The garden isn't always pretty

I admit that I tend to develop a negative outlook on my garden as summer oh so slowly winds down.  Our long dry spell, which usually starts in April and stretches into late October or November, feels interminable.  Mid-day heat becomes tiresome and I long for cooler nighttime temperatures.  The soil is dry, plants look tired (if not dead), and flowers are sparser.  We've been lucky not to have any fires close by this year but our gusty Santa Ana winds are picking up so the risk of wildfires will intensify until our rainy season arrives.

Early morning is the best time of day, partly because shadows hide the less attractive features of the garden.

Last week I featured sunset photos in a post.  These photos of yesterday's sunrise are brought to your courtesy of my cat, Pipig, who was screeching at us while we were still in bed, apparently due to an unexpected sense of urgency about getting her litter box cleaned.

This photo captured a group of clouds in the northeast.  The hedge needs trimming but I put a hold on all heavy pruning until the outdoor watering ban ended, not wanting to stress plants any further than they already were.

Our temporary outdoor watering ban, required to prevent excessive demands on the water system while the Metropolitan Water District repaired 36 miles of pipeline, was lifted at the start of this week, two days early.  As we're still subject to water restrictions that define the days on which we can run our irrigation system, today was the first day we could do that.  However, my preoccupation with water use continues as our meter shows a slow leak.  While not able to pinpoint the leak's precise location without employing a contractor with acoustic leak detection tools, we were able to isolate the problem to a particular section of pipe connected directly to the city's water line.  We've had two prior pin-hole leaks in the same section of pipe within the past year so we contacted a plumber to replace the entire line from the street to the point it connects to the house.  While the plumber was able to suggest a method to limit the impact to my garden somewhat, there's a lot of prep work to be done.

The pipe in question runs under my compost bins so I started by emptying the one I was currently using.

I stopped adding new material to my compost pile when we decided to bite the bullet and replace the pipe.  It was about half full when I started sifting through it to remove rocks, grubs and the giant bird-of-paradise roots infiltrating the bin from my neighbor's property.  The photos show the bin actively in use (left, midway through the process), the screen I used to sift it (middle), and the empty bin (right).

Even though the bin wasn't full at the start, I managed to fill one and a half trashcans with screened compost

I used it up all too fast on this and one other, smaller area in the back garden

My stubborn husband, who is recovering from surgery and still isn't supposed to be lifting much weight, started tackling removal of a large area of gravel.

This is a fraction of the areas he's already cleared of gravel.  I'd estimate he's about half done.

So far, he's filled 16 bags with gravel.  Regrettably, more than half of them are being stored in my cutting garden.

I still have to dig up a section of bromeliads and succulents I planted along our northern property line.

In addition to the succulents and bromeliads I'll need to put into temporary pots, there's a chiminea, a couple of large pots, and rocks that I'll need to move (somewhere)

 

Among the plants to be moved are those in this lovely little vignette I showed off in an August post

We've received the cost estimate for performing the plumbing work but we don't yet have a scheduled date for the three-day job.  Hopefully, it won't be long.  Whatever water we saved by honoring the 13-day outdoor watering ban is being lost every day that the work's on hold.

All material © 2012-2022 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party