Love the cucumber trellis! But I love it for my melons, not my cucumbers. My cucumbers grow fine up a vertical trellis, but the melons sprawl on the ground. I frequently have problems with voles chewing into the just-ripe melons. I read that voles are not good climbers, so I tried training the melons up a trellis and they did poorly that year. Apparantly they prefer to grow more horizontally. So your trellis for my melons looks like the perfect solution to get them up off the ground while still sprawling horizontally. Thanks!

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.

Here is a link to the FAQ here on watering and also to several previous discussions about using drip irrigation. Hope they help. Here is a link that might be useful: Watering SFG

Thanks for the feedback, lazy_gardens! Don't worry I won't strip the forests down if I do gather some from there. I've got an old cabin that I've been working on for *years* and the grounds around it really need clearing. Also, a clear-cut down the road has a lot of waste (don't they always!) that I could gather some from and wouldn't make a dent in it. We'll see... :) I was thinking that cutting the 50' rows in half with a path *was* creating a shortcut to the other side of the rows. ;) The idea of a stepping stone mid-25' row might work, though. Thanks for the idea! As for the irrigation line... I'm figuring on having two lines going down each bed hoping that will be enough. If that's not enough I can add another line. What I'm torn between is whether to go with poly-tubing drip-line or to go with drip-tape. They both have their pros and cons. The tape would need to be replaced more often but it is much less expensive and replacing it would put all new emitters into play. But, the durability of the tubing is attractive, too. It appears that the 1/2" tubing has a much longer run/flow to it than the 1/4" tubing does. It seems the 1/2" would be stiffer and a bit more trouble to position but probably(?) more durable and is capable of longer runs. Looking at the quantity of tape/tubing I figure I need 400' to run two lines per bed. The package that I linked to at Berry Hill has 1000' of tape which would give me a "spare" application of lines plus a couple of hundred feet for repairs/additions. But, I certainly don't need a SFG size kit...it will have to be a sizable one. Paths...I've thought of the cardboard and pinestraw....seems until the cardboard gets good and wet that might be a slippery surface. :) But, I may end up going that route. I'm also thinking of trying some Dutch clover between a few rows and see if that works out...our heat might do it in, though, during the middle of summer. Deer... Well, I tilled an "apron" around the garden proper yesterday...a DMZ to combat the bahia that will inevitably attempt invasions. Overnight the deer had to check that fresh ground out. I'm afraid that the row covers would simply be an amusement for the deer...something to scratch their ears while they dine on fresh veggies. I think I'm going to need a physical barrier for them...8' fence. Or, maybe a shorter double electric fence. On a bright note...I started pressure canning meat last year...I've done beef, chicken, and pork. It might be getting time to try deer. ;) Ed