California Gardening: Moving North, 0 by stellapathic

stellapathic wrote:
Thanks Zuzu, I'm very excited about it. I have been scouting for a new place for a while and was also looking in the Jenner/Bodega Bay/Tomales regions. But, as you know, I've already "done" Sonoma County and you guys have just a tad too much rain in the winter for me. Having lived in both places I knew I wanted more rain than we have here in Laguna but not so much as Occidental. I know, picky, picky, picky! Cambria seems perfect.

Chuck, thanks for the welcome. I'm looking forward to it. The house is on Lodge Hill, so named because Cambria Pines Lodge is up there, pretty close too. But this piece of property is so nicely tucked away and quiet, you'd swear there wasn't another soul around. It's a tad further from the ocean than I was planning on and will probably be a bit hotter this summer than I'd prefer but I can always garden at dawn and dusk when it's cool and work during the hottest hours. I work from home, over the internet, which is why I'm able to move pretty much anywhere and keep my job.

Thanks for the reminder about the weeds. You forget these things when you live somewhere that has a gardener maintaining the grounds once a week. Cambria has a limited water supply so I'll be moving, removing or letting die anything that needs excessive watering. It's had a couple of months already to see what survives without watering and I can't be up there full time for at least another. There are hordes of gophers there too. I had that problem in Sebastopol and solved it by digging out the soil, building raised beds with double chicken wire bottoms and having the sides at least 2.5-3' high. That way they couldn't climb over the wood and the soil level was much higher and easier to reach without straining my back. It worked then and I'll probably do some of that again. I will take my time though. I don't have enough of it (or money) to go too crazy out there right away. I'm just thrilled to have the chance to get my hands in the soil again. It's interesting the things that have survived with no water. The ones that did and that I like a lot, I'll probably repeat. The ones that are struggling but I like I'll probably move either to a container or closer to the watering source. You know, clump all the greedy guys together and keep them watered without wasting water on plants that don't need it. I plan on setting up a container garden too, for veggies, herbs and flowers. Maybe get a few earthboxes, I like the sound of those. The nursery looks great and I live right around the corner from them. I'm going to have to severely curtail my spending when I'm there though. It's soooo tempting to go crazy and buy all kinds of exciting things and then not have the time to either plant or maintain them. Let's see if I can find another shot of another corner.