Editor's Note: Full version of story. Part of story was published as part of the Weekender edition on Saturday.
On July 23, several budding gardeners at Hanneke’s Place – Kettle River Community Garden learned about the new drip irrigation system the garden is now using.
There were several volunteers on hand to show people how to use the new system, including Mike Jones from Y&R Water, who installed the system, and Graham Watt, director of community service for the Grand Forks Rotary Club and volunteer with the community garden.
“We switched them from an overhead system to the drip system,” said Jones. “They were having trouble with people growing garlic who didn’t want to water. With the overhead water, it waters everything including the weeds in between the (garden) beds. This way it conserves water and people have control over how much water goes into their own bed.”
Jones said the drip irrigation is pretty easy to use once shown.
The Kettle River Community Garden originally came from an initiative from the Grand Forks and Boundary Regional Agricultural Society.
“They launched it as a project to give locals without access to garden space a chance to grow food,” said Watt. “The city donated the land and the water for the project.”
Watt said the Grand Forks Rotary Club was involved with some of the initial set up for the community garden in 2010, and stepped up again this year to pay for the drip irrigation system.
“It’s a great way of conserving water in the garden,” Watt said. “For a little bit of up-front cost you can save a lot of water and a lot of time watering your garden. It’s a big savings for water conservation and provides a lot of options for the gardeners.”