I drove through a small town last week where they had these really cool lamp posts down each side of their main street. They had hanging baskets of flowers on each side. The flowers sort of filled in and looked like a solid band of color around the post. So I want to make something similar. A post, painted, with baskets and maybe a solar light , (those tacky ones you see lining a drive way ). Small and round that would sit right in the top of the pipe. Does this sound do-able? How is the best way to anchor the post ? Concrete ? I ran this by my husband and got those rolling eyeballs we all love to see. But I really think I can do this by myself. Any suggestions or ideas would be appreciated.

Best way to post pictures and to have a place to just keep pictures, is at www.photobucket.com When you get there, you'll see that it's very easy to make albums and upload your pix. Once uploaded, you see 3 fields below each picture. You cut do a copy of the middle one ("Tag") and simply paste it here. That's it. For example, our greenhouse last winter's tag is: (note, I've just added spaces to that it won't actually display the pic) When the above, is pasted here (without the spaces of course) you get this: IMPORTANT TO NOTE: If you change anything about the photo's location, it will no longer display here.

lehua, Thanks for your reply - much appreciated. I suppose I should have checked more into the forum archives prior to posting - would have prompted me to first check into my hydraulic specs. Our water does come from a municipal source, which obtains it's supply from local fresh water natural lakes/ponds and reservoirs. It is treated with chlorine and fluoride (1.0 mg/l) and has a moderate hardness of 68 to 84 mg/l. I just did a test by filling a 5 gal bucket from the freeze-proof garden bibb, timed it with my phones' stopwatch - and it took exactly 60 seconds to fill to the brim, which equates to 300 gal/hr. The main vegetable planting area consists of (6) 36"+ wide x 18 ft long beds, each naturally bermed about 6" above the 18" wide pathways - which are freshly covered in straw mulch each season. Each row slopes along its length, approx 6" in 18 ft., or 2.8%. We also have a couple of 42" x 12 ft wood-plank raised beds for strawberries, herbs and smaller rotating crops. An 8' x 5' onion patch, 10' x 4' raspberry patch and a 40' x 3' mixed use bed along the east garden fence - all with about a 1.5% slope. The soil composition is 12" to 18" of very rich humus, with a mix of loam + grey clay in the subsoil layers. I have been layering at least 3" of my own organic compost over each bed twice/season, which I first break down with my shredder/chipper. Water plumes have always spread very well when hose/pail watering in the past. Organic additives, such as bone meal, wood ash, and dried blood are added regularly, with limestone tilled in the Fall, if soil ph tests require it. Concentrated fish emulsion is mixed with water and applied by hand to each plant during the growing season. Due to some early blight occurring on our tomatoe and pepper plants, which was spread I believe from water ground splash, I'm thinking drip irrigation may minimize this from happening. I have not yet purchased the inline filter, 3/4" mains and 1/2" laterals, but have received the 3/4" ball valves and electronic water timer/valve I had ordered. The author of a Utah Co-op Extension article on the prototype PVC system (see link), recommends drilling 1/16" holes, in 2-3 hole clusters, spaced to align with individual plants. My plan was to dedicate each lateral to plants with similar needs, with all lateral and major pipe joints being separable to accommodate seasonal rotation and off-season storage. Since I have no experience with this yet, I was waiting for the time when my indoor grown seedlings are about ready for transplanting, before determining hole spacing. Drilling should be easy enough to do when that time comes by setting up a jig. Sorry for being long-winded - many thanks for your encouragement, and system endorsement . . . I feel less like a pioneer now. Best, Steve Here is a link that might be useful: PDF - Designing a Baasic PVC Home Garden Drip Irrigation System

patsweetpat, I assume that you mean organic in a very loose manner, otherwise the irrigation issues are mild compared to the 'certified organic' issues. If you have to measure the water usage for payment or similar formal purpose then you will need a meter but this can be rented from the water authority in your area. If it is for record purposes only and does not have to be accurate, then if you measure the water flow (gallons per minute) and keep a record of the times when the water is used then you can calculate a close approximation to the actual use. PVC pipe irrigation is one of the very few things I learned quickly; and if I can, anyone can. Check out a Vocational Education school near you and pay for one of your group to attend a 'sprinkler basics' class. It will be well worth the time and cost. There are some hardware stores which will help you design and install your system but you will have to undertake to buy all the supplies from them. That is a useful alternative but make sure that the people with whom you are dealing are knowledgeable (great help is hard to find). I wish to stress that a great deal of sucess will depend upon a good design. The major manufacturers of sprinkler equipment provide worksheets for designing a system and listing the materials needed. I remember fondly my most satisfying sale. This customer wanted to install 6 automatic waterers for a dog run. She knew absolutely nothing about putting it together but she measured and I helped her with the list of materials. She put that project together and the only things that were 'left over' were PVC pipe, cement and cleaner and teflon tape - those items which were sold in fixed quantities. Your group appears to be motivated to do what it takes to bring home a worthwhile endeavour. I can only wish you good luck because you will need a little of that also.