Video: Mulching and watering techniques with Doug

Got a good story about what happened before this shoot started.

I wanted to do the mulching/watering segment on real plants. There's a bed that's too far for the camera cables, so we decided to tape it at 8:15am and run it on Pittsburgh Today Live later.

I came downtown at 7:30 to figure out how to hook up the hose. There are brass junction boxes here and there sunk into the ground for the landscapers to use when they water.

You need a special key to open the box and turn on the water. I've got a key, so I can have a hose for segments.

So I hunted around for a junction box that was in front of a nice bed.

I inserted the key, attached the hose and then started slowly twisting the key counter clockwise. It was very stiff and I could finally hear the water start to run. then as I looked down a sprinkler head popped up and all the outdoor lawn sprinklers started as people were walking through Gateway Center trying to get to work. This was bad!

I tried as hard as I could to close the valve with the key but it was tough to move. I opened the valve on my hose hoping to relieve some pressure and lesson the sprinklers. After about five minutes of on and off twisting I got the sprinklers to about 1/2 power.

Luckily Bill Fuller from the Big Burrito Group showed up for his cooking segment. Being a real man, he had a pair of Channel Lock pliers. Once I had the pliers I was able to close the valve.

If you look closely at the video, you'll see how sweaty I am from dragging the hose around the great sprinkler escapade.