New Babies Need Diapers

I’ve decided to try for a fall harvest. I decided on two kinds of radishes, carrots, and kale. I thought it would also be good to have something else growing in that tank for a while, kind of rotating my crops.

I cleaned out one of the tanks of dead bean and cucumber plants. Then I dumped one of my finished compost buckets in there for some much needed nutrients and bulk.

I’d wanted to use SoilMoist in the tanks to see if it would help with water retention, but I only used half of one small baggie. Then I heard about using diapers for the same purpose. Why not? The active components are very similar to SoilMoist. I bought the largest kid diapers I could find, which wound up being overnights. I didn’t get adult diapers, I just didn’t want to be seen with them. Also they’re pricier. Took them apart and dumped the powdery stuff into a bowl, just to play. Works! Here it is next to the rest of the SoilMoist

I wound up using three diapers in total, so for the other tank I’ll use four to make up for the additional SoilMoist. Worked it in a few inches under the soil, as suggested. Makes sense. You don’t want it to evaporate right away. Then I planted.

Then I watered. You could see the new soil mix fluffing up as it absorbed the water. Radishes came up in two days, everything else was up within the week. Three weeks later and we’re doing very well. I will start to harvest the radishes in about a week or two. The intense summer heat has started to dissipate, but we are still having some high temp September days. The diapers have been protecting my babies!

I’m not really concerned about the material leaching and getting into the plants themselves. It’s basically inert, and it will eventually break down into the soil and I’ll have to replace it. Next year, I’ll add some diaper material to the second tank, and also to the tomato buckets.

Tags: diaper, fall planting, galvanized tank, harvest, water