Adding Drip Irrigation - after the fact

Ok, Ok, I know! I should have put in the irrigation before buying plants!

I think I learned my lesson (though my hubby says I never will) about getting ahead of myself. I planted over a thousand little seedlings, hundreds of tubers, bulbs and corms, plus who knows how many (I do, but I’m not telling) oh-so-gorgeous-I-can’t-resist plants from the nursery. And then saddled myself with 1 1/2 hours of hand-watering each day. We’ve had an unusually hot spring, without rain, and I never imagined I’d be holding a hose for as many hours as I have in the last month!

After a great, serendipitous visit to the Bellevue Botanical Gardens (they happened to be right in the process of installing a drip irrigation system), we gritted our teeth and installed one throughout our gardens. Ok, mainly my hubby - but I helped!

It’s rather an impressing system, and I thought you might like to see it before we cover it with mulch.

It’s a bird’s eye view that also gives you a feel as to the layout of our gardens:

• Serenity Garden: near the house, nestled between the carport (soon to be art studio) and curved path

• Cottage Garden: the long border between the paths

• Shade Garden: on the edge of the rhododendron island

• Woodland Garden: under the trees, and stretching behind the chairs

What you can’t see is the Bohemian Garden - I’ll show you another time!

Jerry climbed up into the tree to get this shot