Soil Matters

Our soil on our small residential lot is Clay and Rock filled. We've also got quite a bit of Queen Palm roots that have crept into this lawn area over the years, so that just add's to the difficulty of the project.

I've written  about our  new amendments, below. We've got them tilled in at least 6-8" in, probably not ideal, but I can manage to dig in the bed now. Plus the mulch will keep moisture in and slow weed growth until the beds have matured. I've been real careful not to pat down any of the bed-including not stepping all over it! This should really help the irrigation get down deep in the bed, plus add air and circulation.

The Plan-Part One

We have several areas in need of improvement, but this grass area (pictured) is first on the long list.

We were able to meet with long time landscaper (and relative) Gary,10 days ago. I had spent about two week previous to our meeting, measuring and laying out our plans on paper before our visit. I also took a dozen or more photos of just about every nook and cranny of our yard. The plans were mostly accurate and included various plant names in the legend; plus a compass rose.

Thanks to our meeting and talking with Gary, we established an overall plan to achieve our desired Cottage Garden. For this backyard lawn area, he suggested, "just rip it up and out". He drew a new smaller sketch of the area which includes three, new garden beds trimmed in stone and a central meandering path pressed from DG (decomposed granite) or small wood chips. We have the choice to enhance this path with pieces of flagstone and add some creeping thyme in the future.

We also discussed all the other areas of improvement for the new Cottage Garden, plants that do well in our area and that are within the theme, problem areas, and a Cottage garden path in the front of our home that just needed a nudge to make it more so.