Fingers Crossed

We have a lace leaf Hydranga on one side of the yard.  We decided to move it to another side of the yard.  Of course, I make this decision after it's already started to come back to life.  That's how I roll.

I also realized as my son and I were digging that the cinder block wall put in before we moved in runs right over half the root ball, so there was a large amount of sweating, grunting, swearing...and that was just the boy.

We finally got it moved.  So, fingers crossed as this is one of my wife's favorite plants.

The Never Ending Side of the Back...

The great daylilly experiment was an absolute failure.  So, we replaced them with boxwoods.  In the front near the grass, we're going to drop in some annuals.  I moved some of the surviving daylillies over to near the shed.  We also added some Peacock Irises, Cordilyne "Cha Cha" and Cordilyne "Electric Pink.  Lastly, I moved the Pink Panther Phormeum from the front yard where it was getting it's ass handed to it by the lavender.

Lastly, the orange tree has been ripped from the ground and I dropped a multi-trunk white Crepe Myrtle in its place.  Only, it's more of a stick at the moment, so I'll get a picture of it when it actually has some leaves and doesn't look like, well, a freaking stick.

I Found My Thrill...On Blueberry Hill

Ok, so I don't have a hill so much as a patch of dirt, but you get the drift.  We have been moving forward at a tortoise-pace; however, if you remember that bastard won.

We planted some blueberries a couple of week's ago.  It's ok that I didn't take pictures and post back then, because they look exactly the same!  We got them two weeks ago last Friday bare root and put them in the ground Saturday afternoon.  Since then?  Bubkus.  

We planted two varieties, as I found out AFTER buying the first ("Misty") that they need a companion plant for cross pollinating.  Dear Big Box Store that is something good to put on the sign to sell blueberries!  Because, then I would have bought two.  Instead, I mail ordered the other variety ("Nelson").  Those would be the sticks.

I also read that blueberries like a slightly acidic soil (pH between 4.09 and 5.0).  Now, I have no idea what the acidity of my soil is.  So, I dug out three holes two feet in diameter and a foot or so deep.  I then filled the holes with 50% peat moss and 50% garden soil.  The guy at the nursery, who admitted he never planted a blueberry in his life, said that would work.  And, he must know.  He had a name tag for crying out loud.

Lastly, I understand blueberries need a winter window of six weeks with 36F or less.  Yea, I live in Southern California so that's not happening.  We'll see if they survive without that.

I'm sure hoping those are buds.  I'm not sure at what point I say these things are deader then a door nail.  I'll give them two more weeks.

Gophers: Can't Live With 'em, Can't Kill 'em...Oh, Wait...

...yes, you can.  And, here's how.

I had me, wait for it...three gophers at once this spring.  I have no idea if gophers are like birds and only spawn a certain time of the year, but it certainly seems that way.  Anyway, I had one in three of the four corners of the yard.  The trap I use is a cinch trap.  Works like a charm.  I nailed the first two in the same day.  Set the trap in the front about 11 am then went back out around 2 pm to a varmint.  Moved the trap to the other side of the yard then went back out around 6 and got a second.  Supremely easy.  Here's the third.  And, don't panic, there aren't any pictures of dead animals.

Here's the utensils.  Cinch trap is second from the right.  Gloves are for the fact that the trap is a bugger to set.  The trowel and weed puller are for finding the holes.  Got it all together?  Good, off we go.

Below are the telltale signs of gopher problems.  Mounds of dirt.  That, you didn't make.  Now, if you have kids it's entirely possibly random mounds of dirt could be their doing.  In which case, flatten out the mound and come back the next day to see if it or any others have appeared.

This particular hole was on the side of a hill, which I found makes it extremely difficult to dig out as the hole wants to collapse.  As it's hard to tell which direction the tunnel goes, I start poking the weed puller into the dirt until I can find which way it's running.  It's pretty easy to tell, as you can see, the puller goes in right up to the handle when you've found the tunnel.

Using the trowel dig it out.  I don't have any pictures of that, as I was digging and am not talented enough to photograph myself digging.

When you're done, the hole should look like the above.  Stick the weed puller back down in there to make sure it's a tunnel and not just a deep hole.

When that's done, set the trap.  There are instructions that come with it, so I won't get into that here.  I will point out that step one is to put on gloves.  Put.  Them.  On.  The spring mechanism is strong and when you get your finger trapped in a sprung trap it hurts like hell.  Hurts more like purgatory with the gloves, so wear those.  If you have gauntlets, more power to you.  Now, from the above picture you get an idea on how it works.  There is a small trigger that the vermin's nose hits which springs the trap and "cinch's" (get it?) it's neck in the end that's laying on the trowel.

Then it's quite simple.  Stick the business end of the trap in the hole.  And, you're done.  One thing to consider, though.  The hole needs to be big enough for the trap to actually be able to close.  Otherwise, it gets hung up on the dirt and the little bastard gets away.  If it's difficult to put into the hole, use your trowel to widen the hole.  Don't dig, just stick the trowel in there and pry on all sides until the hold is wide enough.

As you can see, I speak from experience.  First attempt the hole was too small.  Trap got hung up.  The little terrorist then moved into the lawn, so I had to have a second go.  I'm not sure what happened with the second go, but...

...I needed a third go.  That was the charm.

The trap is reusable and runs about $15 USD.  To get the gopher out, just start to reset the trap and it will fall right out.  Be sure you're above whatever you want to dispose it in before doing this, though.

And, there you.  If you're from cinchtraps.com, put my check in the mail.

New Hardiness Zones Are Available

They're here.  Just punch in your zip code.  And, apparently, I've moved.  I was 11b, now I'm 10a.  Crap, how do I break it to my 11b plants that they're all going to die?

Earth Day: Yea, We're a Little Early

My son's class heads off to the Chino Wetlands every year to celebrate Earth Day.  There are a number of educational activities they partake in, but his favorite is that he gets to bring a plant home!!!

I/we have no idea what kind of tree it is.  They told the Boy, but he doesn't remember.  If we can't figure it out, it will get planted as far away from the house as humanly possible.  All I need is an oak uprooting the foundation.

Here we got it planted into a larger pot.  The pot is probably too large, but it's what we had.  Unfortunately, we're also fresh out of fertilizer, so it will be getting that this weekend.  In the meantime, lots of water as we're suppose to hit 95F (35C) this weekend!  Welcome to a Southern California (inland) spring, bouts of hotter then bejeezus followed by winter like rain (which is due next week).

A Subversive Plot and Watch More TED

I love TED.  It's addictive.  Below is a clip I hope you'll find interesting.  It's a talk given by Roger Doiron.  Here's his bio:

"Roger Doiron is founding director of Kitchen Gardeners International, a network of people taking a hands-on approach to re-localizing the global food supply. Doiron is an advocate for new policies, technologies, investments, and fresh thinking about the role of gardens. His successful petition to replant a kitchen garden at the White House attracted broad international recognition. He is also a writer, photographer, and public speaker."

I think one interesting (frightening?) note is that in order for the world's population of an estimated 10 billion people by the century's end to be fed, the world will have to produce more food in the next 50 years then in the previous 10,000 combined.  We can't even make decent food now, how on earth are we going to do it on that large of a scale?

I'll tell you how, we're going to grow it ourselves.  I'm heading out today and planting something.  Ok, I'm pulling all the weeds first, but damn it, then I'm planting something!!  Who's with me?!?!

A Nice Spring Day

We had a rare occasion at Castle Turling this past weekend...a significant amount of time with nothing to do.  So, we took advantage and spent some time relaxing in the backyard.  I grabbed the camera and snapped a few pictures of stuff coming in.  Yes, we have a few things in dirt here.

The wysteria that I spent three years trying to kill before giving in to the losing battle is marching on as it continues its takeover of the patio cover.

Sweet Mary of Jesus is there ANYWHERE the damn weed don't grow?!?

On the left is a Kalenchoe and on the right is an, err, Pinkus Plantus.

My little row of daylillies.  I grew these from seed, at least I think they were seeds, there is probably some other name for them.  However, once I put them in the ground...BOOM...dead.  All went brown.  I went to tear them out and found some of the tiniest points of green coming through, so I left them.  Look at these soldiers coming back, now.  I'm so proud.

The previous owner planted irises.  I dug up most of them and gave them back to him (he is my father-in-law after all), but seem to have missed a few.

My Orange Tree Dilemma

Ok, maybe dilemma is too strong a word.  No, actually, it's probably not strong enough.  This damn little tree has caused me too many sleepless nights.  I sit at my bedroom window staring out at it willing it to grow.  Ok, I made all that up, but it's still pissing me off and forcing me to never buy a fruit tree from a big box store (rhymes with Rome Repo) again.  Anyway, my little orange tree is still alive, but now it's spring time and it's doing this:

Everywhere.  All over it's little tiny trunk it's sprouting spuds.  Now, I'm not sure if I should peel them off and force the little bugger to put its energy into the couple of trunks it has or let it run its course.  Keep in mind two things.  First, when I say trunks I mean one main trunk and one Tyrannosaurus Rex arm that I consider a trunk.  And, second, I have the patience of a four year old on Christmas Eve, so I'm not really wanting to wait for it to put out 900 spuds and in six years for it to widdle itself down to its three favorite arms.  So, perhaps, you can see my dilemma?  Too scrape or not to scrape?  That is the question.

Spring Time: Time for Work

Spring time here, like all other places I'm sure, means one thing.  Work.  And, unfortunately, the bad work comes before the fun work.  This is why:

Yea, baby.  Those be weeds.  And, a sage in the background that needs to be trimmed back.  Actually, it needed to be trimmed back six weeks ago.  And, yes, that weed in the front has gone to flower.  That's how I roll.

You see, living where we do, we get a lot of weeds.  I mean A LOT.  There is a field directly behind our house that is a la naturale.  So, every California weed known to mankind blows into my yard.  I can't bring myself to pull them in the winter for a couple of reasons.  First, I'll just need to pull them again in the spring, thus doubling and/or tripling my work.  Second, it's cold in the winter.  Yes, I live in California, so we have "winter", but we're also "weenies", because we only have "winter".  Plus, I had other winter time things I was working on.

Normally, for my weed chores, I'll use this for the majority of the stuff:

It works pretty good on stuff like this:

Not so good on grass, though.  And, it seems I have a lot of grass growing in places it shouldn't.  Kind of like hair when you hit 40.  Anyway, with grass it tends to leave it like this:

Yep, it just scoots along the top.  Scoot being the technical gardening term used by master gardeners everywhere.  So, the grass I'm going to need a different tact for.  Unfortunately, grabbing and pulling leaves most if not all the roots, so that defeats the purpose.  But, I have a plan.  I concocted it while driving home from work.  So, it's bound to work.  And, no, it does not involve chemicals, as I don't put that crap on my yard.  It involves a stick.  And, a lot of duct tape.

Ok, I'm kidding about the duct tape...

Garden: The Plan, Part III "Embarrassment is Fun!!"

Alright.  Here it goes.  Now, I'm typing this on my second glass of wine, and it may end up being fairly long, so I could be on my second bottle by the time I reach the end and I may propose to the Idiot by the time all is said and done.  By the way, go donate.  See previous post.

Now is the time both of you have been waiting for.  The time where I show what a horrid job at a gardening blog I have done.  Ready?  Wait.  Go get a beer.  It will be better that way.  I'll wait.

Our landscape designer, Mr. Savage, has given us three dimensional pictures of the finished plan, minus many of the plantings, but you can get the general idea.  I've included those as best I can.  And, we're off.

Side yard as it currently stands.  My contribution to the world of white trash.  My wife will be fuming when she sees this one.  Well, and the rest.

On the left you can see the vegetable garden.  Notice the lack of vegetables.  That's because of this.

That's a pepper tree.  That tree was half the size when we moved in a few years back.  It has now grown so large that it actually casts a shadow over the vegetable garden during the winter.  I need to call the City.

Moving along, the side yard should eventually resemble this.

See trees and stuff.  Apparently, that's my wife.

Moving on.

This is the backyard from a path that runs along the back of our house.  The path is actually a couple of miles long and winds up through the hills behind the house.  Of course, that requires a gate in the back as during the summer months we enjoy walks back there while the kids do what they do and I smoke a cigar and have a proper beverage.  Anyway, here's what it will look like.

The structure is going to be replaced.  Over to the left there will be a row of fruit trees.  I need something to put in my gin.  And my Blue Moon.  You get the drift.

Lastly, the front yard.

The front yard will be a dramatic change.  It will end up like this.

Big change.  Now, ALL of the lawn is being removed.  I'll have a mower available in a couple of years.  Currently, the yard slopes down to the sidewalk.  We're going to remove that and put in a retaining wall, creating a courtyard up above.  That will be a future post.  We can't give it all away right away.  Neither of you will come back.

So, there you have it.  Filled with good intentions, but a lack of time.  Maybe I'll win the lottery.  Probably not.

Garden: The Plan, Part II

In part I, we looked at the overall layout of the garden.  In part II, we'll take a look at the type of plants we're going to put in.  Part III, next week, will show the before and after and part IV will be an estimate of the volume of this particular endeavor.  Think Egyptian pyramids.  You won't want to miss those, as I give all of my embarrassing full disclosure pictures of the yard.  I'll need a few pints before those, so the images may be a little blurry.  Trust me, it will be better that way.

Anyway, here we go:

Above is some examples of the stone work that the patios and walkways will be made from.

Examples of the type of stonework to be used on walls, planters, etc.

Front yard plantings for the courtyard.

Side yard at the shed.

Side yard to the right near the pergola, just below the vegetable garden.

Backyard courtyard area and back planter near rear wall.

We haven't yet received (read:  paid for) the construction drawings which will include all hardscaping, irrigation and planting diagrams.  We have, however, received an estimate of total cost if we hired someone to do it and it contains, well, an assload of plants.  That means a lot in American.  That will be a future post I'll most likely have to write while drunk.  In the meantime, enjoy the garden inspiration.

Garden: The Plan, Part I

Yes, it's finally here.  I talked a while back about us paying a landscape architect for full plans of the entire yard.  We are pretty sure we can follow plans, it's just the general idea of the yard we have problems with.  We can't think outside the footprint that's already here.  For example, we are only planting and planning based upon the current placement of walls, walkways, etc.  That's not what we want.  The gentleman who took on this gargantuan challenge was Michael Savage of Savage Land Design.  Brave man, he is.

We wanted a fresh set of eyes.  And, the three things we asked:  1) shade and 2) a place we never want to leave and 3) no lawn.  The first part, shade, is a requirement in the summer months here.  We're normally well into the 90's F during the summer with many days above 100 F.  In the past, we've spent the morning hours outside, vanish inside for the middle six hours of the day, and return for the evening where we normally eat dinner on the back patio.  Our back patio, where we spend the vast majority of our time, is south facing, so the sun is relentless.  Second, a place we never want to leave is just how it sounds, a place that feels like we're on vacation.  Lastly, no lawn.  Nothing further needed there.

Here's what we've got:

Do you know how hard it is to take a picture of a three by three foot piece of paper?  This was snapped on the bathroom floor.  I had to crop out my toes from the bottom.  Anyway, the front of the house is at the bottom of the picture and the back of the house at the top.  The big white blob in the middle is the footprint of the house and the smaller white blob in the upper right is an existing swing set that will be staying for the foreseeable future.

Start at the bottom.  Lower right is the olive tree that was just trimmed a while back.  Middle is the driveway which I've never taken a picture of because it's ugly.  Lower left is the front entrance.  Coming up from the street, there is about a four foot elevation change to the front door.  That will all be at the sidewalk with steps that lead into a courtyard.  

Moving to the right side of the house, the side patio coming off the house will be a sitting area covered by a pergola.  We can get to it through a french door we had put in a few months back.

Just above that on the right is the vegetable garden (directly below the small white blob in the upper right).  We won't get into that, as that's another project that's stalled.  Future post, as there is a reason.  In the upper right, the orange colored trees will be fruit bearing.  Our own little orchard.

Just to the top of the house (above the big white blob) will be our main patio with a cover to end all covers.  We'll also have above that a fire pit.

The upper left will be a sea of trees and a decomposed granite path that leads to a back gate.  That gate will exit to a path that is maintained by the City.  We back up to a green belt and have no one behind us and currently have access to that path on the other side of the yard that we use all the time.

Lastly, to the left of the house is the existing shed, which stays.  Why?  Because, it freaking rocks.

That's that.  In the next few parts, we'll go through some mock ups of the plan, as well as, the types of plants we'll be including.  Stay tuned.

Garden: Tree Trimmin'

It's that time of year, again.  Trimming up the olive tree so it doesn't look like an olive bush.  Per various reputable and not-so-reputable sources, a new tree should be trimmed up over the course of three years.  This is year 2.  Here's the hired help.  Don't laugh, they work cheap, if not for very long.

Sun spot in the bottom corner.  Unfortunately, cropping it ruins the effect of seeing the before.  And, the trees been trimmed, so there's no taking another before picture.  This blogging thing is harder then I thought.

And, the after.  Not too shabby for a guy with little to no clue.  Next year, we'll trim it up one more time and, hopefully, it should actually look like a tree.  Go figure.

I also can't figure out what kind of olive it is, but this year it gave another hint in that there are no olives.  So, it's bi-annual.  Hopefully, it's bi-annual and I didn't neuter it somehow.  Don't tell me all olives are bi-annual, either.  With me thinking I have a clue and all.

Garden: Our California "Winter"

Jerusalem Sage.  Blooms late spring to early fall.

Lion's Tail.  Blooms late summer and early fall.

I hate to break the news to the two of them that it's February.  As far from normal bloom times as one can get.  We have had an exceptionally warm and dry winter, as I understand the rest of the country is undergoing the same thing overall.  We have been between 70F (21C) to 80F (27C) since Christmas with an occasional near 90F (32C) for good measure.  My normal turning off of the irrigation has failed to happen at all this year.  I certainly hope it's not a sign of a miserably hot summer.

Please, please, please...

You may remember our sad little gopher ravaged orange tree.  Well, we've killed the gophers...and their offspring.  And, now we have these:

She's making a comeback.  These are Valencia oranges and the Sunset Magazine Massive Plant Book states they are summer bloomers.  Maybe in Australia, but last time I looked it's fall and these still have a few weeks to go.  There are six oranges in total on our sorry little Charlie Brown tree.

I'm foreseeing a big comeback for this guy.  In the meantime, it had better ripen those oranges...my Blue Moon is waiting.

If You Do Things, They Will Come

I'm so giddy, I could pee!!!  We recently added compost, sand, gypsum and lots of love to this section of the garden.

Yes, yes, yes, the two of you that follow along at home can tell I'm doing things out of order, but at the end of the day it all ends up here.  But, while I was digging all of this soil into my inert earth, I found exactly...exactly...zero earth worms!  Two weeks later we planted, and I found this...

Isn't she beautiful?  Yes, if you try, things will change for the better.  And, of course, I cut it in half so I had two.  Do you think I'm an idiot?