Three years of dreaming and then six weeks of action gave the Shoebox house a wonderful new front yard. It never would have happened if Chad hadn't suggested we skip a planned backpacking trip and said "let's do it this weekend".
So we did! My roommate, Megan, rounded out our team of three known as "Balls to the Wall Landscaping". Our well-earned motto: "We move dirt back and forth."
So we did! My roommate, Megan, rounded out our team of three known as "Balls to the Wall Landscaping". Our well-earned motto: "We move dirt back and forth."
Thanks to friends who have pitched in and especially our neighbor, Mark Thomas, who has given me great advice along the way and not only taught Megan and Chad and I how to lay a perfect flagstone path but helped us for half the day.
Thanks to my dear late Grandma Selma for the plants, I know she would love this garden.
Thanks to my dear late Grandma Selma for the plants, I know she would love this garden.
I've felt like if I can't take care of my little .2 acres then I am not prepared to take care of the wider world, so gone is the depressing weed patch that one might have called a lawn.
All my thanks to Chad and Megan. The neighbors, Scott and Amy, who brought us fresh made mojitos and Lizzie and Andrew and Landon for being our junior unit and planting 50 tulips. The UPS man who tells me daily that we "must be professionals" and all our neighbors who come by to visit. And to Christina and Jason for their awesome rototiller which really made this all possible, and Chris for the use of his truck!
When I bought the Shoebox house in August 2008 there was a decent lawn (it didn't take me long to stop watering it and mowing is a pollution nightmare with my old mower).
Then it became a lot of weeds that I mowed or neglected until it was just rather brown.
Poor sweet little Shoebox house....
So on July 23, 2011 we started to clear out the weeds....
Meg, Chad working - Fiddle monitoring
The Cherry tree ('Ming the Bing') in a sea of soil
The boss (my Fiddle)
Shasta the superintendent (Megan's dog)
The machine that made the day! Thank you Christina and Jason
Laying out plans with a hose
Taking shape...
The craig's list treated wood - formerly guard rails.
My Subaru is playing truck again, about 700lbs of wood plus a dog ( I drove slowly)
Mountains of dirt... we felt like moles.
movin' dirt
making beds...
and moving more dirt
Monsoon rains sent us inside. So we made 5 batches of Buckhorn Springs Granola- yum.
Best granola ever
and Chad painted the door roasted chili pepper red
The sun shines again...
Meg filling the trench with (free!) rock we got off craig's list in 5 happy trips
Rake width, not planned, but hooray!
Craig's list perennials! Nearly 60 plants for $80, they'll grow
Beds are shaped and weedcloth laid down, fixed in with staples and metal edging
Beds!
The first plant in the ground is one I brought from Grandma Selma's garden in Oregon (May 2011 via United air)
Covering weedcloth with a little soil so that the mulch won't blow away
Meg's circle idea becomes a reality
Laying out the plants
and more plants...
Ok, grow!
Plant carnival
Sample mulch looks nice!
Cherry gets some company
8/20/11 - We take a break to climb a couple 14,000' mountains (Mt Shavano and Mt Tabeguache)
Happy Birthday Dad!
Driver and co-pilot
Came home that night with a happy Fiddle and some rocks for landscaping. I also hiked a pretty rock down from 12,500' - heavy but worth it.
Chad working on sprinklers. THANK YOU!
Kati came over to can peaches...
Peaches, peach jam and zucchini relish
It takes that much team work
Meg's circle
Big plants coming in!
Taking shape...
The Dog Team (Meg photo)
Lettuce in the back
Blooming!
back garden
Back garden harvest
the carrots are especially good this year
Red front door with orange crocus at entrance- orange for Grandma Selma
Landscaper Mark explains flagstone path (and he sold me beautiful flagstone at a unbeatable price, easily brought over from his back yard.) Arizona Buff is the name of the stone.
"I'll just help you with one more step... "
Testing
A perfect puzzle
Drink of the day: Water, lemon juice, fresh mint, cranberry juice and rosemary.... it was at least 95 deg
Consulting
Early September
Getting top soil for the lawn-to-be. Fiddle in Chris' truck (when parked).
Path and Shasta in the background at her tree
Mark's Wheelbarrow (whel-burro)- a lifesaver!
The path (please tilt head)
Why not have a patio too?
Perfection in my book
More wonderful rain turns yard into a "trout fishing pond"
Prepping lawn for top soil
squash never stops growing
almost ready for seeding
Path and patio (sorry, tilt head again)
Meg's circle has a happy sunflower in it
Meg's circle has 40 tulips in it... looking forward to Spring
For my birthday, Chad and I visited petroglyphs (up to 2000 years old) in western Colorado (inspiration!) ... also picked 97 lbs of peaches for nutritional inspiration.
Hiking out an already cut Aspen log with Michelle and Matt in Edwards (photo by Chad)
Perfect patio table set from the neighbor's garage sale on 9/5/11- $30!
Great find Megan! The chairs even fold up.
Blanket flowers blooming in early September
Shasta Daisy
Squash and flowers
Wood from the wild horse range in Montana, seashell from California, rock from Arizona
Everyone is blooming!
Tansy
New Shoebox housemate, Beth the geologist, adds some more cool rocks to the landscaping
(madrone log from Lithia Park in Ashland, 2007)
Neighbor Lizzie, half of the tulip planting team with her brother, Andrew
Sand in between flagstones after a lot of rain. Rock in foreground from Mt. Shavano hike
Another angle on Sept 3rd, 2011
Nearly done!
Sept. 16th- the day I left the Shoebox (heading to Oregon)- the grass is coming in! A little spotty but nice and the holes are filling in just more slowely
The squash plant in Meg's circle is happy!
Oh my...
Thank you Chad, Meg, Mark and Everyone! What a wonderful front yard adventure and more to come.
Now we wait for the lawn to grow in, (a low water, no mow mix).
Eventually there will be an arbor as you walk up front path with a grape and a rambling rose growing up it and a bird bath in Meg's circle.
Now we wait for the lawn to grow in, (a low water, no mow mix).
Eventually there will be an arbor as you walk up front path with a grape and a rambling rose growing up it and a bird bath in Meg's circle.
UPDATE:
The front yard is looking great and all the plants lived through the winter. Here's what a snowy winter day looks like.
With the strangely warm and dry spring we are having so far, everything is blooming and growing as if it were May. All the tulips that Andrew and Lizzie planted are up and blooming.
Some used wood from the used building supply place becomes two planter boxes around the maples in front. Fill dirt, plants and bark to come.
I'm thinking Russian Sage, wild flowers and maybe a few evergreens along with spring blooming bulbs and irises.
Happy Spring!
4/6/12- I planted snow peas, about a 100 yellow onion sets, and green lettuce in the back today... more to come (radishes, carrots, beets and a 2nd variety of snow peas)
