Anyone have a second well just for gardening?

Esprit · #1 07/29/14, 07:35 PM

Maybe this is a dumb question. My wife and I are "new homesteaders" and live on 8 acres. It's the first time we've had a well. It's a deep well only about 2 years old and has excellent quality water. It's been a really dry summer so far and I'm paranoid about using our main water supply to run a sprinkler for the vegetable garden. That got me thinking that perhaps I should look into having a shallow well installed somewhere else on the property to supply the gardens. Has anyone done this? Is this a dumb idea? Would I be pulling from the same water table?

Thanks
Todd

bigjon · #2 07/29/14, 07:43 PM

yes u would,but how far between wells?

M5farm · #3 07/29/14, 07:43 PM

If it's a deep well you will not have any issues with watering a garden from it. Shallow well are susceptible to drought conditions. I run a household 5 water troughs on 40 acres , 1/2 acre garden all from a 180' 4" well with a 3 stage above ground pump and a 60 gal tank. This well has been down 25 years and the pump is constantly running.

Pig in a poke · #4 07/29/14, 07:46 PM

No, you would not necessarily be pulling from the same water supply. (But, then, you could be). We have 3 wells on this property (only 11 acres), two that the previous owner had drilled, and a 3rd that we had drilled. At this point we have public water supply, thankfully. The first 2 wells gave a fair supply of water unless we were in a drought. But the water was horrible with sulfur. The third was clean water, but a poor supply. In contrast, our neighbor across the street is still on her original well and has no need to tap into public water. (But, she does not have livestock and nursery plants.) We have talked about using one of the sulfur wells for watering the garden. But, at this point, the sulfur has most likely corroded the pumps that we never pulled. We are in middle TN, lots of limestone layers. Maybe that allows for the different aquifers? I have no idea if our experience is similar to where you are. But based on personal experience, I don't think it is a bad idea.

jwal10 · #5 07/29/14, 08:02 PM

There were 2 wells on the farm I grew up on. One was dug, 1 drilled. The drilled well went through the same water vein as the dug well and right on down to more water, unfortunately that water was sulfur. With both veins of water together, the water was drinkable and good enough for the dairy. The old hand dug well had issues with ground water intrusion and went dry in the summer....James

Fire-Man · #6 07/29/14, 09:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Esprit

Maybe this is a dumb question. My wife and I are "new homesteaders" and live on 8 acres. It's the first time we've had a well. It's a deep well only about 2 years old and has excellent quality water. It's been a really dry summer so far and I'm paranoid about using our main water supply to run a sprinkler for the vegetable garden. That got me thinking that perhaps I should look into having a shallow well installed somewhere else on the property to supply the gardens. Has anyone done this? Is this a dumb idea? Would I be pulling from the same water table?

Thanks
Todd

I have 4 wells on my farm, one being a deep well---230ft, the other 3 are 52ft, 48ft and 28ft. The shallow wells do not pull from the same stream as the deep well. The 28ft well produces about 5 gpm, the 48ft about 28gpm and the 52 42gpm, The 48 and 52ft I washed down for garden irrigation.

ChristieAcres · #7 07/30/14, 03:22 AM

Years ago, there was a well on our property that produced water that was eventually deemed "contaminated." That was a shallow hand-dug well and I know they had livestock (leading me to wonder about the contamination source being likely the livestock). Our current well is 140 feet deep and it produces pure spring water at a rate of 8gpm (no treatment or filtering needed). This is plenty for all our needs. None of the other 4 wells dug on properties near or connecting ours have the same quality or quantity (the water isn't as pure and produces less gpm). Now, for a surprise...a few properties away, "Dan's" well is 70 feet deep and produces pure spring water at 100gpm (our water is comparable in quality). Our property also has natural springs and that water is pure. It is obvious the 4 wells dug on the near or connecting properties don't draw off the same water as ours. Yet, "Dan's" well likely does! His property is at a lower elevation than ours... I'd like to install a hand-pump to use for watering.

Miss Kay · #8 07/31/14, 05:21 AM

I would contact the company that drilled the well if you know who that is. They can tell you how much you should be able to use from it. Wells are expensive so I wouldn't go through the expense without first getting a professional opinion. Our property already had a well in the garden when we bought the place. It is very handy and we use it all the time.

o&itw · #9 07/31/14, 02:15 PM

It would be a good idea under the right situation. You have no information on where you live, so we can only give you information on our own experience in the kind of ground strata that we have at our various locations. Here, people have deep wells and they go down 180 or more feet, usually 250. While the wells usually won't go dry, it costs quite a bit for the electricity to pump out enough to irrigate a large garden.

Most of the old farmsteads, that weren't on high ground originally had shallow wells of 30' or less. Since they ususally had livestock, these wells became contaminated, which is why they had a deep well drilled. Still, the shallow wells were perfect for garden irigation using a shallow well or jet pump (which was already in place as the orginal water supply)

After all, one doesn't worry much about a bacteria contaminated well when one is already dumping manure on the garden in the first place. Others use water from the old cisterns which were similarly prone to contamination as they were often clay or rock lined with no real way to seal out ground water.

If one is in a "crop" area which has a shallow water table contaminated with pesticides, then that is a different matter. So, yeah, if you have an old shallow well already, or you can dig one easily, then it might be a good idea.

At 10-15k dollars a throw, though, drilling two deep wells for seperate water supplies is not going to be a great idea, unless you are in a high dollar nursery or garden plant growing business.

**highlands** · #10 07/31/14, 06:53 PM

We don't have a well (dug down hole) but we have many springs that serve different parts of our place for our cottage, our butcher shop, our various animal pastures and gardens. So yes, same idea. No one of them produces enough water but all together they produce a lot. All hand done.

Chief Cook · #11 07/31/14, 09:17 PM

We have two water wells on our place. They are both shallow, like 48 feet. One has a little jet pump, it is housed in the rock building, and we only use it for the house and animals. The big well, so named cause it has a big ol irrigation pump on it, is used for the garden, lawn, and pecan trees. It went dry two years ago and out of the blue this spring it started up again. We have been in extreme drought for a very long time so I guess that was the cause of it. Needless to say we are very grateful that it is back on line.