard fit perfectly.

Then came the hot glue gun and lots and lots of glue...

You will also need a utility knife and pencil to trim up the side pieces to fit.

We decided to go with a chevron pattern. We made sure to setup all the pieces first and then glue them down one at a time.

And in no time at all, we had a finished project!

Pinterest score!

This idea can be easily be scaled down for a smaller frame as well.

I know a great place for it too! 

Crotcheting!

That's it. We have finally succumbed to the dark side....

We are trying our hand at crotcheting.

Yes, I said it.

Crotcheting.

It is silly I know, but take a look at this guy...

http://www.craftsy.com/project/view/pillow-pal-giraffe/9742

(Check out the link above for the official pattern)

He is soooooo CUTE!

I want to be able to make one of these by the time we have our first baby.... Not like that is anytime soon mind you. But wouldn't this be the cutest stuffed animal?

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/gigi-giraf

I even found a free pattern for a very similar little guy to try. 

We just have to start learning how to actually crotchet. 

Small speed bump...

We will let you know how all of our lessons pan out.

I am predicting quite a few Pinterest fails in our future...

Stayed tuned!