Double gate and asparagus

With brother-in-law over this weekend we spent the day working on the front gate.  The wrought iron fence and gate were installed last fall but we had problems with the automatic gate opener.  We spent the day using the welder (which he brought up from San Diego - it cost $1000, I asked) and got it put together.  It uses a solar powered opener which charges a battery.  A fully charged battery should last a month during the winter fog season when we may go for a week or two without seeing the sun.  

 

From the street to the house it's about 250 feet.  The wrought iron gate is about 25 feet off the road.  It's deep enough for a vehicle to pull off the road safely while the gate is opening.  My concern was if that gate was compromised.  The gate is supposed to have about 100 codes which really isn't many.  The good thing is that it's a very high end gate opener (even though we aren't high end) and not too many people around here used this brand.  If someone was going around trying to open gates, they would be assuming that most people had the one or two most common brands. 

 

We also have a second gate on the driveway.  This gate is about 200 feet from the road.  Someone can get through the first gate but still not be able to drive straight up to the house because of the second gate.  It's just a farm gate and people can just jump right over it but it will stop the vehicle.  The main reason I wanted this was if someone wanted to break into the house, their vehicle would be visible from the road.  If this second gate wasn't there it's really easy to drive around the house and park.  It would make that intruder virtually invisible from the road. 

 

Brother-in-law needed to make a run to Home Depot because the mounting hardware wasn't right.  During this time I went out to the garden and dug up one of the asparagus plants.  I planted these about 10 years ago and they've really gotten large.  The one original plant was able to be divided into about 30-40 new plants.  I gave six to the next door neighbor and six to my sister to bring back to San Diego.  The rest I planted in the front along the driveway at the property line with the neighbor.  This boundary has a six foot chain link fence and is lined with olive trees.  I've been planting roses down the driveway but figured that in between the roses the asparagus would do great.  I have about 10 more asparagus plants to divide, which means I may have 100 feet or more of asparagus plants that I'll be replanting.  I'm also going to be planting some down the road near the creek.  It's a seasonal creek and it just has oats and other grasses growing right up to it.  It needs asparagus.  After they get ferned out the plants look nice with the little red seed balls on them.  If you've never eaten fresh asparagus, and the stuff from the grocery store does not count, you are missing out.  It's fun to go out with the kids and cut some spears and eat them raw right in the garden.