Garden: Autumn Beauty

Some pretty things happened in my garden and I want to share them with you!

Clouds of anemones.  It's been a great year for the anemones.  These are planted on one side of the narrow side-yard path.

Good thing I took time to hunt for passion flowers!  I spied this one hiding amongst the foliage of the grape.  Passion flowers last only a single day and I'd feared that these (which budded out so late!) wouldn't bloom before being claimed by inclement weather.

Apples on the "Golden Sentinel" pole apple.

Front garden border with Eutrochium, Chocolate Cosmos, Calamagrostis brachytricha, Pennisetum "Hameln", and Sedum "Autumn Joy"

Hydrangea "Bombshell" bloom and foliage coloring-up for Fall.

Chocolate cosmos

All photos taken this morning as conditions flitted from sunny to overcast and back.  

Garden: The Eco-Lawn Project

Well, I am finally ready to share the results of my lawn renovation project.  This project was long over-due.  We'd installed a new sod lawn back in 2008 and we did a fairly good job, I think.  But it had become compacted and lumpy and it was time for a change.  I'd read about a new method, promoted by Joy Creek Nursery in Scapoose, OR, for preparing the soil and I decided to give it a try. (Info Link) (More information about this method from OregonLive)  To be completely accurate, Joy Creek does not claim ownership of this method, which has been studied and practiced by others, but I associate this method with Joy Creek because that is where I first became aware of it. The Joy Creek method utilizes a gravel mulch which is supposed to break the surface tension of the water allowing it to percolate faster into the lawn surface.  Doing this yields two benefits--1) improved Winter drainage and 2) better water absorption during Summer.  The gravel also contributes to a deeper root run and better drought tolerance.  You can choose to renovate an existing lawn by scalping it and then topping it with gravel and compost, but we chose the more drastic method of excavating the old soil and and rebuilding the lawn base.  In subsequent years, we will mulch lightly with gravel and compost.  Heavy annual mulching  can gradually raise the grade of the lawn, so I opted to amend the soil heavily all at once with the hope that I will need to apply less top-dressing during subsequent years.  I want the surface of the finished lawn to remain even with the surrounding hardscape instead of becoming mounded.

So, here's how the project unfolded:

Back in April--the 19th, to be exact--we pulled the truck into the driveway and began to strip the sod. It is a small space (less than 200 square feet) so it seemed easiest to do this by hand.  Our goal was to remove about 4-5 inches of soil in order to accommodate the new soil preparation.

As you can see, we are pros at this.  Projects like this are why we keep a truck.  We also have a couple of motorcycle loading ramps--they make it a breeze to get the loaded wheelbarrow up into the truck.

Half done!

A couple of hours later, we were about half done.  We finished-up the next day after a few more hours of work.  

The next phase of the project was to install broken concrete as lawn edging.  We went to our local concrete recycler and crawled around in their piles of dumped concrete (or "urbanite") to select the chunks most suitable for our use.  It's not glamorous, but it's free!  We had to make a couple of trips and went to several different locations to find what we needed.  

Installing the broken concrete lawn edging.

I roughly leveled the soil upon which I wanted to install the edging.  Then I compacted it well with a chunk of 4X4 fence post (makes and excellent pounding tool) and a "real" dirt-tamping tool.  I back-filled as needed with quarter-minus crushed rock to level the urbanite.  Since our yard slopes in every direction, it is hard to use a level to check the height and slope.  I used a long 2X4 board balanced across the poured-in-place pavers, the work I'd completed, and pegs that I'd pounded into the ground to represent the finished grade.  I tried to keep the lawn-side of the edging flush with the curved shape of the lawn while creating variety in the shape and width on the garden-side.

Rough fitting the urbanite.  I tried to keep a smooth edge on the lawn side.

Then, I raked the soil smooth and topped it with 2 inches of "quarter-10" crushed rock--that was about a yard and a half of crushed rock.  Quarter-10 is sharp, crushed rock that has been graded using a 1/4 inch screen and then washed free from fines.  You wouldn't want to use gravel containing fines because that would inhibit drainage.  Obtaining the gravel proved to be difficult.  Quarter-10 is common near Scapoose, in the Portland area, but is uncommon in Seattle.  I had to special order the gravel and waited nearly two weeks for delivery.  Since then, a new gravel yard has opened (The Dirt Exchange) and they do stock this product.

Sharp gravel installed and raked out.

Then, 2 inches of compost went in.  This is where the project went sort-of sideways.  I think we wound-up with really poor quality soil.  We went to the place where we normally purchase Cedar Grove compost and paid for for two yards of compost.  But when we looked at the product, it was clear that it wasn't Cedar Grove.  It was very rough and was not fully composted.  But, we'd paid and we couldn't get a refund so we chose, instead, their premium garden blend.  Big mistake.  The soil looked OK at first, but proved to be full...FULL...of big chunks of uncomposted material (including weeds).  Beyond that, it compacted hard as a rock and proved to be of low fertility.  But, we didn't realize any of this as we filled the area with the new soil and meticulously leveled and rolled it. 

Ready for planting.

Late May, now, and we finally got the new grass seeded.  I used "Rough and Ready" eco-lawn mix from Pro Time Lawn Seed that was recommended by Joy Creek.  This seed is a mix of grasses and micro-clover.

The seed really had a hard time getting started.  I attribute the difficulty entirely to the poor soil.  I ended up reseeding and topping the lawn two times with different organic supplements.  But, eventually, it ended up looking like this:

New clover eco-lawn.  It needs a trim!  Clover tends to look lumpy if not trimmed short.

Here is our new eco-lawn.  It still has a few thin spots that will need another application of seed, and it gets mighty lumpy when it needs a trim, but it should stay greener in the Summer with less added water (due to the clover and to the inclusion of the gravel) and dryer in the Winter due to improved percolation and drainage.  

Here's hoping that it lives up to my expectations!

Garden: The Plant Merry-Go-Round

Is it Fall yet?  I don't know...it FEELS like Fall...it COULD be Fall...some of the plants are going into "Fall mode"...my brain is going into "Fall mode".  Although I designed my garden around plants that bloom together in late Summer and early Fall (and some of them are just now coming into bloom), the record-breaking heat and drought of Summer really took a toll on my enjoyment of that season and last week's unseasonal heavy rains and high winds seemed to close the door on it.  Recently, I've been taking the gardener's walk around the garden--thinking about what worked, what failed, and what could be improved next year.  And, as all gardeners know, this ends up being a plant merry-go-round--this goes here...but then, that moves there...and the other thing...I don't know, maybe I'll put it somewhere in the back...or in the green waste bin... 

Here are some of the plants currently riding the merry-go-round:

First up is the purple Actaea (Cimicifuga) seen in this picture taken during mid-Summer.  I like the Actaea very much when viewed from this position--its ferny foliage is interesting and (I think) blends with its neighbors in interesting ways.  But it lacks boldness and bulk when viewed from the street.  Earlier this Summer, I planted a second Actaea into a small gap behind the first in order to thicken it up and give it the density I feel it lacks.  But then...

Mid-Summer photo of the front garden showing Actaea, barberry, and C. brachytricha (among others).

...then I started thinking that, maybe, I just need to yank them out and replace them with these Ageratina altissima (used to be Eupatorium rugosum) "Chocolate" from the back yard.  

Back garden showing Ageratina altissima "Chocolate", Darmera (and others).

The A. altissima "Chocolate" might be a better match for the weight of the Eutrochium (Eupatorium) dubium "Phantom" that's on the other side of the corner (out front).  When I am standing on the sidewalk in front of our house, I always think I should make this change. I am sure of it.  But when I climb the stairs and view the garden up close, I think I will prefer to leave it as-is.    Enjoyment of the composition from far away, or enjoyment of detail when viewed closer-up--I am not sure there is a "right" answer.  I have the niggling suspicion that a better design would accommodate both.

Ageratina altissima "Chocolate" is also riding the plant merry-go-round.  Whether or not it is a better choice than the Actaea in the front garden, I'm also considering whether or not the back garden planting would be be improved by removing it and replacing with another Darmera.  I think so.  Readers are welcome to weigh-in on this and all other proposed plant swaps.

Back out front,   I plan to swap the small, mounded purple barberry with the grass planted just to the left of it.  The grass is a young Calamagrostis brachytricha.  That will be an easy swap and I'm pretty sure it is the right thing to do.

A pretty combo--Eutrochium (Eupatorium) "Phantom" and C. brachytricha.

While on the subject of grasses, I have a few others that might be riding the merry-go-round.  This time, I do not have to shoulder the blame for poor plant selection.  This photo (below) is taken from the street.  I just re-planted the foreground (rockery) portion--it used to be a monoculture of Sesleria caerulea.  The grasses in front are Pennisetum "Little Bunny".  The grasses in the main garden, behind, are Pennisetum "Hameln" that have been moved from place to place for about five or six years.  At least, I always THOUGHT that they were "Hameln" because that is how they were identified when I bought them.  However, this year, two of them became congested in the center and I chose to replace them with new plants.  The new plants quickly grew taller and more open than did the existing plants and the blooms stretched far above the mound of foliage.  Clearly, they perform differently than do my existing "Hameln" plants.  Then, I bought Pennisetum "Little Bunny" for the newly planted rockery.  I was looking for a plant similar to "Hameln" but smaller.  The new "Little Bunny" perform EXACTLY as do the existing "Hameln"--they are smaller than the new "Hameln" and the blooms stay lower and are buried in the foliage instead of growing tall above it.  It kinda makes me wonder if the original "Hameln" plants weren't "Little Bunny" all along.  And it makes me wonder if I need to yank out the new plants in the main garden and replace them with "Little Bunny".  "Little Bunny" fits the space I'd allowed based on my original plants' proven performance.   Hmmm.....

Front garden and rockery garden at the street.

View across the entry path to the main part of the front garden.  There are two taller "Hameln" in there as well as three of the more compact ones.  Also, two young Calamagrostis brachytricha and the nearly invisible Actaea.

And, in another case of mistaken identity...  Years ago, when I first bought Japanese anemones for the garden, I chose "Honorine Jobert" because I wanted single flowers and a slightly taller plant.  Lo and behold, when they flowered they proved to be "Whirlwind" instead.  As time has passed, I continued to buy "Whirlwind" because I wanted all the plants to match. 

Anemone "Whirlwind".

This year, I removed some plants from the garden bed to the right of the entry path and replaced them with more newly purchased "Whirlwind".  At least, that's what I thought.  When the new plants bloomed, they proved to be single-flowered "Honorine Jobert".  How frustrating (and ironic) is that?!

So, those are some of the plants currently riding the merry-go-round.  And I've got some wholesale garden redesigning on the calendar as well.  I'll finish this post with another view of some of the plants in the newly planted rockery area, in front, near the sidewalk.

The plant list includes Sedum "Purple Emperor", Sedum "Matrona", Geranium "Broookside", Melica, Pennisetum "Little Bunny", Allium "Summer Beauty", and Calamintha nepetoides.

Garden: I Built a Bench etc.

One of the final, unrealized elements of my three-year-old backyard transformation was the construction of a bench to disguise a crawlspace hatch cover that intrudes into the patio area.  A couple of weeks ago, I tackled and completed this final chore.  In my first set of backyard plans, I'd sketched an outdoor kitchen or rolling bar-be-que trolley to serve this need.  But the hatch cover is located directly beneath the bathroom window and, smokiness issues aside, I decided that it might be distressing to use the bathroom in close proximity to the grill and nearly face-to-face with the cook.  You think?!  Anyway, I pfutzed around with several versions of the plan, most of which included a built-in trellis and stowage for a large pot in which to grow a vine to adorn the trellis, before I finally decided that simplest is best and opted to build a simple, moveable bench supplemented with hanging metal trellis panels to obscure the bathroom window.  Here's the final product:

The finished bench. Kindly ignore the obnoxious cushions--that's what you get when you shop at Target, end of season.

And this is what it was like before--not a very fair comparison as this photo was taken a long time ago--before the big patio remodel.  But, what can I say?  I was pretty good at avoiding documentation of a feature I disliked.

Bathroom window and the offending crawlspace hatch cover.

A similar picture, taken today, for comparison. (Yes, I left my hose out.)

The bench is sized to slip over the hatch cover.  The front of the bench is skirted to hide the hatch while the back is open.  The bench is easily removed for access to the crawlspace.  Dimensions of the bench were largely dependent upon those of the hatch, but I'm glad to report that the bench is both comfortable and functional.  Most of the bench (the understructure and the seating surfaces) is made with 2X6 lumber while the skirting is made of 1X4's.  Using the 2X6's for the back supports consumed a little unwanted depth and allowed me to angle the back of the bench.

To disguise the bathroom window and to provide a layer of privacy between the bathroom and the adjacent patio, I bought a couple of 2 X 5 foot Gridwall panels and hung them over the bathroom window.  In a perfect world, I guess, the left-hand edge of the bench would align with the edge of the panel, but I felt that the bench would be too massive if I made it long enough to achieve that and I value the open space near the faucet.  So I decided to celebrate functionality by choosing the most pared-down design.  

To finish up, I drilled holes in some small terra-cotta pots, planted them with trailing plants, and hung them from the Gridwall with S-hooks.  I hope that as the plants mature they will further obscure the views in and out of the bathroom.  Even now, though, I think they contribute a sense of privacy to the bathroom window.

And that's one more project scratched from the to-do list.  Go me!

In the Kitchen: Cold Soup for a Hot Day

It seems like everyone around the US is suffering in the same sweltering conditions.  Aarrgh--it is just  TOO HOT.  And humid.  And gross.  And that makes it a great time to plan some quick, no-cooking dinners.  I can't believe that I waited so long to dust off this recipe.  It's piquant, savory, delicious, quick to prepare, and above all COLD.

This recipe was "discovered" by my dad in a dated, 1970's, heart-healthy cookbook.  It's a truly great recipe saddled with an unholy name:  "California Sunshine Soup".  Don't let the name dissuade you...or the ingredient list--there's some weird stuff in there--this recipe has made converts of nearly everyone who has grudgingly sampled it.  It is gazpacho-esque with tofu (yes, I said tofu) and veggies floating in a broth that tastes kind of like french dressing.

California Sunshine Soup

1 quart Clamato Juice
1/2 cup Cucumber, peeled and chopped
1/4 pound pre-cooked Cocktail Shrimp (I use about 36 count size)
1/2 cup Tofu, cut into 1/2 inch cubes (I use firm tofu)
1 small Avocado, cubed
1/3 cup Onion, diced
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar
1 Tablespoon Sugar
1 large clove Garlic, minced fine
1/3 teaspoon Tabasco Sauce

Mix all and let mellow in the refrigerator overnight (or for at LEAST 4-5 hours).

Notes:  I usually double the recipe so I can use a whole cucumber, a whole package of tofu, a whole small onion  etc.  I also add 1 or 2 ribs of celery, sliced crosswise into 1/8 inch slices.

I'd thought that this recipe was totally unique until I attended a pot-luck and another guest brought a bowl of her recipe--"Shrimp Bisque"--which was very similar except that the tofu was replaced by cream cheese.  Although this recipe failed to dethrone California Sunshine Soup for a place in my "Daily Rotation" recipe binder, it's also very tasty.  Try one--try both--see which recipe you prefer.

Shrimp Bisque

2 pints Clamato Juice
8 oz. small fresh Shrimp
1/2 cup Cucumber, chopped
1/2 cup Green Onion, sliced
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 teaspoon Sugar
2 dashes Tabasco Sauce
2 Tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar
2 Tablespoons Dill
1 Avocado, chopped
3 ounces Cream Cheese

Combine all ingredients except avocado and cream cheese.  Chill to blend flavors.  Chop avocado and cream cheese into small squares and add to the bisque 1-2 hours before serving.  Serves 8.