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.

That Four Letter Word

P-L-A-N.  That's it.  I said it.  It's out there, now.  I never thought it would come to this, but it must be done.

We have been very slow in getting off the ground here at Castle Turling.  Because we have so much space (by California standards), we are stymied on even where to begin.  Trips to the nursery turn into walking around events where nothing gets accomplished.  So, we've decided, we are going to map out a planting scheme for a section, visit the nursery and buy what's on the list.  Stick to the list, I say.  Here's where we're starting.

This is the (wait, rises in the east, sets in the west) east side of the backyard.  Where our so called orange tree is that I've written about in the past.  Yes, it looks exactly the same.  It's so sickly, you probably can't even see it in the pictures.  Anyway, it's moving somewhere else.  No, not the compost pile (we don't have one, yet), but another part of the yard.  If it doesn't thrive there, then it will be the first visitor to the compost pile that it will begin the formation of.

Here's the plan:

 

Not a good rendition, no, but it works for us.  I think it also shows that you don't need a lot of fancy stuff to create a plan.  This is actually on a piece of graph paper and I used our kids crayons for the original.  That didn't show up in the scan, so I did it again in markers.  The plants or pretty close to what their fully grown size will be.  The top photograph above is taken from the gravel.  See, down at the bottom, it says "gravel"?  My handwriting is horrid, but you should be able to make out the "G".  The second photograph is taken from the top of the plan looking back towards the gravel/patio.  We're putting in the following:

• 1   Fan Palm in the upper left.  That's already there in the background of the top photograph.
• 2   Catmint.  About 14 to be exact.  That's the row of purple on the right.  It will be up against the lawn.
• 3   Daylillies.  Behind the catmint will be about 14 or 15 daylillies.  Different species.  Species?  Is that the word?  Types?  Colors?  Kin?
• 4   Jerusalem Sage.  Moving from another part of the yard.
• 5   Italian Cypress.  To give some height.
• 6   Not shown is the Hollywood Juniper.  It's the plant in the two photographs that looks like an Italian Cypress falling over.
• 7   Monkey Flower.
• 8   Echinacea.
• 9   Aster.
• 10 Coreopsis.  I think I spelled that wrong.
• 11 Sedum.
• 12 Lion's Tail.  That's moving from another part of the yard, as well.

This area received full sun, which is why the Jerusalem Sage (4) and Lion's Tail (12) are moving there.  On the other side of the walking path behind our house are two massive Pepper Tree's.  You can see part of one in the upper right corner of the top photograph.  They have in the last couple of years pretty much blocked the sun from the area the Lion's Tail and Jerusalem Sage currently nest.  The backyard is south facing, by the way.

Since buying so many plants will be pricey, we're making an attempt at growing some from seed.  Won't that be a treat????????  The catmint looks like poppy seeds.  I hope the DEA doesn't show up.

In the meantime, I'm off for a pint.  Speaking of pints...stay tuned for the next post.  (That's called a "cliffhanger" by the way.  Let's see if it works.)

I'm Breaking Down and Writing Down

And here it is:  the journal.  Yep, we need one, like you wouldn't believe.

My wife picked me up a big ol' notebook.  I'm breaking the journal up into a few sections:  watering, fertilizing and planting for now.  I think I may start a section just for vegetables when we get to that point.

I've discussed previously that I have the attention span/memory of a cucumber.  That has been solidified by the experiences of the past year.  I have a tendency to forget the last time I watered the potted plants (the "watering" section) and when I last fertilized (the "fertilize" section).  I always think I watered yesterday and fertilized the previous weekend.  Then, the plants get droopy and I realize I fertilized last in February...2008.  So, I'll be tracking each of those in the appropriate section.

The third section, planting, is where I'll be tracking a few things.  First, obviously, is what has been planted.  What goes with that is that most dreaded of four letter words, the "Plan"

Over the past year, we have gone to the nursery, we have shopped, we have purchased plants, we have even put them in the ground.  But, we're finding that once you get to the nursery, it's overwhelming.  We end up doing one of two things, either buying nothing, saying we are going to go home and create a plan we never do, or we have a bizarre mixture of plants that we're not really sure what watering, light or feeding requirements they have.  So, we're going to pick plants prior to going and stick to the plan.  More on that this week.

Also, I'm going to create a yearly calendar, which I'll try and figure out how to put on the sidebar or a separate page of this site with my limited technical abilities.  I always seem to be a couple months ahead or behind in whatever I'm planning on doing, such as pruning, splitting perennials or reseeding the lawn.  That should at least give me an idea of what to plan for in the coming months.

In the meantime, I'm going to go grab myself a pint, as our beloved Tottenham Hotspur were absolutely demolished this morning by Fulham in the 4th round of the FA Cup, 4-0.  We are still sitting fifth, though, in the league and I think we can still qualify for Champion's League (4th or better).  Twenty four hours left in the transfer window, and no talk of a central defender or realistic option at striker.  We'll see how that goes.