Back to the Land

My kid's dad is out of the hospital, I am armed and dangerous with new allergy/asthma meds and the polls are still looking great for an Obama win.  Praise the Lord and pass the taters.

That's all good, but this spooky economic crisis continues and my response is to start digging up the garden.  Growing our own food suddenly makes sense, going off the grid is just as sensible. Think I'm getting all survivalist on you dollins? You may think right.

However,  these ambitious agricultural endeavors are not limited to growing organic vegies, I am also getting the land ready for two June events - Molly's graduation from high school and the wedding of our kid Jenn and her very excellent partner Mike.  We're thrilled to be hosting the graduation party as well as the wedding and reception. Our house has been tested successfully for large scale events, of which the most significant of these occasions was the Hubs and my wedding in 2000.  We had the fenced off area of our land converted from an eroding hill to a multi-level garden with a stone patio.  Landscaping the yard for the wedding was cheaper than renting a venue for the wedding and we were rewarded with great results.

Unfortunately I don't have the before and after pictures of the landscaping scanned. I do, however, have a picture of me sniveling and snorting during the ceremony.

Sadly, in the past eight years, I have have let the garden go.  For this I blame the rattlesnake I saw in 2002, coiled under the pine tree adjacent to the raised beds.  I am a snake wuss of the highest order and because of that, I have not been in the garden since.

Really, this is no way to live.  I have access to a lot of dirt and it's a shame to just let it go.  So, earlier this year I planted some heirloom tomato seeds, sat them under a light on the kitchen table and watched them grow into seedlings then real plants.  I felt like a happy third grader, triumphant with her science project.  Snakes or no snakes, poisonous vipers or harmless king snake, I had no choice but to get my tomatoes out of their yogurt cartons and into the outside dirt.  And I did that, though I planted way too late, like June, and I expect we'll harvest in the latter part of next month.  We can get away with that in Northern California, our warmest months are September and October.

I'm a self taught gardener, which means I've done some foolish if not blatantly wrong things in and around our dirt.  I've killed many plants by positioning them in sun that's too hot or shade that's too chilly.  I have over fed, over pruned and under watered.  The latest gardening crime I committed was to plant the heirloom tomato seedlings too close together  and that doofus move resulted in one giant tomato bush.  Big, big no-no as you really need to get in between the plants to add compost and weed.  Now I have to commando crawl under a canopy of tomato branches to get those essential jobs done.   

The one big tomato bush.  Error duly noted and I will never plant so close together again. Live it, learn it, but, in the meantime, crawl under it.

I do give myself many breaks. I have indeed documented my failures and the successes in spiral binder notebooks because I'm a wonk that way. I also wonkishly conduct extensive gardening research both online and at our local nurseries.  Most importantly, I am uncharacteristically patient as a gardener.  In most things of life, I'm a twitchy-nervous, impatient wreck.  Gardening, I am your local Buddah (though not necessarily with snakes.)

The hubs is also supportive and gets me whatever tools I need, though he does get twitchy-nervous when he sees me wandering  outside with the big hedge trimmers, aiming the blades at the overgrown rosemary or the rose bushes.

This time  around, I will be enlisting help for the garden/landscape renewal project.  I've already recruited Moll's boyfriend Jordy (short for Jordan, aka "Jordy Meister" as he asked to be called when summoned by the principal to receive his high school diploma) who has been most useful around the yard hauling loads of clippings and branches to the dump's composting center and doing any and all heavy lifting.  He's also been grand company though I probably talk way too much for his centered surfer sensibility.  When Jordy does speak up, he's delightfully monosyllabic - "Whoa...Cool...Good" and delivers these grunts of approval in low, soothing tones.

I'm also getting estimates on what it will cost to dig and grade terraces for a multi-tiered edible/perennial garden.   A landscaper came over the other day, a really great guy who took a look at my yard.  We ended up talking about a million things including sustainable agriculture in Ecuador where he taught university, how my house can blend into the outside and the outside blend into the house, creating little environments/rooms in the yard, plants that can hold the hill down, and the promise of Barack Obama and why the planet needs him now.  His plans for the yard range from grading and soil prep of the existing terraces along with strategically place plantings to the whole hillside fully terraced on three levels, held up by retaining walls of recycled patio concrete. 

So, dollins, here's what I'm talking about.  Wish me luck. -

The slope that needs to be more clearly defined as terraces.  Jordy removed a very ugly and gnarly rosemary bush from the center.  It now stands as a blank canvas for the edible/perennial garden.

Check out the steps - these are made from recycled soda bottles.  Eco chic!

Another view.  That's a railroad tie you see towards the top of the slope.  Should be replaced with something far sturdier like the recycled concrete.

Our patio.  Once the work on the slope above has been completed, I will be planting creeping thyme and dichondra grass in between the pavers.

The slope leading down from the patio cannot be terraced without screwing up the roots of this giant oak.  For now, I'm going to broadcast wildflower seeds in successive plantings to pretty it up.

We also have this charming little patio that will be revived with plantings and ground cover between the pavers.

Gratuitous picture of Malcolm.  No, he has not been helpful, but he certainly has been decorative, not unlike a garden gnome.

Comments

[divina]

Wow, that Malcolm flower sure is purdy!

[Miss Grace]

You guys have a gorgeous house I'm sure it'll all look wonderful.

[Suebob]

Have you considered Permaculture? It is such a Santa Cruz thing to do, and there is a course by Larry Santoyo, one of my favorite teachers, up there - check it out!

http://www.earthflow.com/santacruzPDC09.php

[getsheila]

A garden gnome with a Gene Simmons tongue! Oh wait, is that a biscuit?

Never mind.

[Molly]

I was at your wedding, and I know Jenn's wedding will be equally beautiful- especially since TWO imaginative and fun women will be behind it! And let's face it- Jenn could get married in a parking lot and it would be a magical day. I can't wait!!! (I do know that Jenn really appreciates your hard work though..)

[Molly]

ALSO! I was telling my dad today that the country has set itself up for Obama to be the next FDR. He said it was the first hopeful thing he had heard about the state of the world, but probably the most true. Either Obama will lift us out of this depression, or we will actually be humbled as americans and see what we've lost and what we can regain.

[Keri]

You're right. Malcolm MAKES the garden. :)

My best bud Marge has thyme along her walkways. It makes a wonderful and aromatic path between the stones. Photos can be found here... http://www.flickr.com/photos/mysticalmarge/2863677199/ (that one shows the path particularly well)

[shaunna]

it all sounds simply bee-uuuu-tee-ful!

(thanks so much for stopping by and commenting after my oh-so-long absence.)

take care and go obama '08.