Micro Macro

We are currently on a 3 day watering schedule...Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. I figure with fall and winter coming, they will relax the drought schedule. Apparently, fellow citizens have cut back watering so much, that the water agencies have lost revenue, and have been asking  people to 'not cut back so much!'
What is the saying...you reap what you sew...

Overall, we have a large system of microsprinklers throughout our yard. We have a front yard grass area that works with standard pop up sprinklers and the newly refurbished backyard area is watered in that manner as well. We may switch out the latter area's system in time...but for now, it's real nice to have it on automatic.

We did have a mess to untangle there a couple of weeks ago, too. I guess one too many swings with the axe in taking up the grass, cracked open an irrigation line and we got the area dug up and repaired. Nothing like being ankle deep in water and wood chips-thanks, love! Nothing like having a strong son able to help out in a jiffy, too!-love him!!

Copper Plant Markers

I found a nice pack of these at a local garden/nursery a few weeks ago. I haven't bought them yet. I'm drooling over them as they are probably some kind of requisite to a cottage garden. Gosh, they are just lovely, only 2 bucks for a pack...and are going to look real nice turning shades of verdigris in our Coastal Cottage Garden.

Park Seed Co., shows and sells them as well.

It will be a finishing touch well worth the wait....

Odds and Ends

I've moved some plants around the garden, and planted a few pony packs to brighten up the beds until the perennial seeds get sprouting. The mixture of pink dianthus, lobelia and trailing alyssym are doing nicely along the edge of one of our new beds. Some of the seeds i've started are:

• Pink/White Coneflower
• Lagurus-Bunny Tails
• Mexican Primrose
• and Delphinum

These are all part of the master plan, but are quite slow to get going...hmm. Anyway, I'll be out there soon, tossing more into pots and crossing my fingers. It is important to keep successive plantings going, and fall is a great time to be outside working. Not too hot, not too cold-just right.
You can see in the photo above, i've interspersed the pots and growing packs right into the beds to get acclimated.

The Bandit

For the last month, i've been busy chasing a racoon out of our beds. He'd come every three or four nights, dig up all the impatiens and rummage through the vegetable garden. He has kept me endlessly busy replanting the flowers he digs up nightly. I came up with a minor deterrant (one of several attempts!)

-installing a string fence and implanting  golf tees upside down to distrub his footing. He's only been back once since these measures were introuduced. But gosh darn it-i'm way past fed up!  He will be sorry the next time one of us catch him in our yard-no more Mrs. Nice Guy! I'm thinking since the Concord Grape vine has stopped fruiting, he may be holed up somewhere in the neighborhood). I'm praying he stays away and lets me get back to the project at hand. The don't call them VARMINTS for 'nothin!