I’ve been busy working outside. Not so busy taking pictures or writing. Time to play catchup. This is bed 1 (far) and bed 2 (near). This past weekend I replaced the drippers in bed 1 and finished the system in bed 2.
I also did bed 6.
Bed 6 gave me the roughest time, but I also learned the most. My FIL has worked with this stuff quite a bit and he said how much easier it is to work with it when it’s warm. Not a problem this weekend…it was in the 90’s. But while the heat makes it easier to push the tubing into the L and T fittings, it makes it difficult to punch the holes for the drippers. I found, through trial and error, that when the tubing is hot, it just dents. And then it’s hard to put the punch in exactly the same spot when you realize that it didn’t punch all the way through. But sometimes there’s enough of a hole that when you do put the dripper in, the water squirts out from underneath through that first, not so good hole. Ugh.
I ‘did’ most of bed 6 on Saturday, but was left with water squirting out through lots of those extra-sort-of holes. So Sunday morning I headed out to get some straight connectors and I patched the one strip where that had happened on the drippers at both ends. This was when the trick of cutting the tubing, and marking the spots for the holes, then bringing it into the house to cool down to punch the holes, and then returning it out to heat up before connecting the fittings came about.
But by Sunday evening, I only had two more beds to plumb. After that, I’ll have someone in to connect all the beds to my valve. And I just got the name of someone new that I’m excited to try out.
I just killed two very big grasshoppers. I feel just awful. The first one was bigger. It may be the one that is in my flickr account. It was a fighter. It took a few swats. The second one was smaller and lighter.
I’m a terrible person. This stuff is hard.
I guess I haven’t uploaded pictures yet. But I did ‘finish’ the irrigation on bed #1 the other day. I’ve sort of started on bed 2, but I’ll wait to talk about that one. I discussed the different types of drippers in my first irrigation post. I used the cheaper ones for the first bed I did and opted for the ‘better’ ones for the second bed I did.
The benefit of doing one bed at a time and waiting a bit in between is becoming apparent. I have put on two water shows. The Bellagio’s got nothin’ on my tomato bed when the ‘good’ drippers either fly apart or pop off entirely. I think I’ll be replacing them this weekend with the cheap ones.
When I turned the water on on the first bed, I was so cautious. I barely turned the hose spigot…nothing. Then I edged it up slightly. And a slight bit of water dripped out. I finally found the ‘right’ setting and was very happy with them. The cheap drippers are supposed to have (precisely) 25 gph. Yes, I know, I’m supposed to be using a pressure regulator, etc. But since I wasn’t using one, and I’ve got water pressure galore, I was just very, very careful.
When I turned the water on on the second bed, I wasn’t quite so cautious. After all, they’re pressure compensating. But right away, things started squealing and shooting off all over the place. I never found several parts. I replaced the missing things and it worked alright.
Today, I watered the first bed again. Beautiful.
Then, I watered the second one. And I had a second show. I threatened to take pictures before I replaced the parts the first time and didn’t. This time, I’ll definitely turn the water on one time before I yank them all out (not an easy task) and replace them.
It’ll be another sprinkler oriented weekend.
I don’t have a great picture right now. (I couldn’t see posting until I took one.) But I was looking out my window and see them reaching up, looking to start to bloom in a week or so (a very rough guess). They are an interesting thing in my yard.
When we moved in, the grass area in the backyard was mostly a rectangle of grass that was bordered by a concrete retaining walls on the north and the east, the house and patio on the south, and that ran to the edge of a shady planting area under a big, beautiful Arbutus tree on the west. My intention was to plant along the edges of the retaining wall to the north and a bit around the corner to the east. I’d leave a gap/path to the retaining wall on the east, since it borders a path that gets to the second level, which is to the north of and below this grass area. And I’d make a triangular or quarter circle planting pocket in the south east corner.
I got as far as planting the north east corner and plopping a couple lavender plants along the north edge. (They were intended to be the ‘entry markers’ to a stair way that would lead to the second level that I was talked out of early on.) One lavender is going strong (if not way too overgrown and neglected) but the other one I just recently, accidently ripped out with a hose when I was dragging it from one level to another. I guess that meant it was tired and it was time to go. I’ve wanted to take them out for a while, but the hummingbirds love them so much and they’re in such a nice spot to watch from the family room. But I digress…
…the Lamb’s Ears.
I probably bought a six pack or two 6-7 years ago. I planted a climbing, Collette Rose and a Blue Skies Lilac in the corner. There was a fence along that north side initially, and I was going to put an arch over the path at the steps to the second level. I decided against it so the rose just sprawls. Which I really like. (It smells SO good right now!) The Lamb’s Ears went in on either side of the rose and lilac. a patch along the north wall and a patch along the east wall. They looked great for years. Blooming prolifically. Spreading and spreading. We eventually bought a GREAT fountain, which is nestled into that corner, just out from the rose and lilac. And we got the sprinklers redone. And…we got dogs.
I really didn’t garden for a couple years. Hardly set foot outside. But this year, the dogs are old enough and my interest in gardening has returned. The Lamb’s Ears are gone from the east wall. But along the north, they’re about ready to burst. They’re soft and fluffy and dense. I want to divide them and have them in many more spots around the yard. They’re just wonderful.
But for a while, I just want to enjoy them.
flickr set
We got a little closer than this, but not much. This was an AVA ‘event’. It was billed as a walk to the flower fields. Those darn little connector words…to…through…. I guess they didn’t lie. But for a walk that was already 11k, we would have had to have added another 2k (before we retraced our exact same steps back). We opted not to. I was going to drive down after the walk and go through, but decided to wait for another day.
Other than that, it was a beautiful day with wonderful weather and good company. And a nice walk along the beach.
Carlsbad is a nice little town. I should have taken some ‘in town’ shots. But I have a feeling I’ll be back there again soon.
This walk was on Saturday the 19th, I was having a Flickr issue that day.
I have ‘the basics’ done on the first bed that I’ve tried my hand at irrigating. I have a valve on my ‘regular’ sprinkler system set aside to eventually control this area. And each bed will have a shut off so I don’t have to water everything the same amount. But I’ll be able to give them water if I want to go on vacation, in August, in sweltering, inland, Southern California. (And I usually do.) But for right now, I’ll ‘build’ one bed at a time and make it connectable to the hose.
I spent countless hours agonizing whether to run 4 lines, one down the center of each row of squares, or 5 lines, one at each of the ’seams’ of the squares. I went with four. It was a coin toss, but that was my first idea, so I decided to stick with it. I ran the lines to the right of the right two rows, and two the left of the left two rows.
More…
My first Bloom Day…and it’s tax day. Not a good combination.
Late start…west coast…I’m sure no one is catching this tonight. I’m even going to cheat and post ‘old’ pics. I took some today, but it was a bit late. These are from about a week ago.
Flowering Trees
Coral Tree (leafing out…losing it’s flowers)
Honey Locus (leafing out…losing it’s flowers)
Tabebuia (pink) (leafing out…losing it’s flowers)
Pomegranate
Several citrus trees (I’ll add detail later)
Apple
Flowering Plants and Shrubs
Lilac
Calla Lillies
Collette Rose
(The other, dark pink) Rose
Red Geranium
Lavendar
Rock Rose
Nasturtiums
Gerber Daisies
Ranuculas (on their last leg)
Salvia…can’t remember the name…not Mexican
Mexican Primrose
Mom’s Trailing Geranium
Pink Camelia
Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
As much as these close-up shots are one of the things I really like to photograph, I don’t think they accomplish what I want to accomplish by participating in Bloom Day. I do want to document more of the overall look of each plant and tree and area each month. So I’ll still put together a set of photos on Flickr over the next couple days to accomplish that. But I’m happy to get this going.
I don’t do it very well. I have two Smith & Hawken Biostack units that didn’t cost me anything.
I like the theory behind them, and I have plenty of room to move them around. But they just don’t work for me. I finally realize that. I often have more to compost than I have room for and don’t have a good system for getting things ‘put together’ right…meaning mixing browns and greens etc. So I keep adding and adding, when I’m motivated, but never ‘finishing’ batches. I want something that works better.
More…
It’s a non-gardening post!
flickr set
I did a 10k walk today in Morongo Valley, north of Palm Springs. I was invited by a friend and was eager to do a 10k walk. Knowing that it could get a little toasty and the desert not being my favorite place…I was really more excited by the walking itself and the company. It turns out it was a lovely walk over a great variety of terrain.
There were wildflowers.
There was a marsh that reminded me of Florida swamps.
I even saw a snake! But didn’t get the camera out quick enough. I think it was a King Snake.
There was also plenty of evidence of the 2004 fire.
It was a bit warm at times, but there was usually a breeze that kept things just right. It was a very nice day.
Gratuitous post of a pic I really like.
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My first Green Thumb Sunday post. And I feel that I’m cheating already. I did not grow this tomato from seed. There…I said it.
But I do like taking macro photos of things. And this was pretty. And I probably wouldn’t have posted it otherwise. So there you go.
This is on a Hillbilly Potato Leaf tomato. My husband gets the job of choosing which tomatoes we’ll (I’ll) grow. It’s funny, but it’s almost the only interest he takes…so I say ‘knock yourself out’.
I’ve only been gardening again for a few weeks and have enjoyed getting to know the online garden world as much as the actual gardening. So I hope you’ll poke around a bit and see my progress.
It was 90+ degrees here today and LOTS of things are popping up through the soil. So I’m going back out to take some more pictures!
Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.
