August 2008: An update on various receptacles

So we had to figure out a way to raise the rain barrels so that gravity would work with us to get the water from the rain barrels to the garden beds. Luckily, Jenny found some cinderblocks on Craigslist. Ahh, cinderblocks -- the architectural element preferred worldwide by millions of people in abject poverty.

Here are 3 out of 4 of our barrels (and you can see the gutters we had installed in order to make it all work) . . .

At some point last summer, I found that my favorite nursery in town (which is unfortunately about 20 miles away) has a whole yard of compost piles that you can shovel yourself into these reusable plastic bags they provide. (You can buy the bags pre-filled, but if you shovel them yourself it's about half-price.) They have 5-10 different types of compost to choose from (all from materials harvested locally), and I can fit 10 of these bags into the trunk of our Honda Civic. The only problem is that one time I forgot to empty them before Jenny and I had gotten all dressed up to have a nice dinner out one Friday night. Heat + compost + tight spaces isn't exactly That New Car Smell.

It's late August. It's Texas. Most of the plants I wanted to grow in the fall could not stand up to the heat, so I got them started in a cooler setting (in the morning I'd set them outside for the direct sun, the rest of the time they'd be in the shade -- either here in the picture or inside the house). Among the plants pictured below are zucchini, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, kale, tomatoes, tomatilloes, etc.