Getting Started

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