Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Garden tour, part 3

Crocuses!

Now that I've lured you in with flowers, lets finish up this garden tour! In part 1, we walked down the north side of the yard and in part 2, up the south side.

I've been playing around with maps, starting with a 2015 satellite photo. I want to find a better editing tool, the one that I have doesn't draw curves, but this will give you an idea of the shape of the yard and location of everything. I like seeing all of the areas that I've been working on but it's a little scary how much lawn is still left. 



I've talked about the two railroad tie retaining walls that we're hoping to replace this year, and more work to do on the shadier side of the hillside. I need to look at paths too and not quite sure what to do for those. I've left grass in the paths for now, but don't want to deal with mowing most of them - and keeping grass in paths from spreading into the beds would be an ongoing headache.

In the front side yard, I re-used bricks that were lying around. They're not my favorite, not a look I want to repeat elsewhere, but they're functional. This path could stay grass, it's easy enough to cut with the electric trimmer.

Path along the south side of the garage

In the woodland garden, I'm considering stepping stones with groundcover plants. I made a few concrete stepping stones with stained glass in the fall before it got too cold and wet. But it would take a lot of stepping stones to fill in these paths.

Paths in the woodland garden, looking west
Paths in the woodland garden, looking south
Paths in the woodland garden, looking west

The bottom hillside is complicated by being very steep. I had put in stepping stones on the sunny side, and could continue that across the top of the shadier side. 

Stepping stones across the sunny hillside
Path across across the shadier side of the hillside

Stepping stones are also adequate for walking up and down the sunny side of the hillside to pick raspberries, but I need to be able to haul a wheelbarrow up the shadier side. I just don't know what to make a path out of that isn't steps and won't slide on the steep slope. 

Stepping stones along the raspberries
Paths down and across the shadier side of the hillside

So I'm still thinking about the paths, let me know if you have any ideas. I hope you enjoyed seeing a more complete view of my yard, this has certainly helped me clarify what I have to work on this year!

Tuesday, February 6, 2018

Garden tour, part 2

Daffodils!

In part 1, we walked down the north side of my yard, now we'll go back up the south side. The lot is about 178 feet deep, down the slope, but only 75 feet wide, so we go up and down a lot.

Here's the back corner and meadow again from the other side. I need to pull more grass and weeds, keep a close watch so the knotweed doesn't come back in the corner, and do a little more planting - but not too much.

View north from the back corner

Turning uphill, this is the shadier side of the bottom slope. Once upon a time, it was completely shaded by old plum trees. Now, it's only shaded by the bushes that have grown giant - flowering currant, tall Oregon grape, and hazelnuts. They all need pruning, and I'm planning to dig out the worst of the weeds (there are a few blackberries), add wood chip mulch all around the the flowering currant and then plant native groundcover. I've added a few plants around the edges but have a lot more to do this year.

Looking east from the bottom, hazelnuts and Oregon grape
Path up the hill to the hardy kiwi trellis
Looking back down at the flowering currant jungle
Looking north, hardy kiwi and grapes

Continuing up the hill, past the retaining wall, here is my biggest project from last year, the woodland garden. Everything is still small, including the maple tree, but I'm already enjoying watching it grow.

My play garden is also here, right next to the patio so I can easily water. This is a mix of flowers that I'm growing because I like them even if they are higher maintenance. I expanded this whole bed down the slope in the fall to get it further from the maple tree.

Looking east up the hill
Play garden in front
Under the kitchen deck
Path up from the patio
Looking west, back down the slope

Continuing up and through the gate, we're back in the front yard. The front side yard was also a major project last year so now needs weeding, planting more groundcover, and patience for everything to grow in.

East from the gate
Moss and foxglove along the south fence
East along the driveway
Looking back, west, from the street

I haven't talked about pathways yet, and I need to put together a map. I guess that'll be part 3!

Sunday, February 4, 2018

Garden tour, part 1

Cylamen coum

So far I've only shared pieces of my yard, specific areas that I've been working on. Rather than doing a year end recap (a bit late at this point!), I thought we could go on a walk through of my whole yard, look at what's in progress and what needs work next. Of course winter isn't the best time to see a northwest garden, but I think it's a useful time to get out and look at the shapes. But remember that almost the entire yard was weedy grass not too long ago!  

Starting in the front yard, my winter garden, a small area of lawn, and the rose garden are on the north side of the driveway. I'm adding a few plants to the winter garden but mainly need to make sure the wisteria doesn't come back to life.

Winter garden from the street
Winter garden, looking west

Front lawn

The rose garden needs pruning soon and I'll likely move a few perennials around, but no major plans for this year. 

Looking north

Northwest corner

Looking east

Looking east, retaining wall on the right

Down the north fence is a retaining wall bed that I haven't put much work into recently because the railroad ties need to come out. I'd like to just take them out and restore the slope, there's not much point in having a flat bed here because it's too shady to grow vegetables. Some of the shade comes from a row of lilacs next to the deck, which will be lovely later in the spring. 

Looking south across the retaining wall bed

Retaining wall bed, looking southwest, lilacs on the left


A small retaining wall will be needed closer to the fence, don't want the neighbor's house to slide into our yard. Below that is the north shade border, where I'm now practicing patience waiting for everything to grow in. I'd like to find an easy way to make the chain link fence look nice, I'm still thinking about that, but no other plans here. 

Retaining wall bed and top of north shade border, looking northeast
Looking east
View west, back up the slope


Across the patio and continuing down the north side, we reach the other railroad retaining wall and rotting steps, which all need to be replaced. The main concrete retaining wall is doing most of the work, the railroad ties just add a couple feet elevation, probably to try to level out the grassy area above - although it's still steep. The plan is to replace the railroad ties with rock, set into the slope so I can plant around them and take out more of the lawn area too. 

South across the patio
Straight down the slope, east, from the patio
South across the sloped lawn, retaining wall on the left
Rotting steps
Concrete retaining wall, looking south

On the north side of the concrete retaining wall is a big old asian pear, and then two dwarf apple trees. There is a flat lawn area below the retaining wall and then another slope. Across the top of that slope are two grapes and three hardy kiwi, with a row of raspberries and four blueberries down the slope. I pruned the raspberries and blueberries already in January, grapes and apples are next. 
We replaced the grape and kiwi trellises last year. I'm looking at what can be planted under the grapes, since I don't want to let that go back to weeds, but may just add more wood chip mulch for this year. 

Looking east down the slope from the steps
Apple trees and grapes, looking southeast
South across the slope, grapes on the right


The whole lower area of the yard is my mostly native border - the sunny hillside, meadow and back corner

Southwest up the sunny hillside, blueberries in front, raspberries between the metal posts
South across the meadow
View from the very bottom, looking west back up the slope

This post has gotten a bit long, so we'll continue next time with a walk up the south side of the yard, and perhaps a map!