josh, I water the old fashioned way -- by hand using a watering wand. It's not so bad in the Spring after everything is planted but by late June when the plants get big it becomes a huge PITA. My sister watered the three weeks when I was gone and she wasn't a happy camper and was glad to rid herself of that task. By the end of August it took me an average of 90 minutes to completely water the garden each day and I estimated that on average I used 150 gallons per day. On heavy watering days I used 200 gallons and on light watering days I'd use 100 gallons. By late August I'd spend a minimum of one hour and a max of two hours with most days in between that. Now that we're in late September we're getting more rain and it has cooled so I'm not watering that much any more. This year was a lot worse for water because I'm using that pine bark mix in most of the containers and they drain very quickly requiring more water. The upside is that the plants did well and I had for the first time a tomato crop with decent yields and nice looking tomatoes. I still made mistakes via not fertilizing right and hope to do even better next year. I don't know why it took me so long to realize this but next year I'm installing a drip irrigation system. I've been doing google and found a couple of sites that seem to be decent. It does seem kind of complicated but there's all winter to figure this out. :-) heebiejeebie, the honeydew melons are in a tall wastepaper basket that I gleaned from the alley and made into a container. I estimate it's more like 10 to 15 gallons of container space but its narrow and tall. The honeydew melons were an experiment for me. I wanted to see how they would grow in a container that was narrow but deep. I put two plants in there and so far they've yielded 8 melons and the plants had tons of flowers and looked really healthy. I wasn't expecting much out of this but I think that having deep containers for the roots to grow down might have been better than a wider, shallower, larger volume container. It might have something to do with the Perched Water Table (or something like that) per Al's dissertation in that other thread. I like these deep narrow containers since they take up less space and allow the vines to cascade down the sides. I won't know until I dig them out if they became root bound but I suspect they did. The plants still look healthy and there are two honeydews still growing late September here in Chicago. People around here are always throwing out those tall plastic wastebaskets and I already have two more stored for next year. I'm thinking of trying cucumbers or cantelopes in those containers next year and see how those do.

Jose thanks for the tip. Looked up the place's web site and it's located close to a friend of mine that I visit once in awhile. I called him and told him about the place and to check it out. Will visit and have a meal there. My friend told me that that name is very common in Staten Island. Lou

Beginners should definitely investigate growing their own herbs. They are easy in containers and even if you buy the plants ($2-$3 for smaller sized plants) are a wise investment considering how much herbs cost at the grocery store and how hard it is not to waste them. You usually only need a plant of each type (more of basil!) to get fresh herbs from May/June to frost. I've grown the following herbs in pots with success: mint, rosemary (take inside in fall), many type of basils, dill (one of the few that is best started by seed in a deep container versus buying plants), lemongrass, chives, sage, Greek oregano, French tarragon, parsley,... Plus some of the herbs overwinter behind my shed with little effort (mint, sage, Greek Oregano, chives are ones that are reliable overwinterers).

SCHOOLS OUT FOR SUMMER!!!Then why am I awake before 10:00??Cause my dang dog had a racoon treed,& wouldn't quit barking!I'm one of those people who, once awakened,CAN'T go back to sleep!!grrrrr... ~Ribbon Count~ Taylor~ 2 blue ribbons on field day,ALL A's this last nine weeks,and drumroll please.....300.1 AR points!! She got the silver medal!!(to the non school age kid members AR stands for Accelerated Reader) Brett~ 3 blue ribbons on field day, ALL A's the WHOLE school year, and a Presidential Physical Fittness award (plus T-shirt) Hubby told them that if Taylor gets 450 AR points & Brett gets 150 during the next school year, he would buy them a go-cart next summer. Guess who wants to go to the library right now?? LOL!! ~Basket Status~ Linda~ sent/received Vina~ sent/received Chellflower~sent/received Dan~sent/received April~sent/received ****YAY!!!**** All baskets have reached their destinations!Thanks to everyone who joined this month.See ya over in the June Swap!! later....April