Always Know Your In Hole from your Out Hole

It comes in handy in many aspects, especially irrigation.

Here's the veggie garden.  Don't mock it, we're starting small.  Plus that bed on the left until a week ago had no soil in it.  Progress, baby.  As you can see there are two pvc pipes sticking straight up above the backs of the beds.  Many moons ago, I hooked those into the existing zone, since the zone was no longer needed.  We removed the big patch of grass this sprinkler zone had been watering, thus a free zone.  It's now the veggie zone.  One problem.  I turned the valve on and water came up from a missed sprinkler head 20 yards away.  That will not due.  No water came out the pipes it was supposed to come out.

As I said, it was many moons ago that I did this so hell if I remember what was where and why.  I couldn't have forgotten to hook the line in before covering it with, well, everything.  Could I?  (My wife would say, "yes".)  I found the line from water bubbling through the ground and dug it up.  Hole where a shovel pierced it.  Maybe that's the problem.  Fixed the line and another geyser coming out of the ground a few feet on.  I dug that up.  I found this:

Aha!  Now I remember.  This is where I hooked into the existing line.  The pipe going out the top leads into the garden.  I hooked into the line to the right.  Unfortunately, that's the outgoing!  The incoming is the one on the left.  Hells bells.

Easily fixed.  Now, I have water gushing from the spots it's supposed to.  Now to do the rest.  It has been so ungodly hot, though, and this took hours to figure out, that the rest will be done later.  I hate living in the desert.

Drip Irrigation...Take 2

Not that the first stuff I put in needs to be changed, mind you, I'm actually continuing the retrofit to another section.

This is a new kind (or different, I should say, hell if I know if it's "new" or not) of drip irrigation from what I previously posted.  Up to now, I had been laying flexible tubing and then attaching smaller flex tubing along with an emitter at the end.  This particular item has an emitter, or hole, already in the tube every 12 inches (too much math to figure out what that is in metric).  So, all I have to do is lay it near the plant and make sure a hole is somewhere in the vicinity.  It took about one third the time the other tubing did.  Me like.

However, since I am the brilliant gardener that I am, when I capped the sprinkler heads already in this area months ago, I did not mark where the heads had been.  Thus, a wild goose chase began to find them.  After digging several holes, and then realizing the pipe was buried 1.7 miles below the surface, I decided just to cut into an area and put in what I needed.  Above is what I needed.  And, since it was such a chore to do, and I highly recommend when you're already there to add in a few more.

I ended up putting in three risers, although I'm only using one for now.  That should leave me enough to finish off the bed once the rest of the plants get in.

The beauty of this is once the tubing is laid moving it is quite simple, just pick it up and put it down where you want it.  Also, with a 50 cent adaptor I can add to the tubing at a later date to continue the run.  After 100 feet, however, it's best to start a new line as you will lose too much water pressure to maintain the proper drip.

In the meantime, I will be setting my clock's back an hour tonight and you should do the same should you be so required.  Spurs vs. Fulham tomorrow at 8 am PST, and if you forget you won't tune in until halftime!  We'll be up by 7 by then!!!  HA!!

Irrigation Update

We made some progress on the irrigation for the back planter this weekend.

We were able to replace ten sprinkler heads that spit out 510 gallons per hour ("GPH") (10 heads, .85 gallons per minute) with four drip lines (soon to be five) totaling 30 gallons per hour.  I actually had to walk out and count the number of emitters right now, as we have 1 GPH emitters on most plants, with some soaker hoses on others (I guessed 3 GPH on the soaker hoses, they aren't very long).  That's a 94% decrease in our water for this area.  Granted, it will increase as we put in more plants and they get bigger, but I don't believe we'll surpass 200 GPH for this bed.  We plan on packing a lot of plants in there and making them as drought tolerant as possible.  This is where we put the Jerusalem Sage and Lion's Tail.  That potato vine in the background of the bottom picture doesn't have any irrigation going to it at the moment.  I may add an emitter as it gets hotter, but we'll wait and see.

For full disclosure, I went to Toro's website and looked at what they said the output of a 180 degree sprinkler head was, as all 10 of ours were that.  I may even be low, as our sprinkler heads were at least 13 years old, and I took the specifications of the latest and greatest.

Running all of the drip line took about three hours.  It probably could have taken a little less, but it was hot, so there was beer involved.  And, there aren't any leaks, so that shows you how damn easy it must be if a drunk can do it!

Being in Southern California, water is our most precious resource, in my humble opinion.  I've even done some research that shows it doesn't pay to recycle paper here, because of the extraordinary amount of water it takes to turn recycled paper into another usable product.  Apparently, to remove all of the toxins in the dying, bleaching and whatever else they do to it process.  I'm not done with that research, yet.  Another post.

In the meantime, I hope you'll be motivated to at least look into drip irrigation.  I'll even be happy to come out and help.  For a price, of course.  Unless you're in London, in which case I may come out for Spurs tickets!!!

Lions and Tigers and...

...ok, just lions.  Lion's Tail, that is.  Leonotis leonurus.  I almost bought it just for the name.

Native to southern Africa, it will get substantially bigger then the two feet it is now.  It will get large tubular orange flowers that look like, well, a lion's tail!  HA!  These gardener's are so clever with their naming.

After this one was in the ground for a couple of day's, though, it looked like this.

One sad lion.  The moral of this story is to WRITE DOWN your irrigation schedule and don't rely on the memory of the man who goes for a run and forgets to put on his shorts.  Long story, different post.  I swore this bed got water three times a week only to see that it was really one!  No wonder nothing was growing with the temperature now creeping into the 90's F.  Never fear, all is well once again.  And, no, I still haven't written down the irrigation schedule.  Baby steps people, baby steps.

Drip Irrigation Retrofit

This past weekend, we began retrofitting the back planter sprinkler system.  I order much of my stuff through The Drip Store (I'm going to get free crap if it kills me).  They have an excellent tutorial you can download and their customer service has been quite helpful in answering my questions.  I must note, that I do not get anything from them and, honestly, they probably don't even know I exist.  I just found their tutorial and starter kits to be very helpful.

Now, the previous homeowner, whom I am related to, did a fantastic job in the irrigation system.  Everything in all 10,000 square feet is covered with overhead sprayers on eight valves and it works flawlessly.  That is a HUGE advantage we have.  We simply want to change over to a drip system.  However, we don't want to be digging up the yard in order to do so.  Hence, the retrofitting.

In order to retrofit an existing system, you need four pieces per sprinkler head you wish to use, in addition to the hose itself.  We'll cover that in a future post.  No use shooting our wad all at once.  From left to right is a 90 (imagine a little degree sign here, as I have no idea where in the hell that is on the keyboard) elbow connector.  This piece is fitted to the riser.  We'll get to that later.  Next is the 25 psi pressure regulator.  The pressure regulator is very important and is dependent on the hose and fittings you are going to use.  Both of those should display what the recommended psi is.  This is the hose connector.  The 1/2" black hose is inserted into the slip end and is held in place with pressure alone.  Next, no shown, is the hose.  Last, on the right, is the plug which goes at the far end of the hose.  Otherwise, water would gush out all over the place and that would be idiotic.  Held in place just through pressure alone.

Sprinkler head.  We've all seen one.

Insert riser.  I buy the adjustable risers where you can cut off the sections you don't need.  I try to get the top to be right at ground level to hide it as best as possible.  You can put this system completely underground, but it makes maintenance difficult.

There are three of the four pieces in order from left to right as noted above.  The 90 (imagine degree sign) elbow, pressure regulator and connector.  I use plumbers tape in all the joints just to be safe.  I have found they occasionally leak.  I find this out when there is a massive mound of weeds growing around your retrofit.  And, they are normally the prickliest damn weeds on the planet.  Guaranteed.

Here is the hose running down the back of the planter box.  We can probably handle anywhere from 12 to 20 plants from this one line, depending on the size.  Some of the larger plants, like the Lion's Tail we just purchased which will be in a future post (I know you're just giddy with excitement!!) will take two emitters.  So, I guess I should have just said it will handle about 20 emitters.  Christ, sometimes I can't keep up with myself.

Hold on, we're not done.  Lastly, you need to plug the sprinkler heads that won't be used.  Here we will probably be able to block three heads for every one we use.  That will remove 12 heads and replace with three or four drip lines.  As I have said previously, the County of San Bernardino charges for a minimum amount of water, whether used or not.  Our goal is to always stay below that, even with the lawn.  If I'm paying for it, I'm going to use it.  If they lower the allotment, I'll lower my usage.  Now, who needs a cocktail?

Back Lawn Update

So far, so good in the back.  Here's some of the progress:

Here is some of the trenching for the additional sprinkler heads required.  The zones for the previous lawn were broken into two halves.  We removed one half when we added the play set, which is shown below.  Unfortunately, that left about a quarter of the remaining lawn without water, so we need to add three heads to one side.

Here's my son helping out.

Below is where we're currently at.  We need to drop a couple of inches of compost and till it in, then we'll be ready for the sod.

The Front, Stage 1, aka, "The North 40"

Alright.  Here it is.  The first part of the yard shown that does not consist of a single plant.  This is the first section of yard that we are tackling.  Now, as I have stated previously, our yard is not large by the standards of someone who lives in say Alaska.  Or Montana.  Or Siberia.  However, by the standards of the state of California, the yard is pretty decently sized.  Now, I haven't been able to muster the courage to show the entire yard.  I'm still compiling my list of caveats related to each possible picture I could show.  It's quite an ugly site.  In my defense, though, I did not have much to start with.  I believe that would be caveat one.  As a breach to that defense, and as my wife would quickly point out, I am the king of demolition.  I remove everything that could ever want to be removed.  However, I'm not nearly as diligent in the reconstruction process.  The yard, unfortunately, has suffered the brunt of this problem.

So, what we have decided is to tackle the yard in pieces.  That will limit the area we need to concentrate on.  Our plan is actually to create a series of rooms within the property, so dissecting the yard actually fits quite nicely into that plan.  This is what we decided to tackle first.  The front yard off the driveway.  On the sprinkler system we inherited this was labeled the "North 40".  I've decided to stick with that.

Prior to this, the area consisted of lawn.  Next to gophers, lawn is the one thing in this world I despise the most.  Dictators of third world nations who rule with an iron fist are a distant third to these two items.  Within the lawn, there was an ornamental plum tree and a Magnolia.  Now, I have nothing against either of those trees, there were two issues (one with each).  The plum was planted too close to the knee wall.  The magnolia tree was the free city tree that came with the newly constructed houses.  Meaning, every house all the way down the block has the same tree, in the same spot of the yard.  They're Stepford trees.  That wouldn't do.  So, they were the first two trees to come down.  The battle with those stumps is a story for a different occasion, while drinking a different cocktail then I am currently drinking.  And, yes, all bloggers drink when they blog.  Or, at least they should.

The new area consists of the Pigmy Date Palm to the left of the second picture, which is the only surviving item from the previous regime.  It's named Bob.  Different story.  We then have the olive, which is in previous posts.  The small slope is covered with lavender, fourteen in total along with three Italian Cypress.

Two types of Agapanthus are up against the neighbor, the Sprinkler Maven.  The two largest are Agapanthus 'Lily of the Nile' and the three smaller are Agapanthus 'Stormcloud', which are supposedly cobalt in bloom.  Looking at the picture, I'm not sure how that will look against the lavender.  I'm not fond of my blue suit with lavender pocket square nor lavender socks, but I digress.

The front of the yard is rimmed with Boxwood Green Beauty (buxus microphylla japonica).  Capped on two ends with Golf Ball Kohuhu's (pittosporum tenuifolium), which is better seen in the first picture scarred by the leg lifting neighborhood dog.  If anyone knows of a way of electrifying foliage, I would be willing to pay for the information.  We had a third Kohuhu; however, the Sprinkler Maven made sure one didn't survive the liquid onslaught.  Once they grow into a solid wall, I'm hoping it will look quite spectacular.  Sweet Jesus, I left the weeder in the picture.

Here is the line up of boxwoods, along with our drip system.  Yes, I understand that is should be buried, but do keep in mind, I have the memory of a gnat.  Ask my wife.  If I bury it now, it is guaranteed that I will slice through it each and every time I dig a hole for a new plant.  And, in this space, we imagine there will be at least another twenty plants.  That's twenty repair jobs.

Also, note the boxwoods are set back away from the sidewalk.  We're going to put a ground cover between it and the sidewalk.  We have decided the mulch is ugly.

Lastly, we have three mirror bushes, two Coprosma Repens Marble Queens:

And, one Coprosma Rainbow Surprise:

Lastly, my God this is long, I need to go get another drink.................lastly, you will notice all these plants are small.  This is a very, very, very, very young garden.  The lavender and cypress are a year old and everything else (olive in June of '09) has been put in during the last couple of months.  We have a lot of plants that need to be acquired and a surprising amount of patience to wait for them to grow.  I'm actually going to attempt plants from seed soon as a way to fill the space while still being able to afford food.

Vacation Prep!

Finally, we will be off on a vacation, shortly.  We will be visiting our great state of Hawaii.  It will be a pleasure to get away from the freezing sleet and piled high snow here in Southern California.  Oh, wait.  Scratch that last bit.  What is sleet, anyway?

We found out the hard way a few year's back when we went to London that moving your potted plants onto the lawn, we did have one of those then, and allowing the lawn sprinklers to water them has disastrous results.  For our last vacation, and now this one, we purchased a pot watering system.

This particular kit we purchased from The Drip Store.  It comes with quarter inch tubing, stakes, connectors and various types of drippers.  It worked like a charm, as all of our plants survived in tact.  It wasn't until later we killed them.

Now, mind you, it is not the most attractive set up once in place.

You can make it permanent; however, we still do like hand watering, as different plants have different requirements, and we tend to move the pots with some frequency as certain victims are replaced with future ones.

The programmer can be set to go off multiple time per day for various lengths of time.  One drawback is that the time starts when you first turn it on.  There is no setting it to go at a specific time, say 5 am.  If you want it to go off at 5 am, you need to walk outside in your unmentionables at that hour and start it for the first time.  Needless to say, our watering will occur in the evening, as that is when I walked out in my unmentionables to start it.

The system has worked flawlessly.  It came with plenty of hose and connectors.  There are a couple of things, though, that could be changed.  First, as with any kit, the mix of items usually is not what you need.  The kit contains foggers and drippers that are 1 gallon per hour and 1/2 gallon per hour.  The 1/2 gallon per hour drippers are useless unless you encircle the plant with them as if you were laying siege to a castle.

Luckily, I had extra 1 gallon per hour drippers, so the day was saved.

Second, this is not the first time we have used this system and there are quite a few more plants now then we had before.  I didn't show the other batch as I couldn't figure out how to get the picture without capturing the lawn/dirt, which is not something anyone wishes to see.  We have about 13 plants on this system.  Reconfiguring the system is a little difficult as the connectors and drippers cannot be undone from the hose once set.  One must cut the hose and insert more connectors.  It looks a bit Frankensteinish after all is said and done.

Either way, it is a small nuisance, as coming home to mass plant extinction is a far bigger nuisance.  Also, we have finally planted some tomatoes and strawberries and it would be heartbreaking to lose our first go at vegetables.  That's for a future post.  Not the loss, but the vegetables.  Keep up.

P.S.  Very bad, bad morning today as it was too early for a pint due to my being on kid duty today and my beloved Tottenham Hotspur fell to Sunderland 3-1.  We were simply outclassed, although we had every opportunity at the end for at least a draw.  As of now, still in fourth.  I'm afraid, though, in an hour we won't be.  Bar maid, where's my cocktail???