Up at dawn

Early dawn

Do you get up early?  I do,…but have found that many couples have one.  One that gets up at dawn and the other who sleeps through it all.

Dawn dog

Dawn in the Sierras

The cool air, the purplish cast in the early, early dawn, the soft peeping of the first birds all draw me out to sleepily make my coffee.

Dawn on the patio

Early morning squirrel

I like it dark until the first light comes. The luxury of two east facing sliding doors allows me to watch the sun as it moves through its yearly arc. I can tell time by when it comes blinking over the mountain.

First light in windows

The down side is the inevitable beam of light that reaches my kitchen. “The Sunbeam of Truth” I call it, which spotlights even the dust in the air and shows that I am a happy gardener and not a perfect housekeeper.

Dishes, better do ‘em….before dawn

Weed and more native plants will come

Field of Pretty Face

The natural meadow in the second year
By that, I mean, this is the second year that I have weeded or planted here.

I’ve planted my 5 year old garden in irrigation zones.  The area around the house gets the most water and has the most non-native, but Mediterranean plants. We’re on a slope so the next level down is also a mix, but the plants there live without much water at all once established.

The outlying areas in a large circle around this level is wild, but with some introduced California native plants and will get no water after this second year.

In the center is where the wildflower transplants were installed.

One area of this third, no-water area just below the house, I call the natural meadow because it started out with many existing native wildflowers like Blue flax, linum lewisii, Valley Tassels, Castilleja attenuata, Pretty face, Blue flax, linum lewisii, Valley Tassels, Castilleja attenuata, Pretty face, Triteleia ixioides and Shooting star, Dodecatheon hendersonii, Dodecatheon hendersonii.  It’s in a large open gently sloping field with an old glider bench overlooking.

Old glider on path between the ‘zones’

In the center of this area, last spring, I transplanted some wintersown wildflowers from six-pak trays into the ground.

The flowers are incredibly more dense than last year

For three days that same spring I weeded the whole 30′ x 80′ area and now, a year later, I see the result even more natives have grown here.  I’m delighted!  With a few manageable patches of the filaree weeded this month, the meadow glows with the soft yellow of the Pretty face.

See the tiny grass in between? It’s Indian ricegrass, Achnatherum hymenoides

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Native California meadow in the second year

2012 April Meadow

Big changes all around

Last year, here in the Sierra foothills, I started a meadow project in a weedy field below the south side of our home. Bounded by a sycamore tree on the south a path on the north, a rock garden on the west, the field was sowed with native CA wildflower and grass seed and was a joy all through the summer months.  Weeding was the only maintenance.

This spring there are big changes.  The perennials planted around the edge are thriving and green,…the whole field is greener than this time last year, even with the little rain we’ve had.  The other change is with my available time to weed at the onset of the seedling stage. Taking a fulltime job prevents me from weeding for a solid week at the easy stage when weeds are small like I did last year.

2011- Last year, 3rd week of April

2012- This year, 3rd week of April

I have been dismayed at the vengeance with which the filaree seedlings have sprouted. Is that why it’s green? No, the seeds have really come in thicker this year rather than sparser like I predicted. I believe removing the weeds is the key.

Mid April meadow

Thick patches of filaree ,…see the vertical ‘beaks’?

Poppies and flax

Poppies and flax predominate during the first of May.  This week is the second that they’ve bloomed.

Poppies and flax wave gently in the morning wind

Weedy path…evil things….

The weeds there are filaree and bur clover (and yes, Mouse ear, Mouses.) I’m removing a lot of the coreopsis that is thriving from seeds around the place, all the feverfew when found and a patch of ajuga has popped up which I’ll move elsewhere.  I’m removing many of the Madia or tarweed seedlings because we already have fields of that in other places.

Perennials grow around the edge, lavender, agastche, penstemon, autumn sage, artemisia, sages and begin to bloom.

I notice more Golden yarrow, Eriophyllum confertiflorum, and small manzanita, our Arctostaphylos viscida or Sticky Whiteleaf Manzanita, sprouts popping up….lots of cudweed!

Healthy manzanita seedling, all natives welcome.

The brighter greens are cudweed, Pearly everlasting, Gnaphalium californicum.  You can now tell where I weeded.

The flax, linum lewsii, took two seasons to bloom, but oh, well worth the wait!

Wheelbarrow of weeds. These will be put in trash bags and taken OFF the property.

Judith Larner says, “The story of California native gardens is the story of weeds.” I believe it.

Weeding…so satisfying…

I may be weeding here but you can’t beat the working conditions. I’m happy with my meadow in its second year!

Done weedin.’  Can these even be called shoes?

More info on the Meadow project:
The story of California native gardens is the story of weeds  the importance of weeding in a restoration project

My California native meadow in June with links to all stages

Babes in the woods- preparing a place to build our house

I’m only mentioning my impressions of the house pad prep, because to tell it all would be very boring.  Although,….we country folk can talk for hours amongst ourselves about the details of our septic installations and well digging.  Those subjects, especially the depth and gallons per minute for your well are hot topics among the flannel shirted neighbors here!

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Have I mentioned that we’re from the suburbs?  Preparing the pad where our new house would sit was a challenge the like we’d never had before.  Our land was sloped 15 degrees.  there were trees in the way.  There were no utilities in place.  We had deer and birds and trees and grass and a fantastic view, that’s all.  When we asked our friends if we could do this, we really were asking will you help us with advice and labor and …., well, friendship.  They did help,…and went way beyond that.

This was our To Do List:
Bulldoze a flat area big enough for the house to fit
Build a retaining wall to hold back the earth from the pad
Reroute the hairpin shaped driveway
Install a septic system
Dig a well
Install electricity and phone lines underground
Obtain a building permit

The extra twist was that the house building company could raise prices all during this period until we submitted the permit.  This whole process took a year.

King of all he surveys.

You need bulldozers
One thing we needed right away as a flat place to park, camp and live during the first few years after we bought the place.  This need led to a wonderful weekend before Mother’s Day when we had the bulldozer guy come in a dig, scrape or bulldoze a pad. We had no idea how to do the first job,…constructing the house pad, and I remember well the conversation we had with the bulldozer man.  He asked how we wanted it ….we said “ahh…..”, he said “well, you probably want it done ‘cut and fill’ with a ‘winterized’ edge” and we said, “Oh, that sounds good!”

Cutting the pad

This meant that since we are on a 15% grade, he’d cut dirt from the hillside and push it out towards the slope and the edge would have a wide lip so as not to erode.

The finished pad

Next, building a retaining wall

You need strong backs
We needed to build a retaining wall so the house could snug into the hill.  There would only be room for a driveway between the hill and the house like many homes in this mountainous area.

We dared to drive two pallets of wall bricks in our truck and small trailer, 45 miles from Fresno.

We didn't think that back filling would be so tiring!

Hey, this is no problem.... I'm smiling...

It's not crooked, 'contoured' to the hill

We followed the contour of the hill for a natural look and it was easy at first, back breaking after a few hours and since we had to finish in a single weekend we felt like we were working on a chain gang by Sunday afternoon.

Later I planted rosemary and lavender on the top edge of this wall, which proved themselves hardy enough to survive with monthly water hauled down from the neighbor’s faucet each time we visited.

We needed to drain this 'pond' filled with willows

Trenching to drain the water from the new parking area

A trencher dug for two long drain pipes to prevent the 'pond' from flooding and provide a flat parking area.

You can see where we set up ‘camp’ between the goat shed and the house pad.  Now this area is kept clear for visitors to park in and has a small wood shed area.

You need backhoes
Hmmmm, Tractor Man is down in a trench 10 ft deep, walking around.  Hmmmm. The highlight for me while our septic system was dug was rescuing the huge rocks unearthed by the back hoe.  I became a pretty good heavy equipment dodger and soon I had a large collection rocks to play with in the garden.

What amazed me was that there are no moving parts in a septic tank. I was also amazed when told that 40% of Americans use private septic systems. And that there was 50 tons of rock on our driveway. And that we took NO photos of this process.  I was amazed to find my husband on the phone ordering a huge crane from Fresno. The huge 1500 gallon cement tank couldn’t be off loaded because the distance was 16 feet over the edge not 8 feet.

You need divining rods
We ‘divined’ for water months before the well diggers came.  The neighbor retrieved the divining rods from where they hang in another neighbor’s peach tree.  They are two welding rods about 20 inches long with 90 degree bends at the ends.  First she walked around in the general area where we wanted the well and declared that yes, it seemed like water was there! Then I tried. I held the rods loosely in my hands, not believing one bit, and they still moved when I didn’t mean them to.

We called again for bulldozers and had a place made for the well, pump and we also rerouted the driveway

What amazed me was that when the well digger came, he said, “Now if you divined for water,…don’t tell me where you think it may be.”  He used his own rods and ‘found’ water where the neighbor had, up on the hill where there was a wide gulley a hundred feet above the house pad.  I don’t believe it still.  But that’s how it went.  Fortunately we wanted the well and 2600 gallon water storage tank up the hill from the house in this very spot so there would be gravity feed water if there was a power outage.

Finished well and pump

Here's the finished pad with an approximate house outline.

You need friends
We coordinated our electrical lines to be placed underground along with the phone lines. They needed to also be run to the well and back to the house, which by the way, was only framed  and sided by August 2005.  No windows, drywall, paint or plumbing was completed yet.

We had sold our house in June and had a 2 week business trip to South Dakota coming up.  Our good friends stepped up and in the heat of August when the ground is like cement, put in all our electricity from the top of the driveway down to the well and then to the house. We returned to hold the biggest BBQ ever to thank them!

2000-10 House pad-before....this is what we started with...oaks, pines and manzanita. The middle trees here are where the house stands now.

Poof, fast forward a year and you can clearly see the beauty of the location here. This is in summer of 2005 with the house framed and painted outside.

Here in the mountain community around Oakhurst, you learn to depend on your neighbors and always be thinking of how you can be of help during times of trouble and during big ‘barn-raising type’ projects.

Melding gardens and gravel in the Sierra foothills

Many of us here in the California Sierra foothills have gravel driveways, paths and roads.  This can be a help or a hindrance to gardeners searching for more space in which to garden.

Beginnings of a gravel garden

Gravel gardens could have their origin in formal Japanese ‘dry landscape’ gardens located on the grounds of Zen Buddhist temples.  The raked gravel was intended to limit distraction and give the impression that the landscape could be in any location not only the existing one.

Gravel in pots

The affection for alpine areas, above the tree line, with their tiny compact plants so loved by alpine and rock garden plant collectors also may have influenced the desirability of constructing gravel gardens.

Plants could be grown along the bottom of the wall as well as the top

When we, here in the country, already have a neutral expanse of gravel to deal with, plants can add a softening effect and add color and beauty to your “neutral expanse.”

Tiny violas self seed in the rocky soil

Rock and gravel gardens are once again in style, because they really fit today’s water wise gardening style here in California.  Many of us have to limit the water given over to plants in our gardens. Drought resistant plants can cut down on the amount of hand watering done in the garden, too.

All plants suited to growing in gravel, wallflower, euphorbia, teucrium, santolina and redbud. The red is photina grown to be a screen.

The good news is many of the plants suitable for a gravel garden are native and available here in our foothills.  Lavender, santolina, agastache, Russian sage, ceanothus, California fuchsia, poppies and yarrow can all be grown wonderfully in a gravel garden. Don’t overlook sedums, grasses and any hardy herbs.

Take note of the heights that the plant are in full-size and plant the taller ones in back of the shorter ones, just like in any area.  If your gravel area is your driveway, plants that do not spread horizontally may be what you’ll plan.

A mixture of gravel and pine mulch extend down the hill past lavender and stachys

Simply pull back the gravel, dig a planting hole the size of your nursery can or root ball, tamp down the soil and replace the gravel which will now act as a mulch.  Only amend the soil if your soil is pure clay or pure decomposed granite, both of which have many nutrients already.

Water well as usual and water natives once or twice a week in warm weather and less or none at all in a rainy spring.

Lavender in full bloom grows well in the gravely soil

Each plant stands out in a gravel garden, making it a showcase feature in your yard. Try raking the gravel around your planting area for a neat, serene look.

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Butterfly Gardening: Living leaves in your garden

Butterfly gardeners begin this way….they see a colorful butterfly in their garden and start paying attention.  They want to see more so they wait and observe during the spring and summer. How can they see more kinds, they wonder.  That’s how I began, I’m sure.

Western Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio rutulus)

Once you begin observing, you notice more and more about these beautiful creatures. Everyone knows they drink nectar from flowers, but what kind of plants will attract them.  Is it possible to plant the right kind of plants that would fill your garden with these ‘living leaves?’

Wild flowers, cultivated flowers (perennials and annuals) and even some shrubs are a fantastic start.  Lilac bushes, blueberry bushes, grasses, abelia, butterfly weed, chrysanthemums, daises, purple coneflower, buddleias, black-eyed Susan, , goldenrods and verbena are all flowers and shrubs that will attract butterflies for your observation to your garden.

Buckeye on lavender

Butterflies in our Sierra Foothills include, Swallowtails, Buckeyes, Skippers and California Sisters and many more. If you’ve seen a butterfly in Central California that you’d like to identify, try Art Shaprio’s Butterfly Site., associated with UCDavis. Calphotos is another place where you can browse through many California butterflies.

Butterfly or 'Skipper' in the genus Erynnis

Try these when designing a butterfly garden bed:

Tall

Buddleia davidii (Butterfly Bush)

Eupatorium purpureum (Joe-pye weed)

Buddleia davidii Butterfly Bush

Medium-tall

Pennisetum setaceum (Purple Fountain Grass)

Asclepias tuberosa – Butterfly Weed

Kniphofia spp. – Red Hot Poker

Aster dumosus 'Prof. Kippenberg'

Aster novae-angiae (New England aster)

Monarda (Bee Balm )

Asiatic Lily Rudbeckia hirta (Black-eyed Susan)

Echinacea purpurea (Purple Coneflower)

Liatris spicata (Blazing star)

Medium

Veronica spicata ‘Sunny Border Blue’

Coreopsis verticillata (Tickseed)

Gaillardia (Blanket flower)

Solidago canadensis (Goldenrod)

Agastache x ‘Ava’ (Hummingbird Mint)

Sedum Stonecrop ‘Autumn Joy’
Low

Scabiosa (Pin Cushion Flower)

Glandularia canadensis (Rose Verbena)

California foothill natives that attract butterflies
Arctostaphylos, Manzanita

Lonicera interrupta Chaparral Honeysuckle

Lonicera interrupta, Chaparral Honeysuckle

Lupinus albifrons Silver Bush Lupine

Lupinus albifrons, Silver Bush Lupine

Madia elegans, Elegant Tarweed

Muhlenbergia, rigens Deer Grass

Rudbeckia hirta, Black-eyed Susan

Wyethia elata, Hall’s Mule’s ears

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April First views in the Sierra foothills

Pear tree in bloom

First views of my garden at the first of April….  First views is the brainchild of Town Mouse, with the idea that wider views will give a better idea of what our gardens look like and a record of how they change throughout the year.  Join in by visiting her post here!

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I have been too tired to post!  And that’s tired. I took a fulltime job at the hardware store in town that has a garden shop.  They needed someone who was familiar with plants for our area, so the fit seems good.

The new view...as if we need more. But the woods needed brushing and we needed firewood so strategic trees came down to give us this new view of Shuteye Peak.

Lettuce and onion garden will be planted with tomatoes, but not until mid-May.

I’ll be experimenting growing leeks to be planted in the empty tub. Bean seeds in the 6-paks

Salvia garden, middle level. Ceanothus 'Ray Hartman' starting to bloom,...pink is creeping phlox.

Bergenia in bloom. Deer ate a few blossoms, then let this alone. Thyme along the edges.

Natural meadow needs weeding and non-native grasses removed.

I’m hoping I’ll still be able to weed this Spring….we’ll see.

New CA native planting area

When my sister visited last October from new Zealand, we visited the local native plant nursery, Intermountain and picked out plants especially for this area.  We planted Salvia, Dara’s Choice, Yellow monkeyflower, and two Pozo Cleaveland sages next to the existing Spice Bush. We planted Narcissus ‘Obdam’ next to the path in several spots.  Planting with my sister makes this area even more special to me.

Narcissus 'Obdam' dresses up the path.

'Candystripe' Flowering Peach placed to add color

Year's first snow in the third week of March stacked up on the patio table 12 inches high.

Clouds put on a show when the weather changes.

Birds, violas and narcissus cheer up the patio view

View from inside gave us lots to watch in the cold weather, although the birds left their shells below.

Squirrel's eye view. He is Master of all he sees.

My green onion garden

Did you know that when green onions get a bit old in the fridge, you can plant them in a garden pot or veggie garden? I did this in my galvanized wash tub garden and could cut fresh onion tops all through Autumn.

Green onion bottoms

These are regular grocery store green onions that I plugged in next to the peppers and tomatoes in my tub garden. These are from onions that were still plump but had some outer leaves going mushy. In the photo above are two bunches I used for cooking ,…only the green parts. These cost me 50 cents each!

The 'onion garden' in winter

I cut about 3 ” above the white papery part and leave the root growing. These have been cut many times and grow back this way. It looks like I could cut some more…

I’d like to try celery, too, and my friend, a non gardener pokes garlic cloves in her rose bed and gets new garlic bulbs,…like to try that as well.

March 2

My green onion ‘farm.’ These tubs were found at the close out sale at our junk shop called Rust Brothers in Coarsegold, CA. I paid $50 for six large plus 4-5 smaller galvanized tubs and containers.

My onion garden, with onions planted last late summer and now in late winter

The bigger onions were planted next to my peppers last summer in my wash tub garden and I’ve been cutting them AND they’ve been re-growing all that time. I just planted the new small ones and will plant a tomato in the middle there in May. I’ve since learned that this works with celery, so I’d like to try that next. Meanwhile we have all the onion tops we want for potatoes, salads, soups and garnishes. Yea!

What to do, especially, with chopped green onions?   Pop a corned beef in the crock pot for 8 hours (add no water) and add 1/2 cup chopped green onions to mashed potatoes.  Make honey, mustard mayonaise and Bob’s your Uncle.  That’s what we’re having….and if The Quiet Man is playing, then it’s a perfect St. Patrick’s Day.

Choosing a home builder in the Sierra Foothills

We had a dream to move out of Southern California to paradise on seven acres in the Sierra foothills. Here is more about the process, choosing a builder for our mountain home, around which, my Sierra Foothill garden grows.

What I wanted was a log cabin.  Or any kind of cabin. A real mountain house.

We had stayed in a rustic cabin in Colorado where the pipes and electricity were all visible and it was cute and quaint. It had log furniture and wooden windows and a log bench outside plank door next to a window box with flowers. I loved the feeling we got while staying there.

I had this magazine picture framed for years while planning our house.

My other idea was for a cabin, a biggish cabin, with a large A framed roof sheltering a deck window looking out onto the view.

Lindal Homes was the ultimate dream. I could imagine this house here, can you?

Now we are not builders in any capacity, so when we were shopping around for a house the actual process was awe inspiring and daunting.  The friends who live here said, “What you two need is a “Western Home”.  Western Homes was one of the builders in the area that advertising.  “We build a home on your ranch or land.”  I pooh-poohed this.  I didn’t want a city-type stucco house on our dream spot.  Heavens no,…it just didn’t seem mountain-y to me.

There were three local builders in the area, all pretty much the same who were cheap, cheap, cheap, building average houses from premade plans. They were my last choice.  We had two custom builders draw plans for houses just what we had in mind, but oh, the prices!  250,000! This was 2000 and we still didn’t know what we’d get for the tiny house inFullertonand we wondered if we could do some of the work ourselves.  The property was five hours away and we wondered how long would it take, and could we commit to dry-walling and putting in appliances and utilities?  That was a lot to take on.

Real Log Homes, Sonora, CA

Next we interviewed a couple in Sonora who sold log cabins.  They talked about coming out themselves to help your own group of friends ‘raise the cabin,’ …they talked about the ‘shell’, the basic log structure which you would then finish or have a builder do so.

Did we have this many friends?

What a luscious dream!  Hmmm, raising the cabin, …friends all around helping and a big dinner outdoors afterward.  Isn’t that a scene out of the and Harrison Ford silently making eyes over at Kelly McGillis?

For one short period, we considered a manufactured home, intrigued by the instant appearance of a house all built ready to live in on the place.  I’m so glad we didn’t do that! Manufactured homes lose value over time and the price was about the same as the local building companies.

We finally visited the three local house builders, Western Homes, Oak Hill Homes and Bricker Homes. The huge advantage, I had to admit, was that they would do everything. The prices seemed amazing,… $70-90,000, depending on square footage, for a complete house with all the appliances but a refrigerator, carpeted, tiled and painted. But, everything was plain, plain, plain. I can’t remember when I became resigned to choosing one of them.  Sigh…

Western Homes plan 1455, with chnages

I collected all the plans and tried each one on for size. Shuffling the sheets around and picking and choosing this feature and that. I had a huge notebook and files I carried back and forth each trip. Each time we traveled up, I wanted to stop and look at the models again. My husband just automatically stopped there after a while. The Bricker Homes didn’t seem quite right, we got a poor sales pitch at Oak Hill, so when we met Bob at Western and he seemed so amiable, we settled on them. What a relief to finally have a direction!  And the best news was that they would make any adjustments we wanted. Cement based ‘HardiePlank® Lap Siding’ could replace any stucco all around, and that’s what really sold us.

Bigger windows, all looking out to the view side, bigger shower, doors moved and closets eliminated. Bob enlarged the windows in the house so much that it would barely stand up with the wall space left. Everything was adjusted in the computer and the changes printed out immediately on the printer.  We were impressed and astonished and decided then that we would make this house our dream house.

A peek at what we got, now our real dream home.

The building code doesn't allow a LEGO chimney on a Lincoln log cabin.

Previously: How we made our escape for the city

Next: Preparing the house pad.

How we made our escape from the city and changed our lives

We had a dream to move out of Southern California away from the congestion and stress and switch from the daily commute to living in paradise in the Sierra foothills. Here is how we made the big move!

Sunset on Bass lake a wonderful place to vacation year round

Our Move: From Fullerton, CA to the foothills just south of Yosemite in 2005

Our former life was spent in this small house in Fullerton, CA where we raised the kids

Old life: Businesses in the city, him, motorcycle media, me, wedding photography and raising teens.

New Life: Him, Semi-retired.  Me, gardener, potographer, blogger
In the five years we had before we moved we really had no idea how we’d do it.  We were true flatlanders.

The view that grabbed our attention and began our dream. Could we imagine 'living' here?!

When we decided:  When the real estate agent showed us a view property and our friends here said they’d help us do it. After dreaming of moving anywhere away from suburbia, we tried on many towns and areas before settling on the resort area of Oakhurst/North Fork, two miles away from our old vacation spot at Bass Lake. Forest access nearby was important and the very active community was attractive, featuring special events nearly every weekend.

Bass Lake Antique and Wooden Boat Show at the Pines Resort, 6 miles away from our home.

Our first look down the driveway leading to the lot. Does it look like an ax murderer lives here? That's what our son said when he arrived after dark.

Parking on the 'driveway', getting ready to walk the property for the first time.

One weekend, we looked for a property with one to three acres, but found this one on the side of a ridge with seven acres in a natural area snugged up against the Sierra national Forest. We put in an offer that same weekend. It was 2000, stocks were way down and land was a better place to stash funds for a down payment….we took a year to pay it off.

This shows part of the 'circle drive' roughly bulldozed to show where a house could be planned. The tree in the center is one right in the center of the garden

The area just in front of where the house could be built,...this was the clearest area on the place. Under that tree in the center is where my lounge is in the center of the garden now.

The north section of the cleared area of the lot. Can you see the bit of red car parked on the 'circle drive'? That's where we parked our camping trailer in later years and where we eventually placed our garden shed.

The high country showing Shuteye Peak to the north of the property

We love driving the back roads and this location set us up near a network of roads between Oakhurst and Sacramento where two of our five kids live.

What we gave up: Five minutes to a Target or grocery store.  Being close to the family still in Orange County.

Bass Lake from above, taken from a dirt road we take when going to the top of Peckinpah Ridge to Whiskey Falls and to the Scenic Drive.

What we gained: A fresh clean, beautiful environment, good motorcycling friends nearby, little traffic through forest lined roads to town plus our dream house, casual and camp-like that we were able to help design at a very reasonable price.

Road 200 is the windy road we'd take every year to vacation at Bass Lake. Now we travel this road when going to Fresno, about 45 minutes away.

The diary entry – October 2000-The adventure begins…we buy property

Next: How we found a home builder

Secrets for a weed free garden – mulch, compost and cultivation

One year seeds= seven years weeds

Don’t let your weeds go to seed!

Mulch
I use mulch around the plants in my garden as a lazy way to manage weeds. After three years of mulching your garden, you’ll see that your weeding chores have lessened to a few minutes of hand weeding in Spring.

Mulch can be leaves, mushroom compost, cedar chips, grass clippings (without weeds please), gravel, river rock or pine needles. Even a light cover of any of these will draw insects and worms to break up hard soil.  They cover the ground so weed seeds can’t sprout. Try finding free mulch!

Plants are closely planted to smother weeds

Compost
If you have a lawn or have any kind of mower clippings, you have a great start to a compost pile. This will give you a free source of mulch. Save grass clippings in an unused part of the yard. Initially, add a bad of manure to start breaking them down and add yard clippings, smaller the better. Add any vegetable kitchen scraps and coffee grounds, and make the pile at least 3 feet high and wide. You can cover this this a dark colored tarp to speed up the process.

Give it a good soak every now and then, and now comes the fun part…turning the pile! Every 6 weeks or so, use a pitchfork or garden fork to get your exercise. Fork all the clippings into a pile next to the original, then turn it all back onto the same spot and hose it down. Keep adding to the pile and after a few months you’ll have rich crumbly compost down underneath the pile. I was so awestruck by the first shovelful of the lovely black stuff,…so fine textured. I use it around  any plants I feel need a boost and all my patio pots for mulch and fertilizer.

Compost is added and cultivated between plants

Cultivation
A garden speaker at Roger’s Gardens gave us this tip. For a weed free garden, use a long handled cultivator to ruffle up the soil around your plants. Keep this tool nearby to remind you to do this often in the Spring.  Cultivated soil doesn’t allow seeds to germinate, including weeds!

Beds and paths are mulched to prevent weeds

Remember to dispose of pulled non-native weeds in the trash barrel and get them off your property. They are the enemies of your plants.

March First Views- Snow Dust in the Sierras

March is coming in like a lamb.  What does that mean?  A little rain, a little snow, just an inch or so. One or two things are blooming and the daffodils are about 6 inches tall. My photos are for Town Mouse’s meme, First Views. Visit her post, and sign in to the Mr Linky tool there to join in!  The idea is to show wider views of your garden as it changes month to month.

The table centerpiece catches snow and adds a bit of color to the natural beauty beyond.

Drat! Pokeweed! No, Chokecherry? Hope so!

What I thought might be buckeye or elderberry, turns out to be pokeweed! Darn!  My sister helped my identify this by punching in descriptive words into Google images. How did it possibly get here, so close to the native forest at the edge of the property?

American Pokeweed, Phytolacca americana, next to the charred trunk of the Grey pine last May.

American Pokeweed, Phytolacca americana, is native to the Eastern US and the California Invasive Plant Council (Cal-IPC) lists it as causing limited impact in native ecosystems. It’s been quietly growing on the property line next to the charred Bull pine for all the tens years we’ve been here, but it’s likely it burned to the ground in 2001, by the looks of the tree trunk.

Wikipedia gives all these altenate names for pokeweed: Virginia poke, American nightshade, cancer jalap, coakum, garget, inkberry, pigeon berry, pocan, pokeroot, pokeweed, pokeberry, redweed, scoke, red ink plant and chui xu shang lu.

American Pokeweed blooms in May

The berries can be used as dye, haven’t seen those but, will watch for them next summer. I imagine that they’re eaten by birds here. I’ll also watch for signs that it’s invading by throwing off seedlings. I guess I’ve never noticed it as it’s in a patch of poison oak. Now, that I’ve become used to the disappointment that it is not an interesting native plant,…I kind of like it ,…if it behaves.

Some say it’s edible, tastes like spinich and some say it’s poisonous until boiling it,….yep, it’s canned as poke salet as well, the subject of the old song, Poke Salad Annie* by who Creedence Clearwater??  Hmmm, these are tough economic times,…will Tractor Man eat it?  He ate Miner’s lettuce.

Update: Due to many comments identifying this as chokecherry, I will reserve judgement on this until it blooms again…I’m rooting for the native chokecherry,…I love finding new CA natives on our place! 

*yes, written by Tony Joe White, but I went to high school in the 70s, so Creedence is my experience.

Miner’s lettuce surprising seedlings

Pot, seemingly, full of grass

While working on another project last January, I saw this pot full of grass seedlings,..looking so lush and full.  So I took a photo.

Pot of Hyacinth bulbs in April

This is the pot that for the last few years has held hyacinth bulbs and off season, I keep it in my potting area just waiting for April.  It has reliably bloomed with Easter egg color flowers the last four years with little care.

Hyacinth surprise

Last April, I took a closer picture and noticed a few different blooms,…miner’s lettuce!

Now back to  January, I thought, hmmm, I’d keep an eye on these ‘grass seedlings.’  Wondered what kind of grass, or weeds they’d be.  Oh, you can guess, right??

Spidery Claytonia perfoliata Miner's Lettuce seedling in the ground

Yes, looking down at the base of the ‘grass’ I did think, ‘Are these miner lettuce seedlings?’ Couldn’t be…growing so thickly together? And the miner’s lettuce growing aroun d the pot were on the ground, but no, there were those few in the pot last year….

Yesterday, I looked again, to see the first few really ‘miner’s lettuce looking leaves.’  Yes, that’s definitely what they are.  Now what to do?  I’m thinking of where I cn tensplant a few plugs with out disturbing the bulbs, now starting to show.

Miner's lettuce leaves, Claytonia perfoliata, showing

Miner's lettuce! Talk about wintersowing, huh?

Thinking plant combinations in a California foothill garden

Euphorbia dulcis 'Chameleon' with Orchid Rockrose

Have you ever noticed a striking color combination when planting flowers together by chance?  You suddenly see that the hot pink rockrose bloom looks stunning with lime and burgundy euphorbia.  Or you see that an orange Monkey flower contrasts wonderfully with an iridescent lavender-blue Cleveland sage ‘Pozo’.  I recently became aware of this particular combo and determined to plant an orangey yellow Monkey flower by every sage I had.

Euphorbia dulcis 'Chameleon' with Spanish lavender

These unexpected pairs can also be planned.  In the past, I’ve acted as a sort of ‘plant collector,’ planting one or two of things I impulsively see at nurseries. These get dotted around where ever I think best in the garden. At best it can look like a cottage garden, at worst, a real mess.  Now, especially now working in a huge space, I want to purposefully plan to repeat the plant combinations I’ve seen to design a fabulously colorful look in your garden.

Bird’s Nest Spruce with Germander Teucrium, T. chamaedrys

Color is not the only consideration in plant pairs.  Greens with two different textures can also work well together.  The front planting bed with a spiky Bird’s Nest Spruce looks fabulous with a fine textured, small leafed ground cover, Germander Teucrium, both in a similar color of deep green.  Now I think broad leafed plants with grasses, big leaves with small and color wise, grey-green foliage with yellow or forest green. Since blooms only last through the spring and summer, these different greens and textures can carry the garden nicely through the ‘off’ season.

Sulfur flower, Eriogonum umbellatum with Spirea japonica 'Gold mound', Snow in Summer

Orange California poppy with soft Baby blue eyes

Chrome yellow coreopsis with glowing rose colored Jupiter's beard

A natural combination, creamy white Bush Beardtongue, Keckiella breviflora, with lemon yellow Elegant Madia

I take my inspiration from plant pairs I’ve seen by chance in my own garden, in magazine pictures or in nature.  Haven’t you noticed that many wildflowers occur naturally in opposite colors? Orange and blue, yellow and purple?

Blue Cleveland sage with yellow-gold Black-eyed Susans

These are some pairs that I’d like to repeat around the garden, planning more swaths (a new favorite word when talking about the garden) of planned color and texture combinations. Take a look and see what you think, then I’d like to know what plant combos you’ve found, too.

Lime green Marjoram with Spiky Bearded iris

True Blue flax, with purple Wallflower 'Bowles Mauve'plus burgundy Red-Tipped Photinia

Feathery White yarrow with clear blue Penstemon 'Margarita BOP'

Irridescent blue-purple Foothill penstemon with soft yellow Pretty Face, Triteleia ixioides

Plant Combinations shown in this post:

• Lime green Marjoram with Spiky Bearded iris
• Chrome yellow coreopsis with glowing rose colored Jupiter’s beard
• BlueClevelandsage with yellow-gold Black-eyed Susans
• True Blue flax, with purple Wallflower ‘Bowles Mauve’plus burgindy Red-Tipped Photinia
• Orange California poppy with soft Baby blue eyes
• Orange California poppy with Penstemon ‘Margarita BOP’
• Irridescent blue-purple Foothill penstemon with soft yellow Pretty Face, Triteleia ixioides
• Sulfur flower, Eriogonum umbellatum with Spirea japonica ‘Gold mound’
• Feathery White yarrow with clear blue Penstemon ‘Margarita BOP’
• Creamy white Bush Beardtongue, Keckiella breviflora, with lemon yellow Elegant Madia
• Euphorbia dulcis ‘Chameleon’  with Orchid Rockrose
• Euphorbia dulcis ‘Chameleon’  with Spanish lavender

Blue Cleveland sage with yellow-gold Black-eyed Susans

Orange California poppy with Penstemon 'Margarita BOP'