Buying a house generally involves incredible amounts of indecipherable paperwork,
inspectors crawling around attic spaces mumbling things like "hum, wow, oh man what is that?,
a few sleepless nights saying to yourself "what are we thinking?"
and the usual long weekend of cleaning gross looking stuff in corners
and behind toilets that you wish/hope/pray
you won't ever have to look at again
Large boxes of "stuff" that you forgot to label magically appear and then multiply as you search in vain for a spot to put them
and if your like me, you wonder why you have 5! yes 5..... 50 foot extension cords
and enough half empty cans of WD 40 to lubricate a battleship
but the reality is really about just getting started....taking a deep yoga breath and reminding yourself it's all good
and all you need is a few days to get re-focused
So I planted a pot with geraniums (the lazy gardener stuff which I happen to love)
and then I got started getting started...cause you have to start somewhere right?!
There are very few plants that we want to salvage here, so the first order of business is removing old spent shrubs, double digging, adding amendments and trying to figure out why
every sprinkler head in the yard is either broken
or manages to miss the planters and water the rocks.
After two days of digging I still haven't seen an earthworm..... not one! Even the bluejays seem a little pissed off by the lack of worms.
The jays are eating overripe berries and squawking like tired hungry children at a theme park so I'm hopeful that we can entice some worms into these planters STAT
Anyway...the sun is out and the thought of getting a blister on my hand sounds pretty darn wonderful after not setting foot in a garden for two months
The grass is pretty much spent...a victim of bad soil and watering problems.
Some areas are covered with moss and others are like the bottom of a dry lake bed.
But I really like so many of the elements in this yard especially the tall hedges and stone terraces
"the plan" is still in question but I think we want
a small vegetable garden
a spot for a pretty water feature
and definitely flowers
If you have water, flowers and trees
you will eventually have the rest of mother nature's friends
birds, worms and insects
and the occasional skunk
I also want to focus the garden plan on the old stone foundation walls,
keeping the plantings simple and the color palate bright
The white walls of the old stucco
are the perfect backdrop for roses, bougainvillea and lavenders and some of my favorite low growning little guys like catmint, thyme and lambs ear
I'm thinking of using long low white walls and garden rooms
with gates and arches
to divide the yard into various areas
with different uses
the grass will probably be nonexistent
but I really do like a little patch of grass
and so does my dog...when she's not napping!
We actually traded our huge Honda mower for a manual lawn mower that requires no gas.
In fact all of the new tools we have purchased are powered by lithium batteries or
just plain old un-modern sweat and muscles
Speaking of garden tools...many of mine are rather unconventional and I usually buy them based on my size and how well they will work for a particular job.
I have a few favorites and find a lot of them here...
including the steel edger above made in Holland by a company called Sneeboer
and another really handy tool called a spork
I'm sure I have mentioned the bright tub trugs too (below)
which you can find everywhere now and have a million and one uses
and are an essential item, at least for me, in the garden
the sun is setting so time to call it quits...just for now!
thanks so much for stopping by...and please remember:
xo
kelley
