2021 keeps bearing gifts with the formation of a new gardening club in my neighborhood. With so many lovely gardens, I was excited to see what wonders lie behind privacy fences. Unfortunately I missed the first day of tours. Maybe next year. Nothing is more fun than sharing your garden with friends. Like all artistic… Continue reading A new gardening club
Category: Design
Gardens need planning. And its not just for beauty. Healthy plants need water, light and room to grow.
Planning the pond.
I like how the dry pond and stream came out – it has the bones of a small mountain stream making its way down the valley to a river bottom. As grass peaks out here and there I will add a few flowering plants. I am currently scoping out the pond liner and what I… Continue reading Planning the pond.
A patio by the pond
Where better to sit than next to a pond? With the drum of spilling water drowning the drone of man’s machinery. The original plan for the patio included a dark gray breeze (small rock chip) base material next to a dry, white boulder pond. A contrast of dark and light, a modified Taijitu. ☯ Using… Continue reading A patio by the pond
How changing the gardens contents can change its vitality
The Going Native journey is not a statement. It’s not political, not artistic, not religious. It’s a journey by steps towards the best habitat I can create. It’s the new age ideal, ‘we are everything, and everything is us’, brought back to the physical. It’s finding pure balance in the nature I create. But it’s… Continue reading How changing the gardens contents can change its vitality
Why zen
Today life seems evermore a rushing river. You start days in a rush to get a mornings work in before the hunger and the lull of siesta calls. Our days end with ever louder traffic. Unbeknownst to us, they raise the speed limit and our quiet corner of the world is gone. Rush hour keeps… Continue reading Why zen
Ideas for new paths
This is a nice tutorial on how to create a gravel path that stays in place. The big deal is the tamping and a good tamper! A natural low profile path The path found by Pam Penick on an Austin Garden Tour in 2008 has the lines I’m looking for. Here flagstone is upended to… Continue reading Ideas for new paths
A look back to where it once was
A look to 2007 and the beginnings of a journey to the garden border. This place was much more bare than I remember it. This was 12 years already. Today, plants and weeds too overflow everywhere… an urban lot on the precipice of maximum habitation. Though within some bounds. Nothing is more centering to the… Continue reading A look back to where it once was
Where do you start when you have very big gardening plans? Why small of course.
The garden plan looks great on paper. But as I look around there’s so much to be done. Where do you start? One of the challenges with my new plan is digging out the dry pond and the dirt will form a berm. This requires I understand the layout of the current sprinkler system. The… Continue reading Where do you start when you have very big gardening plans? Why small of course.
Finally a space for a bridge and grassland?
The Vision: A calming mixture of dry stream and waves of nature inviting grass. Creating better visual balance is key. When I envision a calm harmonizing place I think of the zen garden. The subdued palette, natural material and simple symbolism. I think of its interactive purpose in bringing you fully into the present moment.… Continue reading Finally a space for a bridge and grassland?
Permaculture in the high country; practical use and guidance.
Permaculture Practice Where to start is to read The Permaculture Design Course Handbook. It leads you through the 11 design principles whose goal is a community of plants and animals acting in coordination for mutual benefit. When thoughtfully placed near each other (relative location) each element provides at least three functions for other elements. Principles… Continue reading Permaculture in the high country; practical use and guidance.