Tiny bits of green and rainbarrels

There are tiny bits of green that have broken through, but as of last week when I took pictures, they were too small to see on a photo.  We've had some rain and good bit of watering so next weekend there should be some decent photos to illustrate the progress.

Last weekend we planted broccoli, onions, garlic, more lettuce, and cauliflower.

In January we purchased two rain barrels from the City of Charlotte and last weekend it was time to install them. Tom started by removing the brace from the wall.

Then he removed the downspout part of the gutter...

and sawed it off at the right length

Then he attached a plastic, adjustable piece that can be used to direct the rain into the barrel. He installed both rain barrels just in time for a downpour. One barrel was completely full, the other about half. Then it was time to test one of them out. He hooked up a hose to the spout at the bottom of the barrel...

turned the valve on and....

 

 WATER!

The rate in which the water came out was pretty darn slow (about one gallon per minute), so it took a while to water the entire bed. Tom watered one bed with 30 gallons which was about half of one barrel. Next step will be to put a "Y" joint at the end of the hose and run a soaker hose to each bed. Then we'll simply just  open the valve and let it run at its own pace.