Pine Cove Water District: cottage gardens

Showing posts with label cottage gardens. Show all posts

Monday, October 17, 2011

Garden Club Speakers

On Saturday, Oct. 22, 2011, Pine Cove Water District partners with the Idyllwild Garden Club to host two special guest speakers. Dr. James Nieh from UCSD will be speaking about The Dangers of Being a Honey Bee. Then Joe Walker of Obra Verde Growers in Valley Center will present Australian Perennials: Water-Wise Beauties For Your Landscape and also touch a little bit on fire resistant plants. They will also be having their annual bulb sale which will feature mountain tested Native and non-native bulbs. They will be packaged with photos and instructions for your convenience. They will be for sale outside on the deck of the Caine Center.

The fun starts at 8:30 a.m. and goes until 1 p.m. We hope to see many of our Pine Cove residents there.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Space Saving Garden Ideas

The ingenuity of some people never fails to amaze me. At my home, I only have 1/5th of an acre of property. While I long for 4 or 5 acres, that probably will never happen, so I have to do the best I can with what I have. Gardening on a space that small sure is challenging. So while searching for some interesting material for the blog, I went to a favorite blog of mine call gardenrant.com to see what was going on over there. There is always a lot of info on that blog, but it was a picture that caught my eye. It was a picture of the garden of someone named Emily Goodman. She lived in an apartment with a paved over courtyard, but she still managed to grow an edible garden. They found pictures of her garden on Flickr, which is somewhere I never thought to look for gardening inspiration.

She did all of the usual things you do in a small garden like using pots and containers for edibles and she even re-purposed some items for use in her garden. She was growing tomatoes upside down, hanging pots on her fence and using and file cabinet drawers to grow herbs in. But what caught my eye was her strawberry towers.

That's right. Strawberry towers. PVC pipes with strawberries in them. Two large pieces of it with holes drilled up and down the length of it and were filled with dirt and planted with strawberries. Kind of a new take on the old strawberry pots. These strawberry towers were as tall as her fence and looked like they held several dozen strawberry plants in each tower. Now that is really clever because as we all know, strawberries take up a fair about of space in a garden. I just might have to give this a try in my own garden. It is like the old saying, "If you can't go out, go up." As I looked around Flickr more, I came across several other variations of this and it seems to be to be a quite logical way to grow strawberries in a small space.

As someone who would love to grow enough strawberries to not only make jam with, but to freeze for year round use, this is an enticing idea because I just don't have the space to grow that many strawberries in traditional beds. I think this fall as I get the garden ready for winter, I will have to give this a try and do some strawberry transplanting! So if you are going past my house one day and see PVC pipes springing up out of the garden, don't be surprised!

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FREE STUFF!

We have lots of things available for our customers, all free of charge. Stop by the district office to pick up yours today.

Saving Water Kit. These kits include a low flow shower head, a kitchen swivel aerator, 2 bathroom faucet aerators, toilet water saver, toilet leak detection tablets, flow meter bag and a water conservation wheel.

Blue bird houses made from recycled wood.

Wood chips to help retain moisture in your garden.

Here at the PCWD, we care about the environment and want to help our customers save water.

CURRENT REBATES

Effective 7/1/10, the District is offering a rebate program for the following items:

One half of the purchase price to a maximum on $100.00 per toilet, max of two toilets per household, for the purchase and installation of a 1.6 GPM or less, Low Flow Toilet.

$50.00 rebate for the purchase and installation of a High Efficiency/Front Loading washing machine.

$100.00 Rebate for the purchase and installation of an approved Hot Wter Recycling System, limit of 1 per household.

Smart Water Systems on outside watering an drip stystems, maximum of $150.00, decided on a case by case basis.

Rain Water Collection Systems, maximum of $150.00 decided on a case by case basis.

All rebates must be approved by the General manager and must include proof of purchase and installation and there will be no repeat rebates allowed for a minimum of 5 years. Within any fiscal year, the maximum total rebates is $250.00 per property.

Rebates for any commercial or multi-family units will be decided on a case by case basis and must be approved by the Board of Directors.

Please stop in the office to fill out the necessary paper work to receive your rebate.

Winterizing Tips

Every winter season, homeowners in mountain communities are at risk of the damage and expense caused by frozen pipes. However, just a few precatuions can greatly reduce your risk and may even help with your winter heating efficiency.

Disconnect and Drain-detaching hoses from outdoor faucets allows water to drain from the pipe.

Insulate-if you have pipelines in an unheated garage or cold crawl spaced under the house, wrap the water pipes before temperatures plummet. You can also puchase insulated covers for your outdoor faucets as well.

Turn off Water-turning your water off when you leave you mountain home is the most important thing you can do to prevent a leak or break.

Seal Off Vents, Cracks and Doors-winter winds whistling through overlooked openings can quickly freeze exposed water pipes.

By following these simple steps, you will be protecting yourself from a possible leak or broken pipe due to freezing.

Remember, all water that passes through the meter is the homeowner's responsibility, even if it is due to frozen or broken pipes.

Riverside County Local Hazard Mitigation Plan

The Pine Cove Water District is participating in Riverside County's Local Hazard Mitigation Plan. They are currently in the process of updating it and we have been trying to do our part. We have been nominated as a possible site for an Emergency Operations Center should a diaster befall us. We will be making updates here on the blog and our website so that we can keep the public informed as to our progress and plans. It is our hope that our preparations are never put to the test, but we want to be prepared, just in case.

Pine Cove Water District Welcomes You!

It is our mission to provide ample amounts of potable water at a reasonable price to all constituents within the Pine Cove area.

As a water district in a small community, we here at the Pine Cove Water District feel a special connection with our customers. We want our customers to be informed and in addition to our website and our semi annual newsletters, we have created this blog to keep everyone up to date on the latest happenings here at the Pine Cove Water District.

We hope you will check in often and feel free to leave your comments and suggestions.

Rules for Watering your Landscape

1. Get to know your plants signal for water: All plants and trees have different water requirements. The time to water is when the plants need it. Adjust your watering schedule and automatic timers for cooler, wetter or windy weather.

2. Split your watering time and prevent runoff: If water runs off instead of soaking in, split the water time into two sessions to allow the soil to absorb the water. Amend your soil to improve the water holding capacity of your soil.Watering half the time, twice as often will help water stay in the root zone.

3. Train your plants to develop deep roots: Water thoroughly, but infrequently. Make sure that plants are deep watered in the spring so they will develop deep roots and need less water in the summer. Deeper roots allow plants to use moisture deep in the ground. Plants will be healthier and stronger.

4. Avoid watering on windy days: When you water on windy days (a breeze stronger than 5 to 7 miles per hour), much of the water evaporates or blows away.

5. Avoid watering in the middle of the day: Morning is the best time to water because it helps prevent the growth of fungus. Also by watering in the cool part of the day, more water soaks in instead of evaporating.

6. Turn off your irrigation system when it rains: Don't waste water by watering plants in the rain. Rain sensors are available if you aren't home to to turn them off.

7. Mulch around trees and shrubs: Mulching discourages weeds and slows evaporation when you water your plants.

8. Keep your soil in shape: Soil amendments such as compost can benefit your plants both by providing nutrients and by changing the composition of the soil so it holds water better. Improving your soil needs to be done regularly, including the areas around existing plants and shrubs.

9. Maintain your watering system: Broken sprinkler heads spew water that doesn't benefit your plants. Replace old or worn irrigation fixtures. Hoses, couplings, valves and fauceets that leak not only create large puddles, but waste water and your money.

10. Choose the right plants: Take a plants water and sun needs into consideration before adding it to you landscape. Look for drought tolerant plants with low water needs.