Good-bye Front Yard ( or what did we do?)

We started!!! Without any plans, we decided to level the yard. Our research told us that the cheapest and easiest way to do this was by renting a bobcat and a 5-yard dump truck. It took all day, but 3 dump loads later, our debris and dirt were gone. What was left was repairing all the sprinkler heads and the valve cover box. Looking at it afterwards, I heard myself say, “What did we do?”

On the brighter side, having any high-powered car or large equipment brought all the male neighbors outside to check it out!! I got a kick out of riding so high in the dump truck, but watching my husband’s smiling face in the bobcat, you would say it wasn't all work.

The Front Yard Project

Our front yard project started when the largest tree in our yard died and needed to be removed. It was our beloved olive tree, probably the largest olive tree I have ever seen. This tree was good for producing a lot of olives, for wrapping with xmas lights and for experienced tree climbers. We had a Tree Removal Service remove the tree, but elected to remove the stump ourselves. Did I mention that my husband and I are do-it-yourself-ers? Well, removing the 5-foot-wide stump may have been better left to the professionals! It wasn’t until the second stump grinder stayed at our house for 3 hours did that stump give up. If it hadn’t worked, we would have opted to let it decay naturally…it almost won. Now that the stump is sawdust (see picture above), we have decided to take the water-wise approach and landscape with drought tolerant plants--no lawn. There is actually a program in Santa Clara County that will rebate you $1.50 per square foot to plant selected drought tolerant plants. I had the paperwork done and have been qualified to participate. Next, I took my yard measurements to a local nursery to have their landscape architect design the yard with some input from us. I hope that for the small price of $150, which is credited back to you to buy plants and materials at their store, I will be given a great garden design and the names of the plants to plant. I cannot wait to see what they suggest!

Apple Tree Fence

Many years ago, I saw a picture of a place in France where they had a field surrounded by an apple tree fence. I always wanted one and finally, about 3 years ago, I put in the one you see above. This fence separates the lawn area from a small fruit orchard. The fence is composed of three Fuji apple trees growing laterally on two copper wires. One day, the wire and posts will be removed and the apple trees will form a living fence without them. What other fence will give you a crop of apples every fall?

Cherry Tree Espalier

Our latest project is a planting of cherry trees that will be used to break up the large expanse of fence outside the kitchen window. Since we only have about 16 inches of soil on the side of our driveway, we wanted the trees to only grow on a designated plane so that they would provide beauty and fruit without imposing on the driveway. We planted 5 cherry trees about 6 feet apart, about 8 inches from the fence. Since these trees were “whips,” they fit in the space fairly easily. Then we screwed 3/16 x 6 inch Lag Thread Screw Eyes into the posts every 12 inches starting about 26 inches high. Then we put wire through the Screw Eyes and twisted it at the end to hold the wire taught. The cherry trees are now fastened to the wire with twist ties so that they grow straight. They are planted in the following order: Bing, Rainier, Bing, Rainier and Bing. We still need to create the wire framework for the last tree. Add that to the list! Hopefully, there will be a lot of cherries in our future!!

Happy Gardening,

The Part-Time Gardener:)

2007 Blooms

Hi to those of you who have stumbled on to my site!

I have just started this blog with the help of my friend who has a blog on Romantic homes http://www.romantichome.blogspot.com/. Since I did not plan on doing this today, I do not have any current pictures of my garden, so I have displayed the one I took last year of my raised bed in the backyard. This year the seeds from these plants have rooted and are ready to grow. Since they will bloom the second year, I have started transplanting them to a prime setting for next year. This is the first time I have ever started planning ahead of time with annuals. We will see if I did it right next year!
Hope to add to my blog tomorrow!
Part-time Gardner