Thank you always Bower for your encouragement. I'll forge ahead and be careful about tightening up my perimeter, enjoy what I have, then not worry too much about the critters.
Now I thought I was overdue in tackling a critical part of the project: watering. I've gotten used to drip irrigation in my previous gardens, permanently setup with timers -anything to decrease my labor and maximize production, by ensuring good, timely and dependable watering. For the first two boxes, I couldn't wait to start planting, so had them filled and got in the ground as soon as I could, before setting up the irrigation. I didn't forget that step ;-) Now that all bed frames are done, it makes sense to lay out at least the under-ground plumbing before filling the beds with dirt -much easier ;-)
Turned out the connection into the already filled bed (the L) was tricky. I had to move some of the dirt, even uproot a poor little lettuce that started feeling at home, so I could snake in the water pipes.
first-cut.jpg
I saved the strip of grass I had removed, then jammed it back in to cover the pipe. How fun would it be if it was any easier?
after.jpg
I briefly considered using the flexible black tubing typically used in drip irrigation -I had an ample supply of tubing at hand, and it would have been much easier to snake in under the frames and into the beds. But then I opted for the heavier duty pipes shown: 1) I didn't have the nicer fittings (screw-in, removable, vs press-in elbows and tees) and didn't have time to order and get them delivered, and 2) I wanted a heavier duty system, something I could leave permanently under full pressure if needed. I wanted that flexibility.
to be continued...