How long ago was it that I originally started on The Fence Project? Long enough that the brilliant orange/brown of fresh redwood has faded to dusty grey and a family of earwigs has taken up residence in the paper-thin slot between the rail and post. Last year I said I’d never be done with the fence project and this weekend is the realization of that statement.
Lavender! Our poor fence has looked so stark set behind a four-foot strip of weeds and dust between it and the curb. It’s a fantastic play where the stage is broken wood pallets and the curtains made from taped-together trash bags. A fence needs to emerge gracefully from the ground, cushioned with a base of fragrant bushes. Thus: lavender. Thirty-four plants, to be exact. Note the precise spacing, the even-handed placement, the regimented arrangement of branches and flowers!
Because I work hard and am incredibly lazy, the second order of business after planting the lavender was to set up a drip irrigation system so I don’t have water all these every night, stumbling around in the dark with a watering can and headlamp like a grumpy garden gnome. See this little doohickey below?
It’s an adjustable emitter, something you can dial up the water release from slight perspiration to Niagara Falls. I had to assemble thirty-four of these little bastards, working my fingers to the bone to thread these things into tight ¼” hose. Then I hooked up the timer, ran the line along with some drip line to a square-foot garden and some more emitters to a few citrus trees and we were in business. Now at six AM, both our timers click on and multiple gardens, trees, and lavender plants start sucking up water that at current prices will send us to the poorhouse by the end of summer. Ha ha! I jest! The lavender will eventually require very little water, and since we’re not planting any zucchini this year, thank the Lord, we might make it all the way to winter before the local water district has bled us dry. All the more reason to switch to rain barrels , I keep telling myself. That’ll be next month’s Big Project. Right after my wrist heals up from all this manual labor.
Writer, architect, father, husband.
Good job! Is Uncle F*&% up on vacation? 😉
Hah! Thanks for the prompt. Uncle F$@k-Up made his appearance last night. After a hard day’s work I had several beers, then massaged my sore left wrist. Maybe it was the numbing effect of beer or over-enthusiastic massaging, but I was up most of the night with a sore wrist that throbbed as if I were wearing a bracelet made from red hot iron.
Uncle F%#k-Up is now available for physical therapy! Just sign this waiver…
LOL!
Well, I hope the wrist is better soon. Maybe some ice and some aspirin would help with the inflammation.
Having installed my first drip system in 1985, be aware that it is much easier to Over water than to Under water using a drip system.
I like the looks of your fence project.
Yes, I’m watching it carefully. I don’t really know how much water it’ll take to get the lavender established, but I installed a valve so we can switch off water to all the lavender while the system keeps watering the rest of the garden. With water bills at about $100/month, my wallet is scared of over-watering!
I can smell that lavender already. lavender, as you and your landscaping wife know, are great for dry climes because they don’t require much water–once established, of course. Lavender sachets to come??
Babs–I’ll have to see if the French Lavender lends itself to making sachets. Although I pickled cucumbers and made tomato sauce last year I haven’t dried many of our herbs. Most of the time it’s just easier to use them fresh. I’m still worried that we planted them too close together but with some pruning I hope that we’ll have a nice and not too overcrowded hedge.