It's perfect weather for garden installation around here

I think normally when someone says, "Yeah, I'm taking the whole week of Thanksgiving off because we have plans" it means that the person is traveling to spend the holiday with relatives or go on a vacation of some sort to celebrate the holiday.

Not so around here.

When Hubby said he'd be taking the whole week of Thanksgiving off because we have plans, it's because:

1. a portable storage container is being delivered to our driveway
2. the last of 1500 pounds of boulders needs to be moved out of the back of our low-riding pickup truck
3. the invasive ivy and vinca major that's grown through the fence from the neighbor's yard over the past few years needs to be hacked away
4. the boulders that were in the pickup need to be arranged to line the path down the south sideyard in preparation to install a pea gravel and flagstone path (which we'll probably tackle during his time off around Christmas)

Oh... and Hubby is also doing the pre-holiday food shopping that needs to be done while I'm sitting here typing this blog post. Yeah, I married a saint of a man.

The garage has, up to now, been our storage area for my floral design supplies (including some massive coolers too big to put anywhere else and big boxes of blocks of floral foam), home construction materials, and food storage in pantry units down one wall. Over the past few weeks, we've relocated the pantry units to available temporary space in the house, but there isn't room anywhere for everything else in the garage that needs to be cleared out in order to begin the work of transforming the space into my new studio.

So last week, we made the decision that we'd just have to bite the bullet and include the cost of a portable storage unit in our construction budget.

The portable storage unit was delivered on-schedule mid-day on Monday. It's called CoolBox because (unlike other portable store pods) this one is completely insulated so the interior stays more temperate. The 16 foot x 8 foot unit is now sitting in our driveway taking up one parking space with its door facing our garage door. Today, Hubby started the transfer of stuff from the garage to the unit while I worked on setting rocks.

Hubby had done the monumental task of cutting back ivy the past couple of Saturdays (despite being plagued with an allergic reaction to all the stuff he was kicking up in the process). Once he had cleared the ivy away to reveal bare ground, he started moving rocks from the back of the pickup and pre-placing them in a line.

Then it was my job to come along and apply my vision to the placement of the rocks. I had to dig, scoot, and rearrange to get each one looking just right. The long course of rocks now forms a raised bed for the warm climate lilacs, loquat trees and Cecile Brunner rosebush that form the dense arch of foliage leading down the sideyard to our "secret garden" in back.

Hubby smartly discovered one rock with a little "mouse hole" on the bottom and placed it perfectly over the irrigation line that runs to the raised bed (you can see it in the photo above). (I'm telling you, he's awesome!)

With the November air cool and crisp, it was the perfect time to be doing this hard labor.

This time of year is always interesting in the garden. There are some trees and bushes (the liquid amber, plum, pomegranate and cherry) that are turning beautiful shades of yellow gold or russet red. At the same time, the leaves of the non-deciduous trees and bushes, like the thick glossy loquat leaves, remain a lush green. The hummingbirds and bees still have plenty to snack on since the lavender, loquat and navel orange are in bloom. At the same time, their deciduous neighbors have bare branches ready for winter.

It's such a wonderful time to be out in the garden, I may have a hard time breaking away for the Thanksgiving festivities. Then again I'm "a bona fide turkaconis freak" of major proportions so it probably won't be that hard to lure me away.

We are not being compensated in any way by CoolBox Portable Storage or getacoolbox.com for the photo of their storage container or mention of their company's services in this blog post.

Slow and steady wins the race when it comes to fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, and garden installations

I know it is officially autumn when the Japanese maple tree begins to change color. It has. The leaves dance in the breeze in colors ranging from russet red to bronze to a pale Granny Smith green. Fortunately, this tree holds on to its leaves a long time after they've changed color, so Hubby and I can enjoy them and savor their beauty.

With the cooler daytime temps, I've been able to go back out into the garden to do involved hardscape installation that I can't do in the summer heat. However, I do have to keep telling myself the old adage, "Slow and steady wins the race" and that it's perfectly okay to do things at a slower pace than what my creative imagination and my ambitious brain would like.

Last Saturday, Hubby and I went to our local landscaping yard and handpicked over 1500 lbs of beautiful moss-rock boulders of various smallish sizes. Actually, I picked and Hubby lifted. I wasn't able to help because of a minor fibromyalgia/chronic fatigue flare-up. He loaded each rock onto a palette. Then the landscaping yard guy came and picked it up with a forklift, drove it to the scale and then to our truck where employee unloaded the palette into our truck and Hubby was able to finally get a break. The poor little pickup was riding pretty low on the way home, but it handled the rocks like the champ it is.

My flare-up has been keeping me from moving forward with installing the rocks as the border for a future pea gravel and flagstone path down the side yard, so the truck it still sitting the driveway (very low) full of rocks.

I keep repeating to myself, "Slow and steady wins the race... Slow and steady wins the race."

Because I haven't pushed my body (as I often do) I'm feeling this flare-up wane already. And if I don't jump the gun and let it completely subside, I'll feel just fine to start hauling rocks around in a couple of days.  Then I can line the path in preparation for a pea gravel to be put in so flagstone can be set in it.

I just have to remind myself, "Slow and steady wins the race... Slow and steady wins the race." You know, now that I think about it, I feel a little like Dory on Finding Nemo.

In my estimation one can never have too many rocks

Just look at that pile of gorgeous bad boys! It's one of the most beautiful sights ever... a pile of huge hunks of naturally eroded and rounded off granite. I have my sister and her husband to thank for these. They were moving from their home and asked if I would like to give these boulders a home. I couldn't say, "Yes!" fast enough.

Then came the hard part... getting them from their house to ours.

The boulders are so large and heavy that multiple trips were involved. Aching muscles and backs were too, Hubby tells me. I obeyed his strict orders to stay away from the loading and unloading zones. Our trusty little Toyota pickup was riding low with these behemoths loaded in the back. But the Tacoma never whimpered. Now the wheelbarrow... that was a different story altogether. Let's just say we have to procure a new one and leave it at that, shall we?

Once the rocks were unloaded into a pile in the middle of the unfinished half of the back garden, Hubby gave me permission to roll them around to my heart's content as long as I didn't try to lift them and strain myself irreparably. As my personal "Jiminy Cricket", he knows me well enough to know I'd do something stupid if he didn't give me carefully worded and firm parameters. Luckily, I listen better to my Jiminy than Pinnochio ever did to his.

I took my time getting around to rolling any rocks since I've been recuperating from a nasty bronchial virus I caught over two weeks ago. The delay gave the lizards and the little semi-feral garden kitty time to claim the rock pile. Little Missy regularly sits on the largest boulders surveying her domain while toasting her petite fanny on its sun-warmed surface. The lizards enjoy sunbathing too as well as darting in and out of every shadowy crevice catching bugs to eat.

Once I was feeling up to it, I rolled the first rocks into place to better define a canna lily bed (above). The rocks fit like a glove. I was feeling so good about them that I decided to roll a few more into place in a different location under the lemon tree to better define the path that curves under its branches (below). These large boulders will be an important addition to hold pea gravel in place so I can place flagstones along the remainder of the path as I've already done further back toward the shed and thicket.

After rolling 5 boulders weighing at least 100 lbs piece I was pooped. I have yet to roll anymore from the pile. I have to do some planning and clearing first. I got the clearing pretty much done the past couple of days. Now I just need to decide what goes where.

In the meantime, Little Missy and the lizards are doing a great job vying for who is Ruler of the Rock Pile.

Intro: Collecting rocks

When I was in 4th grade, I was "interviewed" by my elementary school's newsletter editor because I had won a contest for a drawing I'd done. I was asked what I wanted to be when I grew up. I'm sure the interviewer was expecting me to say I wanted to be an artist or something having to do with the fact that I'd just won a drawing contest. But no. Without hesitation, I told her I wanted to be a geologist. So that's what got printed in the newsletter article. I think back on that and can't help but chuckle.

I have inherited from my mom and her family, a love of rocks. I started collecting rocks when I was a child. I even asked for (and got) a rock tumbler/polisher for Christmas one year. It was probably the Christmas just prior to the aforementioned "interview". I had this dream only a child would conjure up that I would make all my rocks beautiful and shiny and discover the hidden beauty in them so I could make jewelry and other pretty things for others to enjoy.

Fast forward over thirty years (and many career path changes) later to when Hubby and I bought this little house that would become Rosehaven Cottage. It was in a shambles. To most it definitely qualified as "scary". I know it qualified as such to most of our family members. It needed so much work. But it had "good bones" as our house inspector said. And we saw the hidden beauty within it.

We would be only the third couple to own the little 1947 house. Consequently, much of what the original owners had put into the home when they custom-built it almost 60 years previously was still there. It was just buried in years of dust, dirt, and neglect. The garden was no exception. I came to dub the garden the "Winchester Mystery Garden" because I would find the oddest things while digging in the dirt.

One quite serendipitous object that I would uncover periodically would be a single old child's marble. The first time it happened, it was a small joy. Then the second, third, fourth, and consecutive times it happened it became sort of a good luck charm. If I found a marble while digging in the garden, it signified to me somehow that I was doing the right thing by bringing this little place back to life.


Another wonderful discovery I had while digging in the dirt was the day I uncovered the former owner's rock pile. It had been buried in compost and sediment from years of leaves and rain falling on it. I dug and dug that day finding every wonderful rock I could have ever dreamed of finding back when I was in 4th grade. The owner had used many of the rocks to embed in concrete slabs as part of the walls of a lanai that was built (and dedicated with a plaque I uncovered) in 1961. The rest of the stock pile had been buried. And I was the lucky girl that found them. Be still my dormant little 4th grade heart.

Along with the rocks, the former owner had collected abalone shells from days of abalone diving expeditions out on the bay (a neighbor that has lived here for decades told me this). After removing the contents for an abalone feast for the owner and his diving buddies, he would take the lovely shells and embed them into the concrete wall of the lanai along with the rocks. I found many abalone shells, whole and broken, as I dug around the garden. And when the dilapidated lanai had to be torn down, I carefully removed each rock and abalone shell to use it somewhere in the garden. Interestingly, the abalone shells would often pop right off the concrete completely intact while the rocks wouldn't fare as well.

Now all the rocks and abalone shells that the former owner lovingly collected are showcased somewhere in the garden either as a path border in the front or as a pond border in the back. And the marbles have come inside to reside on a shelf in my studio.

Am I disappointed that I didn't become a geologist? No. What I didn't know in 4th grade, that I know now is that I can collect rocks and love them without being a geologist. I also didn't know like I know now there are many other things in life that need to be polished in order for their inner beauty to come forth... like little old houses, neglected gardens, and even people. And when you throw them all in together into the big proverbial "rock tumbler" of life's experiences, they polish and smooth one another.

As I've reflected on this wonderful phenomenon the past week, I've come to the conclusion that I need to share more of my own "rock tumbler" experiences here--particularly the ones I've had while bringing this little house back to life and making it into Rosehaven Cottage.

And I hope that you will indulge me as I take this introspective journey that I am about to embark upon.

Scroll up the sidebar for the additional "chapters" to the story -->

Before and After: The Drainage Project

I have mentioned many times before that our home sits at the low point of our street with everyone's water from both directions heading toward us in a big rainstorm.

A few summers back my brother came between semesters at his university and, with pickaxe in hand, dug a massive trench in the hardened clay soil. He lined the deep trench with river rocks and dubbed it "Trenchy" (said with a heavy French accent... emphasis on the "ee"... just because my brother said it that way).

"Trenchy" became the main dry river bed (or "arroyo") that led all other drainage efforts to the back corner of the property where a large county storm drain sits just on the other side of our property line. Each successive drainage project was heavily dependent on "Trenchy". One hidden drain system next to the house was even dubbed "Trenchy Junior".

As I've gone out during winter storms and observed the flow of rainwater since "Trenchy" was dug, I knew that there would be further adjustments over time once I figured out what we were doing with everything else back there. Last summer, I got into "Trenchy" and removed all the river rocks that had lined its banks. Most of the rocks were buried in layers of silt and their beauty was wasted with them buried like that. Since I was demolishing a large concrete slab adjacent to "Trenchy" it made more sense to remove all the river rock and replace them with large chunks of recycled concrete. Then the lovely river rocks could be used decoratively elsewhere around the garden, including filling the head of "Trenchy" with a bed of river rocks that supports the new flagstone sitting area that I put in next to the pond just last fall. The river rocks are great for draining the water out of the hidden "aquifer" that is under the flagstones built with crushed concrete, pea gravel, and sand. You can see the river rocks against the flagstones in the photo at right.


Once all the river rocks had been removed, I lined "Trenchy" with the concrete blocks at the same time as I demolished the concrete slab. I'd sledgehammer out chunks of concrete and then fling them into "Trenchy", going back later to more carefully arrange them.

Once "Trenchy" was lined completely, I installed large diameter french drains (those cylindrical white things in the photo at left) with branches going up mini trenches to take the floodwater away from the areas around the pond when it floods in heavy rain and quickly divert it down "Trenchy". The drains sit at a slight incline to shed the water toward the storm drain and they sit at the lowest point down the center of the trenches. I then took more chunks of recycled concrete and fill in up the sides of the french drains.

When that was done, it was time to hide everything under a thick layer of pea gravel and make "Trenchy" into "Super Secret Trenchy". We had 3 cubic yards of pea gravel delivered to our driveway from the local landscaping outfit, and I hauled wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of gravel to the back to fill the foundation of a new garden shed as well as "Trenchy". The few wheelbarrows' full, my back was gone so Hubby kindly came out and finished up the pile for me.

With the pea gravel in place, the trench and french drains are now completely hidden. All you can see are pretty gravel paths that meander toward the back of the garden past raised planters made from recycled concrete where the dogwood (far right in the photo) and the olive (left foreground in the photo) have found their permanent homes.

Rainwater will now drain through the gravel into the french drains and be diverted to the county storm drain so we have less flooding under our house after heavy rainfall (hopefully I will be able to alleviate that all together with a few more minor tweaks farther up toward the house).

And the big bonuse is that I'll be able to walk around in the back garden without any difficulty even though it may be pouring rain. Before, it was like crossing multiple fjords back there. Now I won't even have to think twice!

The view from the back of the garden looking up toward the pond and house is now one of my favorites. The shadows lacing the path are being cast by the huge white oleander and the cherry and apricot tree conglomeration that I call "The Thicket" because the birds love to hang out in there where they feel safe. You can see the newly planted olive tree on the left in the raised planter with narcissus coming up around the base.

At the right is a 150 gallon horse trough that I used to house the goldfish for a while during renovations to the pond a couple of years ago. The horse trough will eventually become a part-sun water garden with a small recirculating waterfall in it. I'm really excited about that because up until now the only water plants I've been able to have in the pond are full-sun water plants. It will also serve as a nice little oasis to just sit and relax in the shade when the summer temperatures are scorching hot and soaring over 100° F (38°C).

But for now, I have more concrete to demolish, more planters to build, more paths to install, as well as a shed to assemble (well, Hubby is going to handle that part).

It's Not Done, but I Have to Share!

We bought Rosehaven Cottage a little over 7 years ago and it was in a state of neglect, needing lots of love and attention (that's why we could afford it in the Bay Area housing market). Never afraid of a challenge and with my mother's mantra "How hard could it be?" repeating in our minds, we dove into the project of a lifetime. The house and the gardens had good "bones"--firm foundation in the house; great soil and a white picket fence in the garden. We literally pushed up our sleeves the day after closing escrow, and they've not come back down very often over the past 7+ years.

All photos above are what the gardens looked like the day we closed escrow.

Hence, today's post on my latest garden project. [I say "my" because the garden is MY domain. As well as having bad garden allergies, Hubby is a phenomenal chef so we compromised and made the kitchen "HIS" and the gardens "HERS". It works.]

Let me give you all some context...

Our home and garden reside at the low point on the street with every other house in either direction being on higher ground. Fortunately, the county put in storm drains decades ago to handle the water runoff both at the front, middle and back of the property line we share with our neighbor. Typically, we don't get rain during the summer. Our heavy rains come in the winter. Around here rain can come in deluges that can wreak havoc on the garden if the water doesn't have some directional help (which is why I found old 3 foot high brick walls completely buried in soil throughout the back garden when I first started digging years ago). The good news is that we get lots of "free" top soil from neighbors. The bad news is that unless we handle the water properly is collects in our crawl space under the house and pools in low points throughout the garden. So our priority in our garden has been to provide hidden channels for the water to go from the high side of the back garden diagonally across the entire property back to the farthest low back corner where a storm drain awaits to carry the excess water away.

Easier said than done when you want to have a functioning year-round produce garden.

So I've employed various features and techniques over the past 7+ years to accomplish this:

1. If you can't fight it, work with it. I put in a pond where the water seemed to collect anyway. I went out in the height of the January rains and started digging with a shovel. I moved the clay soil around as well as the muddy water that was collecting there until it "looked" right.



2. I used large rocks that I found all over the garden from the former owner (who had to be a rock collector because they are not indigenous rocks) to create borders around the pond and the gardening beds in the front garden.



3. We took out all the concrete paths that were in the back garden and have reused the blocks of recycled concrete to build raised planter beds that I plant in produce and flowers according to the Square Foot Gardening Method and basic companion planting techniques (which means now pesticides!).
   



4. I put in pea gravel paths between produce and flower beds. The pea gravel paths hide a water diversion system for high run-off. Every winter, I go out during the peak of rainstorms and push the gravel around with a shovel to divert water and make it flow where I want it, make mental notes, and then when the rainy season is over I drop trenches in those areas that were problems the previous year and hide them with the well-draining pea gravel.
   
5. My brother dug a major trench for me that is the beginning of the main trench system that is currently in the process of being installed by little ole' me. I will drop french drains in them and then mask the french drains with pea gravel and river rocks.

So that brings me to what what I've been doing the past couple of weeks. I've been installing a flagstone patio that actually masks a large subterranean drainage system which diverts water down the major trench.

I love rocks, I love dirt, and I love being in the garden, so this project has been so much fun! I let inspiration guide me each step of the way. Although the overall project is still far from being done, I wanted to share photos of my progress.

Above: The new flagstone patio that masks a subterranean drainage area that flows to the river rocks you can see in the center of the photo.

Click on any of the small photos above to see larger images.

Above left: View of the new flagstone patio area looking down the trench that is now filled in with river rock to handle water when it rains. I have built what we call here in No. California an "arroyo".

Above center: View from the back looking up the river rock trench toward new flagstone patio area. I've handled changes in elevation by building steps with recycled concrete blocks.

Above right: View of my chair under the plum tree where I feed the fish in the pond. Now my chair sits level on a lovely flagstone terrace next to a planter made of recycled concrete blocks with a birdbath in it.

Now its time to go play in the garden again and throw some more rocks around!