Thursday, June 2, 2011

Water, Water Everywhere


  1. Nice garden beds, hope the flooding didn't mess with your plants.

    My yard has a safety valve of sorts, the back gate pad is low enough that if the water starts to crest the patio slab, it'll start flowing out into the alley in back, regardless of how much water is coming up from the system. Haven't had it get that bad in years.

    People from out of state often don't believe me when I tell them that here in the desert, we water our yards by flooding them with 4 inches of water twice a month, and it only costs $65/year. Ahh the beauty of 50's-era big-government projects.

  2. freaky!
    don't you run short of water some years? Or is that California's problem?

  3. The Salt River Watershed has had three years of good rain and excellent snowpacks while the Colorado River Watershed has had terrible rains. The two systems are only connected when SRP sells water to California. It's very interesting. PBS ran a documentary called Cadillac Desert which tells all about the LA Basin irrigation system.

  4. Boggling. I came to California from fairly waterlogged states -- the natives were born with gills -- and didn't fully understand the concept of lawn irrigation, as I grew up with natural irrigation, often eight days a week in the summer. Your flood system shames our puny pop-up Rain Bird sprinklers into inadequacy.

    Bet this keeps your yard clear of junk, too. "It's flood night, get the garden tools to high ground."