My new corner bed, where I have planted a tiny evergreen huckleberry and several perennials (not all are in the picture, because it was taken in the midst of this process). I have begun a rock path next to the house, but the gray under-layment is not working (plants growing under it--does not block enough light). So I just bought some heavy duty weed block fabric and will replace it sometime, hopefully before next summer.
East side of the property is not yet very well planted. The ground there is wet clay in the Winter, and baked, rock hard clay in the summer. I have a few trees and shrubs planted with varying success, a Western Red Cedar, red leaved crab apple, and Laurel Oak, trees have outgrown the surrounding grass. The shrubs: cotoneaster, evergreen rose, vine maple, Mahonia and others are overcome by tall grass, which I did not manage to cut back this year. Eventually, I would like a tree and shrub border that separates our place from the neighbor's driveway, provides habitat for birds, and looks good when viewed from the kitchen and dining room windows. That is in my future dreams anyway.
I know this is sort of incongruous, but I have a round garden made with stacking blocks plopped in the back part of the yard. There is a Japanese pepper tree in it, a sage plant, some anise hyssop, lilies and tulips. I need a good ground cover for them.
Whew, this yard tour is nearing the end. I have artfully avoided a number of junk piles, but will show you a few less than lovely areas. First, the lawn mower shed with future fence poles propped against it. The roof is a pick up truck camper shell, not pretty, but functional. The old cherry tree has had a no-mans-land of junk under it, but this has been getting cleaned up. The tree suckers profusely. Harley wants to cut it down, but I love it in bloom and it does have small but edible cherries some years.
Big fill dirt pile. I got this free, 2 pick up loads, with the intention of creating mini berms for trees and shrubs on the East side of the property where the soil is so miserable. Don't know if this will work, or quite how to manage it yet.
The back of the house has no garden, and with all the other projects I have going is not likely to until 20 more years have gone by, and then only if I am still in good health. But anyway, that's my place, my home, my little piece of the planet that I am trying to make more beautiful as well as functional for feeding my family good food.
Tag! You're next Tilly! Then I think Pixy is after that with her new camera.
Thank you for the very nice garden tour. You have been very busy. You certainly did put a lot of time and effort in putting together your tour for us. It will be fun to see how it changes throughout the years.
Ya tag I'm it LOL
Mine is going to most likely spread for awhile. I get one day off for the next 4 weeks, mandatory for all salary management.
Its funny that all the old junk has stories behind it. Love the Blue truck and Pix's pic of the plant car gives me a idea if only I had a real oldie here.
I love your place, so much more open, not choked with towering trees that you can't see the surrounding area. once in the yard, you are enclosed.
The Shade garden under the snow ball tree. What is the little mound of green? Want a closer shot, I like it.
Sorry you didn't post more of the junk piles, cause in almost all of my shots will have them to a point. A funny " Contest" the winner will be, who has the most junkie photos of junk. And win a trip to ?. Ha Ha.^_^
I know I'm sick, just a Hillbilly. LOL
Great tour hope I can do as good.
Hugs
That was wonderful Holly - I really do feel as though I have had the tour.
I think I'll be ready for a tour after Pix if anyone is intersted.
AND the winner will be a trip to the dump!! After we reclaim all the stuff that just might come in handy, and DH reclaims all that is sentimental, and then at the dump we can leave off....well, maybe not, and hey look at that..............
This message was edited Nov 24, 2008 8:33 AM
Oh Laurie, you will be the next tag after Pix. Did you hear that Pix. LOL
I will start mine in AM
I think this will be something we can keep going all winter.
Tills, it was a lovely idea to suggest. Many thanks.
Very fun to see all this! You have a lot of areas to work in. I see you are in a similar boat as myself - lots of places to weed. Can I ask how you keep the grass from encroaching on your lasagna beds? I have had severe problems with that. I think I'm going to have to put in some edging or something.
Puppy is adorable!
LOL on the truck. First thing I thought of when I saw it was the place where I have taken my sons for their senior photos has an old abandoned car in the field for photo ops. Then I saw the pic Pixy posted from the garden show. I love old stuff in the yard. As long as it has character. Your blue truck has the required character, imo, so go for it and make it the star of that part of the yard!
Does the pistachio tree produce? You have a lot of nice edibles! I'm in love with your vegie garden and very envious of the garlic. 2 years ago I planted about 90 garlic and 20 shallots. They grew nicely but when I went to dig them up, not one single bulb. Did the weeds compete too much? Then why were the stems growing up and behaving as they should? It was so disappointing. I am redoing our entire vegie area and almost had it ready to put the garlic in this fall but did not get it done in time. With my disppointing track record, I was not motivated enough. But hopefully by next year....
I also am planning on asparagus so will appreciate any tips you have there. I was going to do artichoke but as I read up on them, I'm wondering if they take up too much space for the amount of chokes I'll get off them - what is your experience? How big a bed should I allot to them and how many chokes would that net us? Have you tried canning the hearts or anything like that? My preference in choosing what to grow is based on #1 produce we can eat in season and still have enough to can for at least part of the year. After that I'll put in things that produce only enough to eat in season.
That was one other reason I did not put in the garlic this year. When I went to buy some, I was told none of the garlic keeps well here. Like I wanted 90 heads of garlic all at once and none of them would be keepers! So when I'm reading up on varieties of things like garlic, onions, potatoes, I'm also looking for varieties that keep well. But nothing beats the feedback from people here who actually are growing things with success!
Thanks for sharing - very fun to see.
Oh, where to begin! So many cool shrubs and planting areas. I do love the round bed and the tree therein, whose name I cannot remember as I type. Pepper tree? Genus/species?? I am a sucker for a nice tree with pretty form, not that I really have room for anymore at this time.
Too bad about having to move the camelia. It would look lovely against those trees in the background. Maybe someone else can chime in about this, but I have never been successful moving them. They always die on me. I wonder if it's because they are never really dormant up here? You might have good luck if you move it in the winter and keep it wet. The deciduous one won't be any trouble, though. And it is such a nice shrub. We are lucky because they are so invasive in other parts of the country. Our wet winters allow us to grow this shrub without fear.
Your cement patio is great! I wish I had been able to use a big machine to place my pieces when I did mine. Yours is nice and level and the pieces are so nice and big. The creeping thyme apparently really loves it! Such a pretty plant in the spring, too.
Harley is quite the buiilder! That outbuilding is just perfectly done. How nice that your son's drums can live in there. LOL!! Too bad Harley is not ready to give up the truck because I do think that blue color would look great with some white clematis. Gee, it wouldn't exactly ruin the truck, just give it a bit of 'protection' until Harley can get to working on it....
Okay, I didn't know we were taking turns with these tours, just thought everyone would do their own thread. So Laurie doesn't need to wait to start hers. Just go for it. I am LOVING my new camera! 10x optical zoom, 1.5" macro!!! Love at first sight!
Wonderful tour! You have such a beautiful space and so much going on at once. I like that you've described what is planted where and it's companions as I'm new to the area and always looking for ideas. Plenty of google thoughts to persue.
This is a great idea, so enjoyable to look and learn.
Was just a idea, Thought we just might get to mixed up, on where and what, and who did this or that. we can do what ever you all want, Go for it. ^_^
Holly what a great tour! I can really relate to the piles here and there. I'm finally almost pile-less after living here for going on 20 years. I'm nearly old car-less too now that my kids have all left home. I only have one trailer and car left in the shop area. Now if I could only reclaim the shop, not likely until my son gives up racing.
Asparagus.....I have a great little patch out front of the shop, however I no longer harvest it, since I saw someone pee on it. The shop is filled with lots of guys most evenings....sigh.
I'm anxiously awaiting other tours.
Holly I also sent you a package today.
New tour, from Tilly (mary) If you want to start, Up to you.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/926806/
Thanks Thistledown, I'll be on the lookout for it. Nope, I wouldn't be eating that asparagus either. Can you train them to 'go' around the edges of the yard to discourage deer? Don't know if that really works, but I have heard it suggested.
Thanks everyone for being so enthusiastic and appreciative. I sometimes get overwhelmed by all the work needing done and things I've tried that didn't work out. A garden problem doesn't just sit by unobtrusively either, it grows bigger. The tour was fun to post, though it took a lot more time to do than I realized. Hearing what other people think is interesting and looks good makes me feel better, even down right proud my efforts.
Yes, yes! The winner's prize is a trip to the dump! Believe it or not, that was my family's Saturday afternoon past time. We would set off down the alleyways looking for treasure that people often set out, and then would arrive at the grand finale, the large dumpsters behind the University of Chicago, where all sorts of good things could be found. The pickings were fabulous right after Spring Quarter, before the Summer Break.
Now just imagine the difficulty I had cleaning out my parent's basement before they moved out west. I had to sneak out in the middle of the night to deposit things in the alley that I was afraid my dad would haul back in. We gave away as much as people would take, but there were things left that they just couldn't fit in the moving truck and were really not very useful anymore anyway. OK, after that digression, back to gardening in the next post
Tilly! You posted your tour link while I was typing all that. Now I'm going to go see it. Back to this thread later.
Hey, thisle.
That pic is kinda funny, as far as cars goes, My DH before I met him, used to race . Car # 74 I findly got the car to go away. took alot or doing, but its gone now./
Ah. That was fun. Got to see Tilly's tour.
To answer a few questions:
The Chinese Pistacio doesn't produce fruit yet, but its supposed to have some when it's older. Unfortunately they are not the edible kind.
The Japanese Pepper tree has little red seed pods with tiny black seeds in them that are edible and taste kind of like black pepper. It was supposed to be more tree like in form, but I had just gotten it when I had a back injury and it sat in a pot for a year, not being watered very well. When I did plant it, it put out new growth from the base rather than growing up from the main leader. I still wasn't up to par physically, so I didn't prune any of them out for a few more years and it was very difficult to get at them without harming the ones I wanted to keep. Nonetheless, it is a cool tree/shrub, with lovely yellow and salmon Fall color and reddish new growth in the Spring.
Both my lasagne beds are fairly new, so they haven't had a chance to get much grass in them yet. I am putting a 5 inch plastic border embedded in the ground to try to discourage it from encroaching from the outer edges. Where I can't do that because the apple tree roots are near the surface, I put a narrow border of wood chips. Some weeds are growing there now, but not too many yet. Last Fall I piled the materials (leaves, horse manure, compost, grass clippings) on my area north of the house fairly thickly l and let it sit until Summer. Then, I dug down under it, kind of moving the mulch aside, to dig out all the grass roots that were still there within the bed. It was much easier to dislodge them with the ground loosened up.
Just two mature ( 3 year old) artichoke plants manage to put out all the artichokes a family of 3 wants to eat before getting tired of them. Maybe about 10 per plant per year? Didn't count them. One plant takes up about a 3 foot diameter of space in the garden. I never have tried preserving them, so don't know about that. They do need to be mulched to survive a more severe winter.
My asparagus bed was mostly a bust, so I can only tell you what didn't work for me. I planted 24, both purple and green, and I only have 3 still around to show for all my effort at preparing the bed. I think my soil is still just too heavy, because they need to be planted deeply where it is just about all clay at my place. I tried incorporating compost to a good depth, but clearly it wasn't enough. Might try again sometime.
Speaking from experience (25 years of garlic growing in this region), there are some varieties of garlic we can grow here in the PNW that store very well, as long as a year, keeping until your next crop is ready to be harvested. These are the softneck garlics, both artichoke (named because of the numerous clove layers in the bulb) and silverskin varieties are good keepers and can be braided to look fabulous in your kitchen all winter. I'll post a thread with photos showing my braiding technique next summer if you'd like. Some of the hardneck (put up flower stalk) varieties I have grown also will store for several months. I harvested in early July, and I still have bulbs that are in great shape. The Rocambole varieties are not supposed to grow very well here in the wet, not very cold climate so I've never grown them, but there are lots of other good varieties you can grow. I don't know why you wouldn't have gotten a bulb, except that maybe you planted a hardneck variety in the Spring.They have to be Fall planted to mature a bulb. The softneck types can be planted in late Winter or very early Spring and still make a good sized bulb. They need full sun to grow big and sturdy, but you still will get some garlic, just smaller in part sun. I don't have any more bulbs but what we are eating this winter or I'd offer you some. Next summer though....or if you want an infinite choice of different varieties, Filaree Farm has so many it boggles the mind. I got some from them a few years ago just to try something new. Watch out though, it can become an obsession. I planted 750 cloves one year and it took over my whole summer. I was the harvesting and cleaning drone.
Pix, your new camera sounds like a dream for all those foliage and flower close-ups. It will be fun to see!
This was the beginning of my patio, when we had first put down the concrete and I was building the beds around it. My nephew is helping. And Tilly, notice in the background behind the cherry tree there is long array of junk on the outer side of the fence, both ours and belonging to the friend with the excavator. But if it weren't for our trade, storage space for occasional machinery work, I wouldn't have that patio.
Oh, and I think the little green mound in the shade garden is Scotch moss, its a moss anyway, might be that variety.
Holly, fabulous!!! I so enjoyed the tour of your incredible place - my gosh, that "out building" is plenty nice enough to be a house!
Ahhhh, the division of labour - note where all the blokes are.
I planted between 3 and 6 different varieties (don't know anymore which tho) and I planted in November. Sounds like you have good luck. Hopefully we can remember to start a garlic thread next fall and you can tell me exactly which varieties you have had success with and I'll try those. And I would love to see your braiding techniques too!
Thanks for sharing your gardening experience. I'll sign on now for help next fall with the garlic. I've got some that I'm planting in the next week or so now that we've made some more progress on the site. I'll keep your recommendation in mind in evaluating my success as things mature. I too would love to see your garlic braiding - need all the help I can get in that department.
I'll definitely do a thread on garlic, perhaps a through-the-year what to do as the garlic grows, is harvested, cured and prepared for planting. I didn't braid any this summer because a close friend of mine was getting married in New York and I was gone just at the time the braiding would need to be done, when the stems are dry enough not to mold in the braid, yet still pliable enough to manipulate without breaking. Picture is of my early garlic, Chinese Pink, drying on newspaper in the dining room. 250 garlic plants took over my dining room and kitchen this summer. I will be glad when the upstairs of the outbuilding is insulated and cross ventilated so I can put it all in there.
Very cool, Holly!!
Laurie, the 2 blokes sitting on the right are my DH and father. The person on the left of the bench is my mother. She has broad shoulders and short hair. And of course, you have to give my nephew credit for helping with the digging (maybe too young yet to have been indoctrinated). Now DH almost never helps with that or weeding, but he does procure many loads of manure for me and operates the tiller when I want the ground broken up for a new garden bed. Also puts together irrigation pipes and builds trellises, and does take a leading role in planting the corn patch each year (after all this is in his heritage being a farmer from South Dakota and dealing with said crop from a young age, logging many hours on the tractor cultivating and combining).
Also found another picture I must share....my son when he was 2 years old 'driving' the old blue truck.
You can sort of see his car seat on the passenger side. this truck does not have seat belts (were there any back then?), so we attached the car seat with rock climbing strapping.
This message was edited Nov 28, 2008 11:29 PM
I am going back thru the tread, With some Qs
This is one.
Katye, on post 5811095 the pic of the carnex. what is the one in the lower right? I really like the color and grace it has.
This is two.
Pix, on posts 5811207 you show the carnex if front of the Hostas, My Q is will the carnex choke the Hostas? I really like that, but your Hostas are big, mine are still small. How long have yours been there?
Will have more later.
Pixy , to answer a question from back there somewhere: The Japanese pepper tree is Zanthoxylum piperitum. I found a site that explains how to grow them. I have lots of seeds if anyone wants to try.
Sorry, I don't know how to post links.
http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/cgi-bin/arr_html?Zanthoxylum+piperitum
First link didn't work again, so I'm trying another:
http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Zanthoxylum+piperitum
This message was edited Dec 2, 2008 8:02 PM
This message was edited Dec 2, 2008 8:10 PM
Holly, that didn't work. Try and google it again, right clik to pick copy, then go back to DG, then clik paste. hope that helps.
Tils - the plant you asked about is a non-hardy Geranium (pelargonium), called 'Vancouver Centennial". The leaf colour is fantastic & it grew rather well this year despite the cr*ppy weather. The small flower is a coral-orange & goes non-stop: they are still flowering, but much less. After the temps dip - they mush out. (oh, that sounds lovely!)
I keep growing them - I like them that much!
Katye,
Not that pic the one above it, the grass in the lower right.
Thanks Pix, Guess that idea went out the window.
OK - I did refer to the wrong picture, BUT, the grass in the correct photo (above it) is the same type Carex, too. Behind it is Phormium 'Apricot Queen', Geum 'Marmalade' (i think!) & an Epimedium wushanense.
