We took some time out from the structural work on our front entry and decided to beautify it a bit, since it looked so plain after tearing out the overhang. Sweetie suggested we get some lantana to spruce it up for a while we decide what sort of permanent porch / landscape we'll want in the future.
While much of the rest of the country shivered under Cold Miser's last gasp of frigid torture, we were visited by his argumentative brother Heat Miser who treated us to our project conditions of 102 degrees.
Lantana seems to do pretty well here in the direct sun and heat, especially the yellow ones. Of course, everyone knows this and purchased all the nice big ones. Instead of 4 large ones as planned, I brought home 8 small pots.
We soaked the whole area down to loosen the soil.
With the oddities of our home, I don't simply sink a shovel anywhere in our yard. This project was no different. I found a mystery electrical conduit and a main irrigation line inches below the surface. The hard packed soil is just easiest / safest to dig with a high pressure garden hose nozzle and my hands (or a plastic kid shovel)
Once they were planted, I punched a hole in the main sprinkler tube (conveniently dead ended right at the first plant) and turned on the system. No water. After fifteen minutes of screwing around, I cut the line open and discovered a wad of roots and nastiness had plugged the line just past the point I had made a repair this winter. Luckily, I had another coupling and the tubing needed to fix it. I ran lengths of the 1/4 inch tubing
from the main line to each plant, staked it, and added a flag dripper head
. The nice thing about these systems is that you simply punch a hole, add a barbed coupling to the tubing and stab it into the main line by hand
. Easy.
We just need to get some mulch down and some kind of border. This type of plant expands pretty good here and only dies down in the winter. In our experience, it comes back stronger each year. It should fill this whole area in a fairly short time.
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| Shhhh...don't tell anyone my pickup truck has a hidden trunk in the bed. |
Lantana seems to do pretty well here in the direct sun and heat, especially the yellow ones. Of course, everyone knows this and purchased all the nice big ones. Instead of 4 large ones as planned, I brought home 8 small pots.
We soaked the whole area down to loosen the soil.
With the oddities of our home, I don't simply sink a shovel anywhere in our yard. This project was no different. I found a mystery electrical conduit and a main irrigation line inches below the surface. The hard packed soil is just easiest / safest to dig with a high pressure garden hose nozzle and my hands (or a plastic kid shovel)
 |
| No work boots here. |
We started loosening the roots, adding potting soil, and plugging them in the holes. My assistant made sure I was working in the swampiest conditions possible.
Once they were planted, I punched a hole in the main sprinkler tube (conveniently dead ended right at the first plant) and turned on the system. No water. After fifteen minutes of screwing around, I cut the line open and discovered a wad of roots and nastiness had plugged the line just past the point I had made a repair this winter. Luckily, I had another coupling and the tubing needed to fix it. I ran lengths of the 1/4 inch tubing
from the main line to each plant, staked it, and added a flag dripper head. The nice thing about these systems is that you simply punch a hole, add a barbed coupling to the tubing and stab it into the main line by hand. Easy.
I need to get some decent stakes designed for this instead of junk I had laying around the garage. With the system on, each of the lantana received it's quenching drips of liquid gold needed to survive in the desert. The irrigation timer will take care of them from now on.
It was nice to change gears and do something different. I had plenty of excitement with the occasional, "accidental" dousing of a hose or spattering of mud following a good Gracie puddle jump. She had to strip down in the garage, for an immediate trip to the bathtub. |
| Liquid madness. |
How could I not close with the pure, unadulterated joy of a child playing with a hose at the peak heat of the day?