We have had a mild winter.  It has been nice not having to wear a coat that often, but we also have not had much snowfall.  I live in a desert, so a winter without snow is a huge concern.  

I recently attended a class taught by Caleb Warnock from Renaissance Seeds. He made me think differently about what I had been doing. So, I made some changes.  Because I have very limited time, I had developed some of my own little methods for gardening.  For the past few years, I had put sheets of weedblock on top of the garden and cut holes for the plants.  This ensured that I did not have weeding to do.  However, the water would bead up and run across the tops of the weedblock and not always to the plants.

I am now going to face a harsh reality this summer along with many other people.  We may have water supply issues.  Mr. Warnock suggested putting a barrier at the bottom of my growboxes and not on top.  As he explained why, it was an 'ah-hah' moment....so that weeds cannot come up from the bottom.  

I hired some young teenagers in my neighborhood and they helped me make the change.  This only took about an hour.

I have a watering system for my garden. It is tied to my lawn sprinklers.  I can turn it on and off.  The water runs through these PVC pipes and waters the garden.  Every year, I get a skinny nail and press it into the holes in the pipes to clear any debris that may be present.  Normally the holes are facing down.  I turned them upright to clear the holes.

I then tested the pipes by turning on the water....everything looks good!  

Now, I am going to garden a bit differently this summer, so I am going to leave the holes at the top instead of the bottom.  

Yes, that those really are grass clippings around my pepper plants.  I put this mulch around all of my plants and as I get more I will cover the entire box.  This helps hold moisture and keeps the plant from drying out as quickly.

This is the first step in my Garden this year.  I look forward to see how this new method works and to see how my harvest looks.