Hey Tom: Thanks for posting the link to this thread. Very helpful indeed, and your garden is gorgeous, healthy and thriving. I must get some cattle panel--wonder how I'm going to fit it in my Mini Cooper! I've also had good luck making our Serious Tomato Cages using cow fencing. Finally, we have mater cages that are tall enough and strong enough to actually support the heirloom tomatoes that get over 8 feet tall. It's fun to think of and share creative ways to use products like cattle panel for the garden, isn't it? What else have folks used that works well? Carolyn Here is a link that might be useful: Cowlick Cottage Farm

Thanks deserthydro for the great pictures and explanations. It really looks nice also. I like how you have the misters inserted, that makes maintenance easy. We have both Home Depot, and Lowes here in town. I'll look for those misters, and probably do some testing with as many as I can find. I'm also thinking of using the misters used for cooling patios. They give a fine mist, but as you mentioned they do need a high pressure pump to work properly. I'm also thinking that they will clog much easier. But for now I need to start inexpensively, then hopfully work my way up from there. P.S. I have had an idea for a while to use a small 1500 psi pressure washer, and pressure regulator to step down and controle pressure to the system for an aeroponic system. The electric pressure washer (with submersible intake was $99, and the regulator was about $80 (I was told). But I have never tried it.

hey thanks guys! nullzero; no figs or pomegranates here.. i dont really enjoy figs all that much.. and pomegranates are good but to me after having a couple of them i get sick of all the work trying to peel the rest LOL yeah hausman! whole different world out here, I wish my yard were bigger.. mangodog, my mangos are protected by a PVC structure ive built to be easily broken down and put back together for the winter.. even doubles as a sunshade structure if need be: and yeah we gotta somehow figure out how to compare the mangos lol

Wow, good job. I thought I planted a lot on my first garden. I hope you have automatic watering.. if not, you'll want to set one up and it's very easy. I started out with a garden watering kit and that showed me what parts to buy for my real setup (the parts that usually come in the kits are very cheap and you'd be lucky to get them to last a year). A few notes about various plants: The guavas, dragonfruit, loquat, pineapple, and papayas will most likely need protection in the winter if it drops below 40 a lot in your area. You can just cover them with a blanket on the cold nights and I like to put a light under the blanket with them when it drops below 30 (or an iguana heater but be careful with those and point them in a safe direction so it doesn't fry the plant, I usually point it at a bare spot on the ground). Make sure the cloth drapes to the ground and not tied to the trunk or anything like that. If you want fruit from the bananas be ready to protect the flower if it starts in Oct or later. They also get some yellow leaves in our sun in the summer so if it's young with a few leaves, try to get it a little shade for its first year or two, otherwise when it gets big it's fine to burn a few leaves in the summer. My sherbet berry stays dormant until May and every year I think the winter finally got it, but it keeps coming back. The berries seem ill timed for my area (at least so far). Blueberries.. I've had my share of mistakes with these. If you are able to get them to grow in the ground for longer than a year, you're doing something right and you should let me know what variety it is! I grow all mine in containers for now until I find a variety that's okay with alkaline soil for long periods of time. (I may have found one and I'm cloning it this year to test). I put them into a spot that gets afternoon shade starting in May (although there's a few varieties that can handle the sun, none of them look as good as the ones in the shade after the summer is over). Try to never let the soil dry out around these plants, they use a lot of water and don't take dry soil well. This is one of the plants that drove me to automatic watering. I give mine ammonium sulfate for fertilizer and to help with the ph of the soil. Strawberries are another plant you don't want to let dry out, I water mine daily in the late spring/summer (even in the ground). Unlike blueberries, they are fine with all types of soil though. I had a Goji but I removed it. It kept getting attacked by bugs (weevils I believe) every year, and I kept having to treat it for mildew every year (and the plant didn't have a very nice look to it). The hulaberries go crazy with runners, watch out for it taking over your garden :) Good luck with everything, it sounds fun!