Lots of work there, but I do not know if I would want that in my front lawn. If you enjoy gardening that much, you should get yourself a big yard and make yourself really happy!

Well, it is one of those things where we like where we live and are fairly close to work - a small 2 mile commute and that is all!

We've put a lot of work into the house as well - and just the thought of moving makes us cringe.

While it doesn't look pretty, the neighbors haven't complained yet - but we 'pay them off' with produce from the garden as well!

Last year I only had a 4 x 20 box up front - but we made another 4 x 20 box this year. Now we have more space and I'm not sure what to fill it all with! Well, I could plant more corn I suppose - since it takes up a large amount of space.

Hopefully if we have to move in the future, someone who appreciates gardening will see this as a perfect house for them. I'll most likely keep the rain barrels intact with the house and then everything has been already setup for the raised beds with 100% compost soil.

Here is a link that might be useful: BsnTech Gardening Blog

I love it..You have put a lot of effort into your garden and watering system. As long as you have plants growing in your beds, it will look nice. Congrats. I have a 1700 gallon system and it empties amazingly fast...so plan your watering carefully.

BsnTech,
I have visited your Blog site, very intresting to say the least. You are a very busy and industrial person. My question to you is how do your neighbors respond to all of your projects? I have limited space and would like to expand but am not sure what I can get away with. I would have never thought of corn in the front yard. I would be very intrested to here of what conflicts If any you have had to deal with. I know the front yard revolutione is coming but it hasnt reached my area yet and i would like to know what to expect.

keep up the good work
and Happy Gardening
Mark

In zone 5 your plants are already growing! Your strawberry pyramid looks great. If anything you have increased the value of the property greatly with that nice watering system and beds.

I wish I were so lucky to get a project like that finished looking so professional!

Hi Mark -

I actually haven't had any problem with the neighbors.

Well, one of the neighbors doesn't care what their yard looks like. They have a dog and seem to have green and yellow pieces of foam all over their back yard - big chunks of it. They just walk by it and never clean it up.

The other neighbor is a retired guy and he literally watches his grass grow. He is famed of having the best and most manicured lawn in the neighborhood and pays good money to have people spray it. When we first moved in, he was giving us brochures about spraying companies and told us we needed to keep after the weeds.

Now, he doesn't say anything about it. We talk on a weekly basis and he hasn't complained once about it honestly. Out of everyone, I expected him to be the one that would have a problem with it - but he has yet to complain.

Last year I did provide him with a lot of produce - a bag of lettuce, some corn, about 10 pounds of peppers - so he's being paid off!

Here is a link that might be useful: BsnTech Gardening Blog

Brian,
Thanks for the info. I think i'll wait til I fence in my front yard before planting anything in it.

Mark

bsntech, Where do you live? I thought I heard Indiana and if so what part.

Cant look any worse than Ms. Clampett who lives across the street from me. Guttering hanging down, trees growing in the landscape bed, mow their lawn only monthly, breaking mower belts tring to cut excessive grass. It seriously looks like a repo bank owned property. Im not real tidy, but some people just need to take pride in what they have!

Obrion -

While that is one bad neighbor, one of mine is about like that - with the foam and junk in the back yard. They do the same thing - mow about once a month and it looks like a prairie in their back yard.

In regards to where I'm at - I'm in Central Illinois (Decatur).

Here is a link that might be useful: BsnTech Gardening Blog

BsnTech,
Is it really hard to set up a blog site? I would like to start a web juornal like you did but not sure how to go about setting one up. Any info (software etc would be helpful).

Thanks
Mark

Hi Mark -

The best place for those that just want to have a blog would probably be Blogspot.

The blog I have is setup on my own servers (since I do web and e-mail hosting plus web design).

You'll notice many folks here have a site that is something like .blogspot.com

Here is a link that might be useful: BsnTech Gardening Blog

Brian,
Thanks for the info. I will visit blogspot.com and check them out. Thanks again and good luck with all your projects. Keep the pictures coming.

Happy Gardening
Mark

Very good project. I watched your video the other day.

My question is : is that wooden structure sturdy enough for 355 gallons, weighting close to 3000 lbs, when full ?

Well, the structure holds 330 gallons total (six 55 gallon containers).

The barrels have been at 100% capacity for the past week when we had quite a bit of rain on Sunday. Everything is holding up quite well.

I really did quite a bit of research on it. This is why I placed 4x4 treated posts every four feet (total of eight posts for six barrels). The horizontal lumber is a 2 x 6 treated board on either side.

Originally when I built it, I had 2 x 8 lumber when I had four barrels. When I updated to add two more, I didn't want to pay the extra cost for the 2 x 8 lumber that was 12 feet long. The 2 x 6 lumber is sufficient for holding that much weight.

330 gallons of water weighs roughly 3,300 pounds (10 pounds per gallon). Then the barrels all weigh around another 20 pounds each, so the structure is holding up 3,420 pounds of weight - quite a lot!

Here is a link that might be useful: BsnTech Gardening Blog

Brian
You go guy. Love your blog and esp pics. I did not see a video.
I would love to see a pic of your house front view. Im gardening too in front yard.
I live in the suburbs kind of city like too.. Smaller lot. Back yard is the smallest. So Ive expanded to front yard last year. Front yard is deeper
I posted some pics last here on gardenweb forum.
Ive got barrels too. Mine are not as neat except for my giant ones. Mine are up on concrete blocks.
I wanna have rain barrels at all my downspouts.
Would love to have several bigger ones buried under my deck But deck is lessa than 3 feet off ground
I saw a similar setup on master gardening another site. I save the images I believed.Hubby helped me some. But he tells me I can go buy produce. Duh....
If I could buy locally cheaper I would buy more bigger rain barrels.
We go lots of rain, finally in the last few days. Mine are all full.

Why do any of you all object to what a person does in their own yard???? As long as its decent looking.
NOT everyone has big property. And I dont want to live in the boondocks.
Like I tell everyone you cant eat grass. Or can we???? I know about dandelions
Like Gerald Celanos says "where are the "victory garden?"
We are supposedly always at war.
So to run on my just my humble opinions
Oh Brian love you netting tulle set up. Im trying to do similar. Bought green tulle last year. Bought more pvc and fittings other day. Had some earlier from previous projects and junk pickup finds
Oh anyone see the Suncast rain barrels at Lowes???
Thanks
Jean

so my question is on you watering system. Is there enough water pressure from the barrels drive sprinklers or are you using drip irrigation or soaker hoses?

Hi Jean -

The biggest issue with people and putting stuff in their front yards comes down to something being an eyesore and decreasing property values - that is the only thing I can think of. It would be the same thing as someone not mowing their grass in weeks and it being a foot tall in their front yard in a neighborhood - or crap just thrown around the front yard with no respect to what it makes the neighborhood look like.

Right now in the front yard I do not have the PVC "fencing" up that will hold the deer net around the gardening area. I will be putting that up soon when I plant the corn in the front yard. I'm actually surprised they have not got into the garden with the broccoli, peppers, and celery growing. I do have about 60 onions in the front - and deer do not like onions. Maybe this is keeping them away from the front where I have all of these items planted. The PVC fencing is what will make it look more like an eye sore than what it already is. But, my neighbors haven't said anything to me about it.

In regards to videos, here is my YouTube Channel so you can see all of my videos that I've taken - wine making and information about the barrels.

---

Organicislandfarmer - the water pressure works very well. I have not tried soaker hoses, but the irrigation works very well with the PVC pipe that I use. It does have its limits though - and it seems that I can get by with up to about 150 holes from one feed off the the 3/4-inch main pipe from the barrels. So in the front garden, I have about 120 holes total. Been working no problem with one feed from the line.

I then have two other gardens - one behind the garage and the other next to the house. Originally I had all of these hooked to one feed amongst almost 300 holes. The pressure wasn't enough to do this. So I split it in half - about 150 holes each - and it is working well in this fashion.

In regards to sprinklers - I highly doubt there would be enough pressure for what you would use it for. It will work, but you won't have near the range like you would if using tap. The other idea would be to get an in-line pump that could take the water from the barrels and pressurize it.

Here is a link that might be useful: BsnTech Gardening Blog

well, I actually was thinking micro sprinklers for some reason but I can see where drip irrigation would make sense. I am definately going to rig a raincatcher under my down spouts. I think a couple 35 gal trash cans withlids would work for me.

Hi Organic,

If you have limited water resources then drip irrigation is the way to go. In particular if you are targeting very specific areas. You can also use mulching to retain the moisture under surrounding areas.

Here is a link that might be useful: Irrigation Global

no no I was curious about his set up, I water by hand. This fall I will do drip irrigation for my larger earthtainers I will construct this summer for the back yard! His set up is really cool but he has wayyyyy more land than I. My water is artesian well fed anyway so I have plenty, but rain collection is part of being green so I am into it! I just worry bout the pollution in the rain, will have it tested to see.

Wow - surely I don't have more land than you.. I don't have much of any land so I'm raised beds sitting on my driveway, in the front yard, and behind the garage/house.

The rain barrel stuff takes up very little space - and then you have the added benefit of being able to store stuff under the barrels. The whole system I have really takes up 24 feet by 2 feet wide - the entire length of the garage.

I also have a ball valve that just allows me to hook a hose or fill a watering can up - that way I don't solely rely on the PVC irrigation stuff. There isn't enough pressure to wash a car - thats for sure - but I can water the beds sitting on the driveway in this manner.

Here is a link that might be useful: BsnTech Gardening Blog

I love it!! my dude and i were totally captivated watching the blog video and it got us thinking about what I can do for my school garden. How long did it take you to set it up? Also: aside from the onions in the cinder blocks, what are you doing to keep out the deer?
Keep up the awesome work~ we're jealous!

Hi Rexa -

For the setup:

It took a good eight hours of time to put up the platform. The platform is the 4x4 posts in the ground and the 2x6 boards that are under the barrels. The posts need to be dug to at least two feet down into the ground. I placed a post on either end of the structure and then every four feet. So for a 12-foot area that holds six rain barrels, you need eight 4x4 posts.

The rain barrels themselves then take about another 30 minutes each. You need to make the PVC fittings (all of that discussed on my YouTube videos as well). Then make the air hole in the top and cover with a mesh to keep the mosquitoes and such out.

Looking back - I would HIGHLY recommend painting the barrels. The blue barrels are not opaque and allow light in - so algae is a problem for me. The algae has clogged up the 1/16-inch holes in the irrigation pipe once so far - and I just had to hook it up to the house hose and blast all the stuff through (since water pressure from the city is more than the barrels). By painting all of your barrels (may need two coats of Krylon Fusion), this will keep algae from growing. When I take my system apart in the fall, I'll be doing this with all of them (another big expense at $6 a can of spray paint!).

About the cinder blocks - in the video you may have saw some rebar sticking out of the blocks. These allow me to attach fencing by using the rebar as fence posts (hey, cheap as I can!). I then got some 3-foot high mesh netting and this is working well to keep all the critters out. You can see the screening here:

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Here is a link that might be useful: BsnTech Gardening Blog

What a setup you have! Nice work!
I think you can make a profession in an irrigation business. I admire your dedication and creation.

ksgrower