Guerrilla Gurl » garden

the Balcony

Cynthia Rand-Thompson — Sun, 31 May 2009 02:55:42 +0000

The first in a series I’m going to call, “If it were me, but it isn’t”. Yesterday I visited a friend’s home for the first time, and you know how that goes—on the drive home one inevitably thinks, “Well, if it were me…” In this case, my landscape brain got switched on by the trip to Los Angeles.

In this case, I had a six hour drive home, and my brain can cover a lot of ground in 6 hours! It’s a great location, he’s got nice furnishings, his place is sparse but well appointed, he’s obviously not one who chucks perfectly good, working appliances because retailers tell him he needs the new model… But, if it were me, I’d hang gauze curtains on that balcony and sleep out there all summer!

When I woke up this morning, I realized, that while before I’d always thought, “Gosh, I wish I could render landscapes, in watercolor, the way Alan Titchmarsh does” (on the old Ground Force series), now I can. I exploded out of bed.

First to render the balcony as it is:

A touch of color (cobalt blue, squared, tapered planter); a perennial beauty and some verticality (Fortnight Lily (Dietes vegeta); some Purple Fountain Grass (Pennisetum setaceum ‘Rubrum’) to soften things, catch the breeze and tie in the lovely burgundy sofa; a squared terra cotta 3-level fountain for those sounds you can’t ever live without once you’ve had a fountain, and some repetition for a harmonious, no care container meadow effect.

Shazzam! A cheap, easy, movable planting that requires minimal maintenance at most, and as little water. Well, now you know what I’d do, if it were me—but it’s not.

The balcony is rendered from memory, and the sofa perspective is off, but you get the idea. You’ll have to imagine the curtains, pulled back during the day. Heck, it’s my first Titchmarsh episode. I don’t know about Mr. Titchmarsh, but I’d be having a lot less fun without Photoshop!

Video: How to grow veggies in a pot

Sunset: Editor's Picks — Fri, 08 May 2009 02:21:11 +0000

Short on space? You can grow a great crop in containers, too. Here’s how

Marsh Plants that Clean Grey Water

Suite101: Water Gardens Articles — Mon, 04 May 2009 20:42:38 +0000

Marsh plants like reeds, water hyacinth, iris and duckweed are not only beautiful, they can also help conserve and treat gray water.

History of the San Francisco Botanical Garden (Part 1)

San Francisco Botanical Garden — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 08:00:20 +0000

Storyteller extraordinaire Dr. Joseph Barbaccia begins the fascinating story of how the San Francisco Botanical Garden and Golden Gate Park came to be. (Dr. Barbaccia is a past president of the Board of Trustees of the San Francisco Botanical Garden Society and currently volunteers as a docent at the Garden.)

To learn more, visit Encyclopedia of San Francisco: Golden Gate Park

Bare-root Planting Instructions

Cynthia Rand-Thompson — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 00:03:49 +0000

Well, it’s almost fall again… Which means, time to get those plants in the ground so they can get established with benefit of the annual rains. Maybe you get more rain throughout the year in your area, but for us, in Mediterranean climates, we are wise to coordinate our efforts with olde Mother Earth! Here’s our particular technique…

Bare-root plants need to be planted and watered immediately upon receipt. If you cannot plant them in their intended location due to time constraints, they can be heeled-in or potted-on. If you can plant them in their intended spot right off, so much the better. The procedure is simple.

Heeling in:

Dig a trench about 6 to 9-inches deep, in light to part-shade, somewhere in your normal path, place the plant(s) in the hole(s) and water in thoroughly. This temporary planting will keep them alive and in your view so that you can get them to their permanent location quickly, but without a panic or dead plants.

Generally, an overhang will provide at least some shade (unless it is on the west or southwest sides of the house) and will also provide frost protection. Get your plants in their “real” location as soon as possible to allow them to become established during the cool season(s). This really pays off in the form of less stress and lower water needs in summer.

Planting:

For each plant:

dig a hole about 6 inches across by 9 inches deep (about the size of a 1 gallon pot or a little bigger
add a little compost to the native soil (the soil that came out of the new hole) spread about a pinch of organic fertilizer in the bottom of the hole
create an inverted cone-shaped mound of soil in the center of the hole
place the crown of the plant on top of the mound, spreading the roots around the cone
gently back-fill (replace most of the removed soil, tamping gently with your palms to remove air pockets, there is usually some excess soil
Remember to keep the crown (where the stem meets the roots) slightly above the soil (proud) and dry
mulch with organic material, maintaining a space away from the crown (at least an inch, to prevent rot and disease)
water gently and thoroughly (about ¼ to ½ gallon)
fertilize about every week with a solution ¼ to ½ the recommended strength
protect from sustained, direct sun for the first week; protect from frost the first winter

Potting on:

is generally the same as planting in the ground, but attention needs to be paid to drainage and maintaining soil moisture without allowing standing water. Generally, soil as wet/dry as a well-wrung sponge is the ideal. Choose a pot of adequate size for at least one season’s growth.

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These instructions are generally true for 4-inch to one-gallon container sized plants (younger plants with developed roots and less developed top growth). Happy Gardening!

The Revolution Will Not Be Fertilized!

Cynthia Rand-Thompson — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 05:18:44 +0000

Well, October 15th has come and gone, again–the magic, “If your fall cover crops aren’t in the ground by today, give it up” date for the Monterey Bay. Arbitrary?, you betcha!

Tempting fate as ever, I am going to stage my own private One Straw Revolution–thank you Mr. Fukuoka–and reinvigorate the native loamy sand of this, our little one acre slice of heaven.

step one: pull the noxious weeds before mowing broadcasts the seeds–straight to the green waste can for this lot!
step two: mow the dead stuff (Before 10 a.m., so’s not to get the dreaded knock on the door from the fire department, seeing as it is high fire season–the Mediterranean climate: a blessing and a curse.)
step three: broadcast cool season cover crop seed, maybe some light hand cultivation on the rises prior to broadcasting seed–to prevent bald rises and lush cover crops at the bottom of same; possibly cover with light layer of broadcast composted year old garden waste.

Waste not, want not, eh? Also, the light layer of compost will help keep the seeds evenly damp while we pray for the coming of the rainy season–not too much, but please, oh please, not too little–and thwart a few birds.

Yup, that’s how it’s going to start. Are there different and perhaps better ways to do it? Oh, heck yeah! By the same token, the best time to do it would have been seven years ago when we first moved to this lovely spot. Faulting that, anything will be an improvement and at least I am not dousing the place with alternating courses of Round-up and Miracle Gro. Even if we were not in the Elkhorn Slough watershed, that would be bad. And, given that our water source is directly under us, it would be dumb.

I do try not to be bad and dumb when I can avoid it, but things don’t always go as planned. Just ask Hamlet!

Yet another exciting episode of Guerrilla Gurl’s Ongoing Organic Garden Adventure!