LUCIOLE DESIGN JOURNAL

Herb garden on the way

After trying to grow tasty things like arugula, cilantro, dill and parsley in the ground, we decided that our snails and slugs are just too voracious. But apparently they don’t climb on benches to devour our plants – and putting the plants in pots gives them perfect drainage.

Cilantro

This is something we never seem to have enough of – and without it Mexican dishes don’t taste right. It doesn’t stop there, since many Asian cuisines use it, too. We might need more pots if we harvest heavily, but maybe not if the plants grow well. (Annual)

Arugula

This grew readily from seed, not much waiting for it to sprout. We started in fall to give the plants a head start for spring, and every time the weather is sunny they make progress. These will be for salads, garnishes and arugula pesto.
(Annual)

Sage

We use this mostly for Italian food and some French dishes. The nice thing is that you don’t need much at a time – a couple of leaves is typically enough.
(Perennial)

More plants

Walking Onions

A friend gave us a plant, and it walked into several new pots. We use it like green onions, although it may not be quite as potent. Still better than no onion!

Italian Parsley

This is typically used for chimichurri, not as a garnish. We should probably grow more, because the plant is looking rather bald.

Thyme

This was in one pot, then got air layered into a second pot. Since it’s clipped regularly we decided a good constant supply would improve our Mediterranean dishes. (perennial)

Hot Peppers

They went with the first frost, but we had hot Serrano peppers ready to hand all summer. These are a wonderful crop because the plants are prolific and the peppers are hot. They’ll keep a lot longer on the plant than in the refrigerator, turning red and sweeter as they ripen – but still with a kick. (tender annual)

Luciole Design on Facebook.

Because you just never know where people might look for ideas.

Use the link if you’re a fan of Facebook:

Luciole Design Landscape Architects on Facebook!

Social Media

How “social” can this media be when you don’t sit around a table and talk, visit, entertain together? I can post all the outdoor cooking tips I want, too bad almost none of them will ever taste any of it! And although it’s fun to communicate with people from everywhere, it’s not like meeting them in person and really seeing what they do, what they love and how they live.

If you’re into living in non-immersive 2D on a screen, his is where you’ll find us, ranked:

Instagram

This does not (yet) echo on the Facebook page – if it does, then FB will move up in rank.

This blog (you are here!)

We have formatting, all kinds of blocks and better page control, so this is where articles and more in-depth pages live.

Facebook

Like Instagram, but more interactive on a computer. Better control over images and captions, too. Since it was just created ten minutes ago, I can’t say if it will be a hit.

I don’t know if clients go here. It seems there is a horde of sales types, with a few friends and colleagues mixed in. But then this is the only way to reach some of them.

Houzz (a far distant last place)

These guys will hound you for “premium” features, upsell, upsell upsell! And we get leads from time to time – but they communicate via Houzz, not phone or e-mail, and pretty much never answer our messages. They’re often far away, too. But some clients use the service for idea communication, so we have to keep it around like an old sock the neighbor’s dog might play with – but doesn’t. So they don’t get a link unless they pay us for it (because if money is all they care about that’s what they wont receive. Not from us, anyway!).

Light it up!

A digital control system coupled with adjustable color makes it easy to set the mood. For a Palm Springs inspired mid-century modern design, this brings a lot of glamour to the evening!

Any ambience you can image, you can probably create…

Farewell, Steve.

Ever meet someone who really loves his job? Where the job is more vacation than vacations? Steve was that guy. Almost. You can’t dive for abalone building landscapes, after all. He passed away a couple of days ago, something nobody expected. He headed Park Place Landscapes, our go-to construction company. Everyone loved working with him, not just us. We collaborated on a variety of landscapes around the Sacramento area.

He called us to a project to create some base sheets. I called him when they were ready, and he said he’d be over the next day. Turns out, he had a serious medical issue. Yes, that Steve, the one who taught hot yoga, took intense bike rides and dove for abalone in freezing turbulent water without any issues. He trekked around on a motorcycle. None of this ended him. Rogue wave? Missed a turn? No. He went peacefully in a hospital bed. “It is what it is” he might say. He did a lot of excavating, but now he’s left a hole nobody can fill.

Steve at work

Jobs ran smoothly – or as smoothly as possible with Steve. He made sure everything was set to go from the start, and followed every detail of a project. He took great care of his clients, too. They always knew what he was up to, and if there was a delayed item, he kept them in the loop – and often told them there would be a delay before starting the job, especially with stone fountains.

His team could build from scratch, too. They could weld, do woodworking, build walls, pour concrete. For masonry, Dave stepped up for tile, rock and other installation once Steve poured the concrete. It was a good arrangement for everyone. TJ seconded Steve, with his broad range of skills from lighting to irrigation and everything (except masonry) in between.

Projects across the years

Sometimes we’d bring him a project, sometimes it would go the other way. We would meet regularly or talk on the phone to work out the more difficult projects, although once we drew something Steve could figure out how to make it reality.

Steve made sure the parasol footing was massive

Attracting wildlife: active vs passive

This article covers birds and insects. I’m not deliberately attracting mammals – but they’re out there, some unwanted and others pieces of the wild. Until recently we kept everything passive, where we put in plants, nesting boxes and kept brushy places wild – but didn’t have to do anything on a regular basis. Now we’ve added some active elements: bird feeders and a place to put sticks for birds to gather for their nests.

Active Enhancements

This basically comes down to providing things that have to be replenished on a regular basis, mostly food for birds. The other thing is sticks for nesting, but this only needs to be done during the period where birds are building their nests – in Sacramento, that’s February and on until the nests are complete and occupied.

Bird food

Some birds won’t eat anything you provide. These are generally birds that hunt: phoebes hunt insects; hawks don’t eat bird seed. For the rest, you need to specialize.

We don’t put out hummingbird feeders. They need thorough cleaning and we can provide food for hummingbirds easily enough in the garden, especially considering that insects are a major source of protein and are abundant enough in the landscape.

This is not an either/or thing, either. Birds search the garden for food, then visit feeders for more. Sometimes they’re looking for protein – insects – in the garden and carbs – seeds – in the feeders.

It’s been a learning experience, with a lot of fine tuning required. Here’s a few things we found:

Rats

Anything with seeds on or near the ground will attract rats. On a cloudy day, they’ll even run out in the open. It seems we don’t have enough predators to make them cautious. So either feed small amounts on sunny days that will be completely consumed by birds, raise the feeders where it will be hard for the rats to find them, or hope some predator moves in to take care of them. Don’t poison the rats! Dead rats can be eaten by other animals – like cats and dogs – and killed too.

Squirrels

Although they’re rodents, they’re cute and fluffy. It’s a love/hate thing. There’s no easy way to keep them out of your seed feeder. You can buy hot chili suet that apparently discourages them. Squirrels do not like ghost peppers! Birds on the other hand, are apparently immune to chilis and will happily munch away.

Seeds

A variety of seeds brings a variety of birds. What else brings variety? Feeder placement and shape. Flat platforms work well for doves, but you can also scatter seed on a wide paved surface. A feeder higher off the ground seems to favor different birds than a feeder near the ground.

These seeds attract these birds

Small seeds (crushed sunflower, others)

goldfinches, sparrows, house finches, mourning doves

Medium seeds (sunflower)

California scrub jays, Oak titmice, White-breasted nuthatch

Large seeds (peanuts, whole or shelled)

California scrub jays, yellow-billed magpies, squirrels (not birds but…)

Suet

You’ll get different birds with suet than with seeds. Since suet blocks for birds can contain seeds and insects in addition to the suet itself. They can also be fortified with calcium for eggs, and have higher protein content than seeds. There is non-melting suet for warm places, hot chili suet to discourage squirrels, peanut, insect… all kinds of flavors. There are also seed blocks held together with gelatin that I’m lumping in with suet, with the warning that these will disintegrate in the rain. Many are labeled as being for woodpeckers, but the woodpeckers themselves don’t seem to care that much.

Suet blocks go into cages, sold wherever you get the suet. The assumption is that the birds will cling to the cages to eat. Some will, some won’t – so I wired on sticks for perching and attracted more bird species. Without perches, the suet lasts a lot longer but since the goal is feeding lots of birds I’ll stick to the perch configuration.

suet-eating birds

Nuttall’s woodpecker, Yellow-billed magpie, oak titmouse, white-crowned sparrow (perches), Northern mockingbird (perches), White-breasted nuthatch

Passive Enhancements

If you can set it out and basically forget it, it’s passive. Some seasonal maintenance might be needed in the case of plants and water features, but otherwise it’s hands off from your point of view. Many birds that won’t come to feeders will enjoy passive features.

Passive features: who likes what

Fountain

cedar waxwing, ruby-crowned kinglet, California scrub jay, towhees, American robins, goldfinches, warblers, black-headed grosbeak, northern mockingbird…

Garden

cedar waxwing, black phoebe, wrens, towhees, hummingbirds, bushtits…

noT AT feeders

cedar waxwing, black Phoebe, bushtits, wrens, hummingbirds (we don’t have h.feeders), warblers, kinglets

Birds

Birds eat a variety of foods: insects, berries, nectar, seeds. So we make sure our plants provide these things – and we don’t deadhead flowers so they can produce seeds. This is not to say we don’t harvest the occasional cut flower, but we do leave flowers from season’s end on the plants to produce seed. A range of flowers produce nectar for hummingbirds, with overlapping bloom seasons to give several months worth of food.

Birds also like to bathe, so water is an essential feature. Birds even take baths in the rain, so it must be part of their daily ritual. Our water feature has filtered, running water so we don’t have to clean it several times per week. It’s planted with mint and watercress, too – both pollinator plants for bees.

Nesting boxes can work. Ours seem to stay permanently empty, but we do have birds nesting in the garden. Under the eaves, in shrubs, in trees. Just not in the nest boxes!

Insects

You could consider insects to be food for birds, since caterpillars are a major food source for nesting birds. So that brings three types of food to the garden: food plants for insect larvae, nectar plants for butterflies and some bees and pollen plants for other bees and some beneficial flies. In between are a range of other insects: predators, herbivores and whatever decides to move into the garden. The keys to making things insect – and bird – friendly is to avoid poisoning your garden with pesticides.

Our insects

pollen/nectar

Native bees, syrphid flies, skippers, moths, butterflies, honeybees…

larval food

Milkweed, evening primrose, oak, grasses, ceanothus, grape vine… just because you have the plants does not mean you’ll get the insects!

Capturing a front yard for entertainment and outdoor living

Our client had drainage issues in their front yard, along with a wish list: a fenced space for the dog, more outdoor living areas, places for vegetables, somewhere to park a small trailer, and a better entry to their home.

workflow: from measurement to concept

We talk to the client about goals. One of us tends to get input and throw out ideas while the other runs around gathering data with a laser rangefinder.

measure the site

In the beginning, there’s only a base plan, created from on-site measurements of the house, fences, trees and road location. More information on orientation and property line location comes from a plat map, if available.

Site plan from laser rangefinder measurements. Quick, precise and repeatable. Measurements get entered into a computer-aided design program on site, so they’re ready use when we get back in the office

initial design

Does the design fulfill the client’s wishes? Address style, function, safety, drainage? This is where area sizes get checked, balanced, evaluated. Finishes and surfaces are considered, rejected, replaced with options. Does it cover what we talked about at our meeting? Add back anything that was omitted – in this case, more lawn for the dog.

this concept combines property line data, site measurements and ideas from our discussion with the client.

Add detail

Filling in spaces by how they will be used makes it easier to see everything and optimize the plan toward a solid concept. This is where compromises get balanced: protecting the tree vs. moving the wall, angling the wall vs. appearance, wondering how much buffer space is good between the angle in the facing road and the wall, in case someone misses the turn…

Adding color, textures and items illustrates the concept. Only one more thing…

Add notes

Many people have difficulties reading two dimensional plans. It’s not something they teach in elementary school along with reading and writing, after all – unfortunately. Adding notes transforms an indecipherable plan into something actionable, the first steps down the road to realizing a project.

Notes communicate things that often can’t be drawn, like underground utilities, functions of features, tree species, finishes and even the model of trailer that can transform this space into an outdoor lounge.

Matching the client to the concept

Discussing options is a large part of design, where you bring new possibilities to the table. This also means walking around, finding problems and opportunities, looking in the house for design clues and exterior views.

Client’s goals

Create a parking space for a trailer in the front, make the porch/landing area safer and more appealing, bring more light into the house, build a wall to block headlights from cars coming down a nearby street, fence in the front yard to keep the dog in and create more spaces, add vegetable planters, deal with drainage issues
themes for front yard

Our solutions

Use the trailer as an entertainment hub to anchor a new front yard patio space. We chose a trailer with a kitchen, opening side windows, seating – everything a garden hangout needs. And it comes in cool, mid-century modern colors to go with the house!

The entry landing was too narrow, creating a tripping hazard. The solutions were to brighten up the space with skylights, build a large entry deck to match the deck in the back yard.

The front wall/screen needed to be interesting and fit into the mid-century modern feel of the house. Something purely utilitarian would not do! We inserted strategically placed breeze blocks at the pedestrian entry, sketched three kinds of metal gates for people, regular vehicular access and occassional access and added metal address numbers with lighting. We added notes on how the gates could look and operate

Although it wasn’t on their list, we mentioned adding the same porcelain tile they plan to use on the home’s fireplace to proposed raised planters at the entry to further unify the interior and exterior design.

how could this have been done remotely?

Our ideas came about from poking around the house, looking out windows, walking up and down the front entry area and thinking. What would improve the spaces? What style is best, and how can it be created? What design gems are hiding in plain sight (like that box of sample tiles on the table…)

remote design? how?

We see a lot of advertisements for companies that make everything sound so easy. Just say what you want, get some kind of base plan to the company, and they will do the rest. Seems too easy! Yet, I wonder if that’s the way things are going: just push a button, arrange financing and your new landscape will appear from a cloud of dust, perfect in every detail.

I’ve read online design company’s descriptions, but always come away with questions relating to customization, quality, workflow… It seems there are a lot of things that really need boots on the ground to get good information, a solid starting point derived from real conditions.

how do you get a good base plan from far away?

When we do a base plan, it either comes from a professional surveyor or, if it’s a smaller, flat site, we measure with a laser rangefinder. When we use our measurements, we overlay our data with property lines from the local planning agency, where possible. We know the thing is accurate either way.

We don’t use satellite photos: they are often out of date and only show the roof – or if they’re taken in summer, they don’t even show that. Property line data does not accurately show structures. But it seems that people are designing from web based data. I’d like to know how to get window, door and wall dimensions when all you can see is the roof and perhaps the building’s position on the property. But there they are on social media ads, making it look like it’s all ready to go.

We’ve tried working with client-supplied base plans. Sometimes they’re great. Others, not so much. And when the base plan is off, it’s a lot harder to transfer a design from paper to construction. Square footage will be off, affecting plant quantities, surfaces, material quantities… things that change project cost, either positively or negatively.

It’s not like you can just fire up a robot on the site and do the measurements just like you’re in a teleconference with the ability to move. It’s either do what you can from aerial data or get someone qualified to measure for you. At least for now. There are 3D scanners that are quite incredible, but also extremely expensive. Maybe some day there will be measurement drones with AI that can just fly around a site and do this work quickly and precisely. But by then maybe machines will just print the design on site from base materials…

What about design expertise?

The ads also show people just picking things out of a “grab bag”: a hot tub, deck, pool, shade structure, outdoor kitchen… Who puts these things together into something wonderful? Who advises people about costs? Pulling things off a wish list is one thing, but actually paying for all those goodies is something entirely different.

Who is designing your project, and will you be able to discuss ideas? Will you just get a concept plan with some nice graphics, or will you get to dig into the thing beyond choosing items from a list?

How much regional knowledge to these people have (assuming they’re not AIs). This is obviously relevant for plants, but it’s also relevant for catalog items, concrete colors, stone… much of a design varies by region. Or you can just ship heavy items across the country at your cost – but that does not seem like a wise use of your cash.

Competitive bidding? Installation?

The companies seem to be one-stop shops, design and build. But the companies seem nationwide. Will you get the best contractor for your project? And what if you want competitive bids to make sure the quoted price is within your local price range?

Ideally, a web-based contractor would need several crews to serve each of their regions to minimize wait times. Where would these crews come from and who would supervise them? Would the designer still be around to deal with the inevitable surprises inherent in landscape construction, or would that become the property owner’s new task?

Thinking of an outdoor pizza oven?

You have choices. Lots of them. The lower price gets you smaller oven. More money gets you something larger and probably more versatile. And a ton of money gets you something that’s probably too much unless you entertain hordes of people. All of them have a learning curve.

The Ovens

We have a small, wood-burning Ooni. Some clients have gas-burning Oonis. Others have gas-fired Roccboxes. All work great. All have a steeper learning curve for pizza: several curves, in fact: prepping ingredients, heating the oven to the correct temperature, cooking techniques all come into play. Other things have learning curves, too – unless you’re used to cooking in an intensely hot oven that would give your home oven nightmares.

Pizza Dough

I’ll start here, since they are called pizza ovens for a reason. Although they are wonderful for other things, especially fish.

You either need to spend more than you should on ready-made dough or learn how to make your own. Basic dough is flour (preferably 00), water, salt, yeast and time. Fancier dough adds olive oil, sourdough starter, different types of wheat or grains… Then it has to be kneaded to develop elasticity. Then proofed. Then shaped, topped, placed in the oven.

Firing a pizza

You don’t just stick a pizza in a crazy hot oven and walk away. The pizza stone should be around 700° F or even higher, and one side of the oven has flames keeping it that way. Result: either you keep turning your pie or the side facing the flames will a black, carbonized mess. The pizza oven makers are really into accessories. Wooden peel, metal peel, turning peel, perforated peel… I use a wooden peel going in, a metal peel coming out and a long-handled grill spatula for turning. A grilling spatula costs about $50 less than a turning peel, and it turns pizza well enough if you’re careful.

Pizza in hot oven, wait maybe 10-15 seconds for the bottom crust to set, turn the thing 90°, wait maybe 5 seconds, another quarter turn, keep going until the outer rim of the pie has “panther spots” and looks toasty. Don’t pause, don’t wait, don’t get that text… or you’ll be chewing carbon.

Fish

A pizza oven gets hot, top and bottom. Very hot – up to around 500°C, 900° F. What does that mean? You can develop flavor on the outside of the fish before the inside heats up and dries out. You can also add glazes, like misoyaki, as you cook. Place the fish in a cast iron pan, preheated or not, put it in the oven and watch it carefully. If you have a wood-burning oven, you can close the damper for more smoke flavor.

Bread

Some ovens – Gozney Domes for example, hold heat well enough for bread. They even supposedly have a steam attachment if you want to try making artisan sourdough. Our Ooni Karu 12 does not – it’s metal and works by reflecting heat back down more than storing it. It also has a small opening, so when the bread rises it gets stuck and you have to cut the top off your loaf. The bigger wood-burning Ooni probably can do a better job on bread, but not likely as well as a steam-injected Gozney.

Finishing veggies, lasagna, baked pasta, etc.

If you pre-cook things like onions or potatoes, you can use the oven to finish them with melted cheese. Start in a regular oven or on the range with a cast iron pan, wait until your veggies are fork tender, sprinkle them with toppings and pop them in the oven to broil. Same for baked pasta – pre bake and finish. Unless you have good temperature control, your pizza oven will probably be too hot for baking. And it’s probably more expensive for the fuel, too.

Steaks and chops

Steaks and chops can be done in a pizza oven, although I’m not convinced it’s a better way to go than just searing them in a hot pan. Preheat your cast iron pan in the pizza oven, season and lightly oil your steak (too much oil will flame), pull the pan out of the oven with a super insulated fireproof glove that will likely scorch anyway, drop in the steak, sear, flip, sear, take out of the oven and rest on a cutting board. Our you could skip the pizza oven part and just sear the thing in the pan. If the oven is already going for other things, it makes sense, but lighting a pizza oven and waiting for it to come up to temp is slower than putting the pan on a burner.