So I started this gardening thing a few years ago (Well like 10). I have been enjoying the addition I mean hobby so much I decided to finally build a proper pot ranch. I used to just lay them on my back porch haphazardly. There they sat until I found the perfect spot for them in the ground. They would multiply and the porch would get smaller and smaller over time as the pots multiplied. We this year was the end of it and I built the Pot Ranch:



Got my seeds planted - Liatris, Yellow Butterflyweed, Zinna, etc



What does your pot ranch look like?

Mine looks like a weed patch right now. Too soon to put much out here in the frozen northland, and I don't have a lot of perennials. But you can see how it looked last year and the year before here: http://garden.org/ideas/view/S...
Lots of other garden tours available, too, and it seems like nearly everyone has containers!

I have a large tent canopy thing in my backyard for shade and have a mix of greenhouse type tables and pallets on concrete blocks. Most of my potted plants are on there but I have a number of them in my front yard around a planting bed.

Woofie I enjoyed seeing the garden, thanks for sharing.
Chavez I share you addiction, mine are scattered around the back yard. Bet the ranch makes it much easier to water too

Thanks, Susan! Wish it looked that good this year, but with all this rain, I'm afraid my seedlings are going to drown before I can get them planted out!

Everything is automated! Will take pictures of the drip system that takes care of everything.

I'd love to see that! Been trying to figure out a way to do that myself.

If I tried to do a drip system I'd have hoses going everywhere. LOL. I have a bunch of equipment for drip irrigation but never tried to install it.

If it is not a swamp in my backyard today I will try and snap some pictures of the entire set-up.

Finally a break in a weather around here. Now that I spoke-up I have had to shut down the drip system. We are having way too much rain to run the system that last couple of weeks.

Now for the tour of the system:

Overview of the 'Pot Ranch'. My gardening used to consist of a mish mash of areas that I used for potting, cuttings, and growing. I combined all of these areas into one this year. The work of watering got to be quite a chore as the pots multiplied. So began the automation of the entire system



I dug up the yard to find a place to tee into the irrigation system. We are lucky as we have reclaimed water for irrigation. There are four zone to the system (From Left to Right):

ZONE 1 - Spigot for hand watering some pots that still remain on the back and front porch. This will later have a battery timer and be used to irrigate some larger potted fruit trees in the future.

ZONE 2 - Battery timer for veggie garden. Attached is a fertigator system with a 1 1/3 gallon capacity. It usually last about 1 month before I have to remember to refill with liquid fertilizer. My choice is Dyna-gro in the system. It is a complete liquid fert with minors and majors.

ZONE 3 - Battery Timer for 3 gallon potted plants.

ZONE 4 - Battery Timer with Filter and 25 psi regulator. Runs the lines for the smaller pots for seed starting and cuttings

ZONE 4:

I tried lots of things to get this right. The first try was using micro-sprinklers to water all the pots. It just sprayed water everywhere, even on the house. This was not going to work. Then I thought a single 1 gph dripper for each pot. Hum that is way too much work. Also, you can not modify the system very well using drippers. So I finally settled on 1/4" soaker hose. This choice has worked very well. I can move pots in and out. There are four separate soaker lines so they can be turned on and off. Also the lines can be shortened or elongated at will.



Supply lines are Schedule 40 pvc, transitioned to 1/2 drip line along the length of the potting bench. This way soaker lines can be punched in anywhere along the length of the bench.

For the other zones I use 'Shrubblers'. They can be dialed to give 0-10 gpm per head. On these zones using the shrubblers you should not use a pressure regulator. I measured about 60 psi coming out of the hose bib. I have been able to put 50+ shrubbler on each zone. There is no pressure drop on the heads and I believe I could double the amount of heads if need be. The larger pots I like to run two heads as insurance in case a head decides to clog. This has worked wonderfully so far this year

Hot peppers Habaneros or Jalapenos



Variegated Plumeria



Sugar Apple

Budgielover said:If I tried to do a drip system I'd have hoses going everywhere. LOL. I have a bunch of equipment for drip irrigation but never tried to install it.

Install it. I have enjoyed my containers much more now that I have a system installed. It takes a bit of effort but now I have no worries. I can travel as much as I want and need not worry about the plants.

What are those clips you have holding the soaker hoses? And where do you get them? I like soaker hoses, but they seem to have a mind of their own when it comes to where they lay! Hmmm, come to that, where do you get 1/4" soaker hose?

The big orange box store (HD) has everything you need. They carry the entire line of DIG drip irrigation that you can think of. I used to order on-line, it is easier now just to go down the road. If I have packages I will get you the number off the package.

It took a while, but here is my "pot ranch". Just a few, that I wtaer by hand. Lavatera, two lilac stems, two small Salvia, some snapdragons I had to move.

And some brunera I need to get around to planting!

Hee hee, Rick, are you sure you shouldn't be posting those over in the "Pot Ghetto" thread?

Or "pot slum". These were even less-planned than my raised beds.

My usual garden planning consists of "I have these seeds here in my hand, where do I have any open space for them?

RickCorey said:

My usual garden planning consists of "I have these seeds here in my hand, where do I have any open space for them?

You just described my system perfectly.

I have a similar method, except mine is: I started all these seedlings......now what do I do with them?