Just a question about the water restrictions....Can you plant tomatoe plants within you flower beds, say for instance, one in every bed, and get away with watering the beds when you want to?
Where is everyone these days.
Good question - I have mine in a flower bed too, I just water it!!!! I have not watered enough tho- perhaps that is why my tomatos are not turning red.
Thanks yall..
Okay! Jim, I'm doing fine! Life has a way of getting in the way of my Daves and garden time! The kids are in school now, so I've been able to get my teeth cleaned.. stuff like that when I should have done it long time ago!! :) But I'm here :)
Okay Brenda.. here's the $$ deal. It seems like the going rate for a well is either a flat rate for some or you can agree to pay $10 a foot.. Problem for us was that the sales guy told us that we would pay regardless of whether we hit water or not and while most hit in GA before 600 feet, we've heard stories of not hitting at 1000 feet.. and you never know.. the driller said they had gone 600 before and were about to call it at that one place and he just went 10 more feet and hit. it really is like mining for gold :) We were very very cautious about making the investment without really knowing how much we were going to pay and whether we were going to pay for nothing..not a good feeling... but when Fulton county went to a total ban this year for a while, I called hubby at work and said to get us on the list. However, when the driller got here and and I begged him to please make sure he picked a spot with water, he said.. you don't pay if we don't hit, ya know?? So we were quite confused as that's not what they other guy had said.. so we were relived to hear we wouldn't pay if they didn't hit, but of course wanted them to. Also, since the driller does lots of commercial work and works all over GA.. we got pushed back lots and by the time they were ready to drill the first time, we had planned a trip and couldn't do it, so instead of being next on the list, we got pushed back to when they were doing another job in the area.. which by the way was a local golf course and they hit 100 gallons a minute, which the driller said was one of the biggest he's ever hit and my husband went down to see it and it was just a stream coming up out of the ground without a pump. He told us that while that might be great for the golf course, there are lots more minerals in such a huge amount of water and they would probably have to filter it instead of a "large enough" hit like ours which would be filtered by the rocks and such. Also, once they hit, they like to dig down just a little further to insure a "reservoir" I guess.. don't know why.. so they went another 30 feet on ours.
PJ, the water authorities ask that people using well water abide by the same watering rules as a courtesy. However, someone that is pulling resources of their own property can do so when ever they darn well choose, and to be quite honest, my husband and I are a little sour about the fact that they wont send anyone down to quell the speeding neighbors at the end of my street that don't give a rats pile of beans that my kids play outside, but it's no problem to have me on the top 10 list of watched gardens by the water dept in Cobb county. Not so much now.. but there were weeks when I'd see them at least 3 times cruising my garden and they even drove down the next doors driveway to see into my back yard when we were planting once. I never got so much as a warning, but was disturbing. I'm also the village idiot that cleans up the street and right of ways on our street of abandoned investment properties being held by builders that are out to make a buck and not held liable by the county to clean it up.... this is an article about what is going on in my neighborhood http://www.ajc.com:80/metro/content/metro/cobb/stories/2007/08/18/bighouse_0819.html
Sooo... we can water the street if we want to and wash our cars, and keep the sprinklers on in the front if my kids want to play in it and not a soul will be able to say or do a thing about it and I really don't care if they do. My husband really wants to put out sprinklers or a working hose by the front and have everyone try to call on us.. So if you can't tell, were just a little sour right now, and will water whenever we feel like watering. I have always derived great pleasure from hand watering my plants in the late evening and now I will do so when ever I feel like it.
:)
Susan
This message was edited Aug 23, 2007 9:03 AM
Good for you, Susan! We are on well water, too, but since I didn't dig this well, and no one seems to remember a lot about it, I have always been a little concerned about over-watering, especially during periods of drought, since we rely on this well for ALL our water needs, not just gardening. While we don't have a water bill, if the well goes dry we are OOL.
I love handwatering my plants in the evening or early morning, too. My therapy.
Susan
Susan, I tried to learn as much as I could from the driller about wells and he said that there are two schools of thought about underground water in this area.. One that the underground water works it's way down from rivers and streams in the N.GA mountains, which is what he believes and the other that ground water is collected from rain and water currents continue underground. While he says he does believe that may happen, he shared the fact that he can and has drilled right next to stream and river bed sources and if the rainwater theory was true, there should be water all over underground from the "underground runoff" we'll call it.. But he said he's found that above ground natural water sources don't mean a thing to hit and don't mean anyone is any more likely to hit a well nearby.. which is a very difficult thing for customers to understand he said. We asked him about the possibility of our well drying up and he said it wouldn't.. and I certainly hope not. He said that the worst thing that could happen is that we use to much all at once and have to wait 20 min to an hour for pressure to build back up. Even if it's scientifically irrelevant, it makes me feel better that it was dug during a drought. My "well" meaning friend (ha ha!) said that even though I was getting a well, I was still going to be using water that was in short supply and I had to explain to her that this entire Atlanta area gets it's water from Lake Lanier and that my property, many miles south was certainly not taking anything from that source and that it's more like a distribution problem, as there is water under the entire state.
Susan
This message was edited Aug 24, 2007 7:41 AM
Susan congrats, everyone needs a "worry free" well for a source of water, and I'm very happy for you.I have been intending to do the same thing, but am a procrastinator, and will probanly do it in an emergency situation.You go girl!!!Mike
Ha! I did do it in an emergency situation.. the next door county went to no watering and I needed it bad and got it three months later! :) It's a good feeling to have that here forever and ever :) There are some real crispy yards out there. :(
Susan
I've been out playing in the rain, don't know 'bout you others. That is, until the lightning got too bad. I hope and pray that it rains all night. We sure need it!!!!
Doing a happy rain dance !!!~~~~~ Susan
Yes, we got RAIN!!! WOOPEEE!!!!
We were just sitting out on the back (covered) deck enjoying the sprinkles and light show, wonderful smells and light breeze. Only came in because the dog was terrified of the thunder and lightning. I wish it would rain all night too.
It was wonderful!! YEA!!! :)
Hi everyone, happy rain dance here also.
Hopefully it will break this heatwave a little.
Glad to here everyone is doing good. After this summer, digging a well sure is sounding like a great idea!
Wake up Jim! LOL :)
chris
I feel like this weather has done its worst, now to the good ole fall planting.I don't think I got much rain here, but I'm happy for what WE did.Mike
OMG Susan, I read that article and had no idea it was close to you. That poor guy with that monster next door to him. There is still enough land out here for them to build that we don't have to worry as much about teardowns. I'm sure it will come eventually. Great news about the well. We have a creek out back, down a very steep hill. I've thought about putting a pump in, but its too far and it can dry up. We don't get much traffic on our street, so no one knows if we water or not. I've been sticking to the rules, especially since its been too hot even in the morning to get outside. That rain last night was wonderful. Becky
Becky, the house torn down and built three lots away is the largest single family home I have ever set foot into in my entire life and I have done fundraising work in huge intown mansions. The two lots between that home are vacant and waiting for the owners are ready to tear down and rebuild. My next door home has been vacant for years and is owned by a builder. Yes, that article is in my area. It gives me no end of giggles that my veggie garden is so close to the street and I'll have people driving past my county white picket fence, tomatoes and me on my John Deere to get to their million dollar professionally landscaped mansions. I'll still wave to them :)
Susan
Not a drop of rain here. It keeps getting within a hundred yards of the house but quits and starts again 100 yards down the road. What am I doing wrong. Maybe it is my nasty neighbors, or at least that is what I am telling everyone.
Hey GG.. yes, I measure the size of a home I want to live in by whether I can scream "come eat" and be heard throughout without having to use an intercom! :) The house down the street from me looks like an apartment building too! My guess is that it's about 12,000+ square feet! We refer to it as battleship galactica :)
Oh Jim, :(.. I've been there too.. watching the radar on my computer screen and seeing how it's soooo close but the rain wont move over.. Sorry.. It's rained here two days in a row. Good hard serious rains. I'll will it to come over to your garden now :)
Susan
We have been blessed with RAIN too!!! It has been glorious! My parched yard and garden were just screaming from the burning Sunshine we have had! Jim, I am sorry it has missed you as well...I will keep praying for Rain over Georgia!!! The entire Sate is in such terrible need!!
Yes, I've had RAIN too, but I'm not greaty, I hope all of Ga. gets rain, even those on the Al. border.Looks like my weeds have a head start. Mike
It rained in Lizella,,,, Just wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!
Elaine
YEAH!! It rained here some more too...we have been so blessed! For such a long time we were outside the "showers" everyday, but we have had several in the past week or so and I am very thankful!!
ahhhhhhh rained here too! :)
Susan
Rain the last 4 days and it was a downpour yesterday. I might have to cut grass again this year. I'll have to get the lawn mower out of hock. Didn't think I would need it any more and needed the money. LOL
HA!! :)
Jim! That's a good one! ROFL
Yea Jim, a real knee slapper.I could loan you mine. Mike
Hi y'all!
Well, I've been MIA for pert near a week due to computer problems but have most of the issues resolved now. We've been getting afternoon and evening showers almost daily for the past couple of weeks. We went to WM this evening and got caught in another while we were there. Things have been so dry, though, and very humid especially after these showers. I don't mind saying I'll be glad for a change. :)
Jim,,,, get that mower out of hock... I think the drought is broken. We have gotten some rain,,, but it will take lots more to help the poor trees..
Elaine
One of my Confederate Rose died from lack of water. The others are minature form this year. We missed the rain today. Thunders and dark clouds all around but no rain.
Goodness.. we got another downpour last night! I knew it would happen after we got a well!! :) But I'm very grateful and the wells not hooked up to irrigation yet anyway. We will have family over today for BBQ and it will definitely be an indoor event as everything is wet outdoors. I couldn't believe the temp when I saw it this morning- 68!! That's chilly compared to the lows of 80 we were having! Yall have a great holiday weekend :)
Susan
So happy that finally we all got some rain! What a change - the lightning hit our cable box a week ago with the first downpour. Of course I had my PC on, it was so slow shutting down, that it got zapped - so I have been offline - just got it out of the shop yesterday - lots of catching up to do. Needed a new Motherboard and a few other things, but it's like a new one now, they did manage to save my new hard drive tho, whew!
I was fussing last week about my tomatoes that would not turn red, now they are are are splitting with the rain - no happy medium it seems. I still have old rhodies that look half dead, just not coming out - lots of brown crispy leaves. I've never felt ready for fall before, but this year has been so depressing with the heat and drought, that it won't matter much to see the leaves fall. My driveway looks like fall has arrived anyway with all the brown leaves falling . The cooler temps are a relief. Didn't feel like doing much outside in the heat, now it's too wet - yes, our yard finally needs mowing too!
Have a fun week end.
Hey everyone, a cookout at Susan's. I'm on my way. LOL
Good to see Susan Elaine and Azalea back up and running.
This message was edited Sep 1, 2007 2:46 PM
Gosh Jim - we'd better hurry!
LOL....wouldn't that be wonderful! Cookouts with our Garden buddies...everyone have a great holiday weekend!
ooppps.. Did yall come and I was at the lake after our Sat cookout?? :)!! It was just nice to be up there with decent temps and not 103 degrees of wind blowing in our faces in the shade.
Yes, I was just looking at some of the pictures I took earlier in the year of my garden, and I just haven't taken any for all the heat and such.. I'm sure I coudl get some good shots in some places, but it would be lots better had we have had a moderate year. Yes there are two tulip poplar trees in my yard, and they are turning fast. I thought they might have died till I hear on the radio that they are all dropping leaves now.
Susan
Susan, do you see many Tiger Swallowtails in your Tulip Poplar trees? I just planted one and I've got some seeds going. I want those trees in my yard so bad. They are goregous! I didn't know that they were the tallest tree east of the Miss. until I started researching host trees for TSTs.
Now,,, I need a Tulip Poplar.. can't believe I don't have one with all my other trees. My Tiger S.T. cats love my azaleas.. they "prune" them for me.
I do know that if you damage the tulip popular, like scrape the bark, bump into it with a vehicle, etc. it suffers more than most trees, and will always be weak in that area.That goes for improper pruning to tearing off a limb also, so be careful with them.Mike