Water, water everywhere, and not a drop for my lawn!

Jim Nevers was here yesterday to check out my yard and to see what passifloras I need to keep my own growing and fruiting. He saw just how bad we are at housekeeping - thank-you mom, for putting all the blame on me! He also saw just how poor I am at weeding and watering! He pointed out that many of my plants were too dry for the heat, and I needed to get busy watering to prevent a major killing.

I didn't know if I would be able to water due to our current water conditions, so I thought I had better investigate. I made the mistake of going to the StPete.org website to see what our water restrictions are in this water shortage. I really didn't want to know! After spending a half hour trying to decipher the most confusing set of rules, I have decided to go with what I think they are trying to enforce. Since I have a drip system, I am able to water when necessary, but never during daylight hours. I don't have a timer on my system, so I have to get up early to turn it on and turn it off. Today was not that day! I set the clock, but slept through it. It was just as well since I had half-heartedly planned to check the system since I haven't worked it for a while.

I finally got out there this afternoon, and I turned on my faucet to start the water flowing. Suddenly the ground was peeing up into the air in several locations. With vicegrips in hand, and pockets full of sprinkler heads, I set out to pull out all of the poorly connected tubing and replace with sprinker heads. It only took me about 30 minutes, but I ended up soaked and out of breath, but the system is working without problem. Again, this whole problem arose from the infamous mulching. I know that this drip system can be partially underground, so I just put all the mulch on top of the tubing. Little did I know that the weight of the mulch would pull some of the connectors out, and since everything was covered with mulch, I couldn't see where the problems were - I just knew that water wasn't getting where it was supposed to.

So tonight I am relaxing, with water flowing. The irrigation started 25 minutes ago, and I will turn it off in about 30 minutes. If all goes well, I will start irrigating every 3 or 4 days, to keep my plants from drooping. Now I have to plant the rest of the potted items in my garden so they can get the advantage of the fixed irrigation system! I thought gardening was supposed to relax you - I keep giving myself more work!!!