In Provence, a borie is a shelter made of stones, up to a few meters tall. They look like this, only larger and made of gray stone instead of lava rock found in the back yard. An eight foot tall stone hut would look strange in the front yard, and in any case the realContinue reading “Land Art… or just a pile of rocks?”
Author Archives: mike
Daffodils & bulb covers
These miniature daffodils grow on the South side of a mound facing the house, sprouting from low ground covers to bloom, grow and die down again until the next blooming season. The only care we give them is to scatter pet-safe snail bait, formulated with iron phosphate. Left alone, the snails will happily chew offContinue reading “Daffodils & bulb covers”
It’s man-eat-radish out there!
We just celebrated our first radish of the year. Initially very rashisy but mild, it finished rather hot, almost like horseradish. The arugula is coming along well, the chives have re-sprouted from their winter dormancy and the garlic chives are popping up, too. The artichoke is slowly putting forth new leaves, the lettuces are lettucingContinue reading “It’s man-eat-radish out there!”
It’s bird-eat-bird out there
Funny how we tend to think that providing food and habitat in the garden will create some kind of harmonious place where everyone gets along, a kind of Bambi scenario where all the animals are friends. This wasn’t true with the insects, and it’s not the case with the birds, either. I found a brokenContinue reading “It’s bird-eat-bird out there”
Ready to plant!
After the irrigation and lighting systems are installed, it’s time to plant. Often nurseries don’t have all the required plants, so flags are used to mark the position of plants that will arrive later. All the plants are carried to their approximate position on site and placed, still in their pots. After walking around theContinue reading “Ready to plant!”
Soil compaction
Installing a new landscape often involves the use of heavy equipment. Although this can speed the work and reduce the amount of time the site is a mess, it can also compact soils. This site has heavy clay soil, so the equipment didn’t do the soil any favors. Luckily, there are ways to fix theContinue reading “Soil compaction”
Let there be light
This system uses Light-Emitting Diodes instead of the more traditional halogen incandescent – or halogen – lights. Incandescent lighting will soon be obsolete, due to higher energy use coupled with a short life span for the bulbs, especially in outdoor conditions. Having to replace landscape lighting every month as the bulbs fail is aContinue reading “Let there be light”
Installing the irrigation system
After fine grading has been done, the irrigation system goes in the ground. This system happens to use spray heads – but it could have used one or more types of drip irrigation, or a combination of drip and spray or drip and stream rotors. Systems that shoot water through the air are called broadcast;Continue reading “Installing the irrigation system”
It’s nesting season
If you look closely, you’ll find two mourning doves. One is sitting on their nest, a loose gathering of twigs that doesn’t look like it could support even a tiny egg, let alone a bird or sometimes two. Every year, a pair of mourning doves arrives at the river birch to start a family. OverContinue reading “It’s nesting season”
Before the rain returns
After over a month of drought, the coming storm announces itself in the Western sky.