This was a good day to play in the dirt. With my lady recovering from the 24 hour flu supplied with tea, tissues, cough drops and books, I made a day of working outside. With a week to plan out the formerly empty raised bed I made last Saturday, I now have blackberries, grape-vine, tomatoes, peppers and watermelon planted. There’s room for a half-dozen more containers. In the front yard, succulents, cactus, broom and several other colorful plants have acclimated and are showing new growth.
Surveying the yard, I am grateful for the rains this year. And I seem to be getting cooperation from Dexter and Comet with the new plantings. I don’t believe many reading this have a challenge with watering, but rains are likely done for the next six months in Southern California. Though we now seem to have abundant water in the state now, I am not liberally using hose water. I am trying a new approach using a couple trash cans filled with rainwater, and another supplied by a hose to store while it degassed chlorine out. This is my one concession to the engineer in me. Used to test and evaluation of technical systems in my day job, I am at home testing the best way to combine water, mulch, and container systems to have healthy plants.
It's a Dog's Life 