Gardening

I've been taking advantage of the great weather here in Santa Barbara by planting a bit of a garden in our back yard. So far I have several varieties of tomatoes, some hot peppers, three types of peas, carrots, radishes, cucumbers, and lettuce. Here's my pea fence, and some carrots. The radishes are already done--I'm currently eating a slaw made up of the rest of the daikon radishes. Delicious!



I installed a drip irrigation system to make watering easier. It's attached to the house hose spigot, and there are a bunch of different ways to get water to the plants. The black hoses in the previous picture are "drip tape"--lightweight hose with drip emitters every foot or so. Those are great for long rows of plants, but I've found it easier to use individual drippers per plant, especially in my tomato beds:



If you look closely to the right of the photo, you can see the stream of water coming off of the drip emitter. I think my water pressure is a bit too high for this system, though--it should be dripping, not streaming.

I've also experimented with mini-sprinklers. These seem good for watering a larger area, but not so great for targeting individual plants:



There's a main 1/2" line that I have running from the hose bib, out to the back beds, and up to the roses in the front yard. Off of that main line, I tap in and connect a 1/4" microtube along the way. Off of the 1/4" line I can connect drippers or sprinklers. The drip tape, though, connects right to the 1/2" line. It's cheap and easy to set up, and super convenient! My trouble has been getting the pressure right along the entire line.

Our yard has a bunch of established fruit trees, too. Loquat, grape, peach, pineapple guava, fig, and lemon.











We also have a bunch of very fragrant jasmine in the back: