Garden Graffiti

Some women like to rearrange furniture -- Cynthia prefers plants. It's time for another landscaping revision of the front yard, which also involves adding more trees and plants.

We have lots of buried cables and pipes -- I know because we had them located before I did the last plantings. It's a free service, paid for by the utility companies, with the catchy slogan Call Before You Dig. All you have to do is call 811 two business days before you start digging, and it's illegal to dig without doing so.

Red marks indicate electrical cables, and orange is the code for phone/TV cables. Sometimes the workers use little flags instead of spray paint.

Not shown in the photo are the gas and water pipes which also traverse our property between the street and the house. Obviously it's preferable to dig between the lines, but small plants requiring shallow planting holes can be located over them.

I just found out that State Governor Christine Gregoire has proclaimed April to be Safe Digging Month. Here's a view of the official proclamation with her seal and signature.

We'd better start digging -- when it stops raining.