gutter garden

[nancyruhl]

I put together these slides to demontrate how we built the roof gutter garden in the article by paulgrow
http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=29953 I hope this will be at least somewhat helpful and explanatory.

[RobinB]

Wow, this is great! Thanks for laying it out so clearly for us.

It is much appreciated!

Robin

[JamesL]

Nancy,
Well done!

[nancyruhl]

The roof top gutter garden at church is doing very well so far this year. Probably because of the abundant sun, heat, and lack of rain, there is little in the way of foliage disease and the plants are growing happily. Last year, we daisy chained in another set of gutters, doubling the size of the garden. This year, we added gutters around the front of trellises for planters with flowers to make the area more attractive for everyone using the roof space.

I now have 32 5 gallon buckets for tomatoes, 1 dozen 3 gallon pails for peppers. there are 5 large trays for, 1 each for herbs, lettuce, onions, kale, and celery. I have added 12 wider pails which are probably about 2.5 gallon capacity and I am trialing sweet potatoes in them. Almost all of the tomatoes are from the dwarf project, but I have a couple of determinates growing. I think there are a little too large and sprawly for this garden, and they will probably be replaced with dwarfs next season. Hoping for a bountiful harvest for the church's homeless ministries.

[luigiwu]

So fantastic Nancy! Its a great system, right?
What are those shallow-ish white tubs you're using for lettuce?
Nancy, do you ever find you actually do need those manifolds that shuts off the water for each gutter? All the pvc pipings are cemented togethor, right?
I also use the Kerick floats but what is the Tractor Supply Float for?

[ricman]

Awesome job!!! I love the RGGS.....everything looks super healthy.

Rick

[Gerardo]

Outstanding. I dig the individual valves, and the fabric too! Fingers crossed for a bountiful harvest.

[nancyruhl]

Originally Posted by luigiwu

So fantastic Nancy! Its a great system, right?
What are those shallow-ish white tubs you're using for lettuce?
Nancy, do you ever find you actually do need those manifolds that shuts off the water for each gutter? All the pvc pipings are cemented togethor, right?
I also use the Kerick floats but what is the Tractor Supply Float for?

The shut off valves have not proved useful but were put there if I wasn't using the whole system. I had wanted quick connects, too, which I still wish I had.

The extra valve was is for shutting off the rain barrel from overflowing the lower reservoir. It is like the ones used to fill animal troughs and shut off when full.

The white trays are recycled from supplies used at work. The gutters for them are closer so the trays span 2 gutters. The have worked well.

[PhilaGardener]

Great set-up and ideas! Thanks for sharing!

[luigiwu]

Do you have links to the "quick connects?" I assume its for pvc piping?
I need to tinker withe my plumbing a bit ...

[nancyruhl]

No I do not and I think that is why they got left out. You would have to use threaded pipe and then you have the issue of pipe thread vs hose thread which the quick connects are. I am sure it is a solvable problem and maybe someone will weigh in on that.

[Cole_Robbie]

PVC "union" is the quick-connect that is familiar to me. They look like this:


The pipe glues into each end, and the thick part in the middle can be unscrewed.

[nancyruhl]

Thanks, Cole. I will look for those.