Looking around at some of the community gardens in town, it's clear that the absence of rain this month has been affecting them. Many rain barrels have run dry and the pumps used by some of the gardens adjacent to the river have been over-used. They don't seem to be working so well.
Access to water is an on-going challenge for community gardens. The Peterborough Community Garden Network is looking for science enthusiasts, engineers or gardeners with a thirst for innovation to design water systems adapted to the three main challenges we tend to face:
1) Gardens that have a nearby water source (creek, canal, well), but do not have efficient means of moving the water from the source to the gardens.
2) Gardens that have access to structures with large roofs, and capacity to collect water, but that have concerns over attaching rain barrels to the building (i.e. churches who are often worried about the state of their foundations, and overflow problems)
3) Gardens that have neither a water source, nor a large building from which to capture the water.
Do you like a challenge? Do you have some design ideas that would provide greater water access to community gardeners? We are looking for innovative ideas that would be low-cost, easily duplicable in these three different scenarios. Let your thoughts pour in!
