Harvestr.Org

There are certain things about the concept of rainwater harvesting that can sometimes be taken for granted, especially if you’ve been familiar with the process for a while. This was certainly the case for me while talking to a neighbour about rainwater tanks.

One thing that I’d noticed over the last few years driving my car around Melbourne, Australia were the amount of houses that have Rainwater Tanks installed (and they’re just the one’s you can see from the street). Rainwater tanks really are popular these days. The other thing that I’ve noticed is that most of these rainwater tanks are only connected to one downpipe (downspout).

I’d often wondered how much rainwater these tanks actually harvested and I got my answer while talking to my neighbour. I knew he’d installed a rainwater tank about a year previously so I asked him if he was happy with it and if it harvested much rainwater. He replied that he wasn’t, as we don’t get enough rain to fill it. I told him that he needed to connect more of his roof area to it. That way he could harvest more of the rain that fell on his roof.

Talking to my neighbour though I realized that there were probably many other owners of rainwater tanks that also had the same misconception my neighbour had, which was …….. you can’t harvest very much rainwater if you’re not getting very much rain.

I then went on to explain to my neighbour that because I can harvest rainwater from all of my roof area, I can in fact harvest lots of rainwater and that I use rainwater in my garden throughout summer and I’ve never run out of stored rainwater.

This is highlighted by the example of the roof on my house. My roof can now harvest 75,000 litres of rainwater per year from just 300mm (12 inches) of rainfall. That’s enough to fill a 4,500 litre rainwater tank over 16 times over. But even better, the great thing about rainfall is that most climates don’t get it all at once. That means you don’t need a 75,000 litre rainwater tank to store that amount of rainwater.

So that was the second lesson I learnt about Rainwater Harvesting…………..

You don’t need lots of Rain to Harvest lots of Rainwater.

The roof of your house is one of the best assets you have when harvesting rainwater. It’s knowing how to harvest that rainwater that makes the difference. Even in times of low rainfall knowing the right rainwater harvesting techniques is very important.

Harvest asparagus is a fairly easy procedure. It is done by snapping them off just above the ground when the spears are 7 to 9 inch long and the tips are still tight. There is no need to cut asparagus below the soil with a knife. Cutting them below the soil can injure other buds on the crown that will send up new spears. The small stub that is left after snapping will dry up and disintegrates. A new spear does not come up at the same spot, it comes up from another bud that enlarges on another part of the crown.

As the tips on the spears start to loosen, also known as “ferning out”, the fiber begins to develop at the base of the spears, this will causing them to become tough. The diameter of the spear has no bearing on the toughness. When harvesting the asparagus patch should be picked clean, don’t allowing any spears to fern out. When allowed to fern out it gives asparagus beetles an excellent site to lay their eggs.

Asparagus can be harvested starting it’s second growing season and can be harvested several times throughout a three-week period, depending on the growing season. Starting to harvest the year after planting will stimulate more bud production on the crown. This will provide for greater yields in future years to come, as compared with waiting two years before harvesting.

Asparagus spears will start to emerge when the soil temperature reaches 45 degrees Fahrenheit. Once they start, the growth of asparagus is dependent on air temperature. Early in the season 7 to 9 inch spears can be harvested about every 2 to 4 days. When the air temperatures increase so does the harvesting frequencies, they can be at once or twice per day with the harvesting of 5 to 7 inch spears before the tips start to fern out and lose there quality. The second year after planting is when the length of harvest can increase to about 4 to 6 weeks. The third year after planting and thereafter, harvesting can continue for 6 to 8 weeks. Since the length of the harvest season will vary from year-to-year and depending on the air temperature, stop the harvest when the diameter of 3/4 of the spears becomes small or less then 3/8 inch. Experience learned by growing the crop over time will make it easier for you to know when to discontinue the harvest.

When harvest is finished, snap all the spears off at ground level and add a good heavy layer of composted manure over the bed. Once the layer of compost is applied mulch with a weed free straw to suppress weeds. At this time new spears will then emerge, fern out, and provide a large shade canopy to cover the space between the rows. Once a dense canopy of fern is formed,the weed growth will be shaded out.

Harvesting herbs is an integral part of growing healthy herbs in your herb garden. Harvesting is the process of gathering or reaping the herbs at different stages of maturity depending on the herb to maximize its utility and life span.

Why are we harvesting herbs?

Harvesting herbs both early and in regular intervals ensures new and fast growth of the plants. For instance, cutting flowering herb plants such as lavender and tarragon to half their original height in early July promotes a second bloom in the fall.

How to harvest herbs?

As the herbs grown for their leaves have the tendency to lose flavor once they flower, they are best harvested before that. Picking leaves when they are tender is the best way to harvest since the tender leaves contain high concentrates of oil that is both fragrant and tasteful. Mint is harvested by picking only its leaves. Care should be taken not to wash the leaves for the fear of losing the aromatic oils. There are flowering herbs such as lavender, chamomile, and borage that are harvested before they bloom. Harvesting herbs that are grown for their seeds such as dill, coriander, caraway, and fennel should be carried out as the seedpods change color from green to brown or grey.

When do we harvest herbs?

Since herbs grow pretty fast, they are ready for harvest quite frequently. It is a consensus among herb garden lovers that the best time to harvest herbs would be right before they flower. Not that we have anything against herb flowers but once the flowering starts the herb plants channel most of their energy into the petals instead of the leaves thereby affecting the strength of their flavor. Herbs being early morning plants hit their peak at dawn. Hence, the best time to harvest would be during the mornings after the early morning dew has dried up but before the day begins to heat up. End of summer or early fall is the best time to harvest herbs like ginseng and goldenseal that are grown for their roots.

Harvesting herbs is the healthy way to grow them in your herb garden.

You need to know the ways to harvest grapes irrespective of whether you have raised them for commercial purposes and have numerous rows of grapes or grow in your backyard just as a hobby. You will definitely not want to harvest grapes before the sun has done its full work and ripened them enough or prune harvest with the wrong procedure and ruin your entire crop. You don’t have the option of restarting the whole process so you need to get it correct the first time itself.

Many make the dire mistake to harvest their grapes before they have ripened. The major problem is determining exactly when the grapes have ripened. Usually most grapes ripen during the cool autumn months of August to October which may vary according on the variety. Mostly people come to know if the grapes have ripened or not from outer skin color. However, there are some varieties in which the change of color is so faint that the chances of missing it are high. So you need to check out numerous things. These include:

- Major change in color, like from green to dark blue
- Change in the color of the seeds to brown from green
- Grape size no longer increases
- Change in the taste of grapes to sweet which can be checked by a tongue test. You can also purchase a refractometer which helps in measuring the sugar content.

Once you have ensured that the fruit is ripe enough, you can harvest them. There are two ways to harvest grapes- by machine or by hand. There are people who think that harvesting grapes by hand can only be done in small wine estate operations. However, this is far from correct. There are several gigantic commercial farmers who never use machines for harvesting. Of course, harvesting through machine is faster which is mostly used if the weather is bad. In case if you harvest grapes by hand and a backyard farmer or have never done it before the following steps need to be followed:

You need to ensure that the weather is good, preferably a warm sunny day. This means you may have sunburns. Ensure that you are well protected with sun block and proper clothing.

A pair of good sharp shears is required. The cutting shears should be well oiled and should fit comfortably in your hand. A bulky pair of shears is most likely to harm your hands even if you wear gloves. If left handed and doing a lot, do yourself a favor and get a left handed pair of shears.

You need to be careful so as not to injure the stem while clipping off grape bunches. Pull the grape bunch gently and then clip. Leave some stem so that the grapes can be handled easily afterward.

Cover the grapes once haven been sheared; keeping the grape clusters in a shallow wood box or on a tray away from sunlight. Too much direct sunlight may spoil the grapes.

Once you have finished harvesting your grapes keep then in a dry and cool place. Once harvested its all up to you on you how you, relish, enjoy and consume hem. You can eat them all at once or make some jam, juices or jellies.

Even if you have worked hard all the time to produce healthy vines it all boils down to how carefully you are when harvesting your grapes. The quality of any other product you make depends a lot on how well you harvest. The bottom line is that harvesting grapes at the right time walks a fine line between a failed crop and a great one.

Today world, in which we need to make more efficient use of
resources, harvesting rainwater is a reasonable option for solving some
water related issues in both domestic and industrial scale. They are
widely used in homes, farms, public buildings such as schools,
hospitals, and hotels and many other facilities.

As urban life
develops, the need for treated water increases, and so do the costs. In
urban water supply systems, all water has to be treated to drinking
water quality but only 1% of water consumption is used for drinking. In
Ireland, daily water consumption rate per person is 148 litres. However,
only 67 litres of this is used for personal hygiene and nutritional
consumption. This means that approximately 80 litres of water per person
on a daily basis do not need to be high quality. For other purposes
such as watering plants, toilet flushing, cleaning or even carwash, rain
water harvesting can be a good, cheap, and environment friendly
solution.

What is the idea behind rainwater harvesting
systems?

It is simply “gathering rain water in a tank” in
its traditional meaning. Today, rain harvesting systems are much more
efficient with the addition of a couple of elements, such as pressure
vessels, pumps and filters.  A typical rainwater harvesting system has
the following elements:

• Water catch surface: this is the main element where water is caught,
  the starting point of the system.
• Channels: to transport water from catching surface to storage tank.
• Filters: these are used to filter particles in rainwater.
• Pumps and pressure vessels: to pressurise water and keep water
  pressurised.
• Water storage tank: this is the tank where ready-to-use water is
  stored.
• Piping system: to transport water to the points of consumption.

Although rainwater generally contains less minerals because of the
air pollutants that may dissolve in rainwater, harvested rainwater
should be further treated if it is intended to be used as drinking
water.

How much can you save using rainwater harvesting
systems?

The answer to this question depends on where
you live, i.e. how much rain falls annually, the area of your water
catch surface and your water consumption. However, to make a rough
estimation, you can save EUR1 for each square meter of your horizontal
water catch surface annually.  Rainwater harvesting systems are
considered to have a high payback and they generally pay for themselves
in a few years. After that, the more rain means the more you save. On
the other hand, if rainwater harvesting becomes more common there will
also be a reduction in national costs for water treatment. Thus, it can
be concluded that rainwater harvesting contributes to not only
individual utility costs but also national treatment costs, which is a
cost item for taxpayers. For the time being, average price for public
water is less than EUR2 for each cubic meter, but it is estimated that
it will increase to Europe average, i.e. approximately EUR4. Studies
show that, a saving of EUR154 million could be made from water treatment
costs if all Irish household harvested rainwater effectively. These
figures explicitly show the potential of rainwater harvesting to
contribute to budgets both individually and on a national basis.

Installation
and Maintenance of rainwater harvesting systems

Rainwater
harvesting systems should be installed by an expert plumber. Systems
are designed to occupy minimum space especially in your garden. For this
purpose, underground tanks are used. The pipe system is connected to
the intended points of use. Pressurizing and pressure maintaining
elements in the systems allow you to have constant water pressure in
your rainwater pipe system. Rainwater harvesting system elements are
made of durable materials and have a simple technical structure. These
two features result in minimum maintenance requirements for the overall
system. You may only need to clean filters from time to time and maybe
some infrequent maintenance may be required for pumps.

If you want
to start making use of free water, you can contact Futura Energy for
its rainwater
harvesting solutions.