Have you seen any of the watering tricks using plastic bottles. My wife is trying a few in some of her potted plants. There are quite a few utube vid's on the subject. What the wife is doing is taking plastic soda bottles and poking a small hole in the bottom. She then fills with water and screws the cap back on the bottle and then sits the bottle in the pot. The water leaks slowy out of the bottle and keeps the plant watered. Sort of a poormans drip irrigation. I think this will work alright for a potted plant, Jury is still out on this one. I think something similar could be done with a 5gal bucket. Fill bucket with water and poke a small hole in the bottom. Take a lot of buckets to cover a whole garden, but might work ok on a raised bed.
My garden is made on about 60ft of fill dirt. Mostly rocks. For the last few years, I have been mulching between the rows with wood chips. and horse manure I get from my brothers barns. Using fresh manure creates problems. I usually let it compost for a year before using. The power company provides all the wood chips I can use. I'll let them dump large amounts and then turn the pile with the tractor. Once it breaks down to something less than chips, I spread it in the garden as mulch and then till in the fall. By next planting season, its dirt. The chips from clearing right of ways are a good source of ramial wood chips. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramial_chipped_wood. It adds a lot of carbon and other nutrients to the soil. I dont like using green chips as it robs nitrogen from the soil, and your plants, as it breaks down. I dont know if you can tell in my pics of the tater patch, but After I hilled the taters twice, and side dressed with fertilizer, I hauled a bunch of of the ramial chips between the rows as a mulch. Chips are almost to the top of the tater hills. I have done this in the past and the taters will grow out of the hills and into the chips. The spot my taters are in now was once 10ft deep in ramial chips and over the years, I have used them all in my garden. I have another big pile of chips I am adding to the tater patch.
This is my first year planting in this spot. Its full of rocks. I have hualed out several tons of rocks, some pretty big ones, after plowing. I'll probably be hauling rocks for a few more years until I have soil instead of rocks. I made my rows 6ft apart so I can get between the rows with my Ventrac tractor and scoop. Its the easiest way to get in and pick up rocks and also dump the mulch. Once the soil is built up, I'll double the number of rows.
My garden is made on about 60ft of fill dirt. Mostly rocks. For the last few years, I have been mulching between the rows with wood chips. and horse manure I get from my brothers barns. Using fresh manure creates problems. I usually let it compost for a year before using. The power company provides all the wood chips I can use. I'll let them dump large amounts and then turn the pile with the tractor. Once it breaks down to something less than chips, I spread it in the garden as mulch and then till in the fall. By next planting season, its dirt. The chips from clearing right of ways are a good source of ramial wood chips. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramial_chipped_wood. It adds a lot of carbon and other nutrients to the soil. I dont like using green chips as it robs nitrogen from the soil, and your plants, as it breaks down. I dont know if you can tell in my pics of the tater patch, but After I hilled the taters twice, and side dressed with fertilizer, I hauled a bunch of of the ramial chips between the rows as a mulch. Chips are almost to the top of the tater hills. I have done this in the past and the taters will grow out of the hills and into the chips. The spot my taters are in now was once 10ft deep in ramial chips and over the years, I have used them all in my garden. I have another big pile of chips I am adding to the tater patch.
This is my first year planting in this spot. Its full of rocks. I have hualed out several tons of rocks, some pretty big ones, after plowing. I'll probably be hauling rocks for a few more years until I have soil instead of rocks. I made my rows 6ft apart so I can get between the rows with my Ventrac tractor and scoop. Its the easiest way to get in and pick up rocks and also dump the mulch. Once the soil is built up, I'll double the number of rows.