Under-Plastic, Drip-System, Melon Garden
Channel: NewJerusalemTimes
Date: 2019-08-16

Christian Livingstone shares how he found the space to have a 700 square foot melon garden that also conserves on water, since having moved from a larger property where there was well water to use at almost no cost at his previous, much larger, melon garden that was about 3000 square feet. So, instead of watering over the melon plants, he employed a drip system under the 6 mil black plastic sheeting at the new place that has only metered water. The system was a Rain Bird kit, but  about 100 extra feet of tubing added. This particular tubing has engineered membrane emitters at each 18”, which gave an even pressure and watering throughout the whole system, which fanned out, daisy chained back to itself, or came to a bitter end. A rate of 2.1 gallon per minute was measured under the 700 square feet of plastic sheeting. Of course, the plastic sheeting is great for killing any existing grass, controlling any future weeds, promoting better melon root development, holding moisture extra well, allowing for seed germination at an earlier time due to increasing soil temperatures, and even sterilizing the soil from certain harmful spores. Christian also show how to quickly develop a 48” cantaloupe picker out of a typical reacher/grabber arm mechanism, using some light welding and fabrication techniques. And there’s some included bartering/trading with neighbors for materials, like some cattle guard panel to make a melon canopy, and for some limestone rock, to border and edge the melon garden and elsewhere, giving a nice landscaping effect, in exchange for a couple mowers and a tiller being repaired.