I really, really like hrigsby's idea with the deck. Under the deck storage can be for kid stuff--they can keep their outside playthings there, from bikes and scooters to enormous waterguns. Enclose it and make it a closet. >I was thinking of doing climbing roses and clematis on the shed, but I want to develop a clear plan before I start buying plants. You are totally overthinking this. If you want the look of a clematis and rose-draped shed, get a clematis and a big climbing rose. Go to the species forum and ask for advice, and then go and buy your New Dawn rose and whatever clematis everyone's enthralled by now. Plant them. Mulch their roots so they don't get weedy. Done. You are not going to throw off the entire garden plan by choosing the wrong rose and the wrong clematis. The rock work on the shed foundation is awesome, but as far as plants go...could you possibly do worse? >The park-like look really appeals to me with mulched burmed beds, if that makes sense. Manicured, simple, orderly. You mean commercial and/or parks-and-rec sorts of plantings? This seems to be what you're saying--shaped hedges floating in seas of mulch... This takes a lot of weed killer and a BIG budget for mulch. It also will look, at best, like a rather nice office building. I think you might need more exposure to various kinds of gardens. What you're imagining is mass-maintenance, not low-maintenance. And it's unsuited to a home, though many builders of cookie-cutter homes throw in the cookie-cutter shrubs like this. >Photos of Japanese style gardens appeal to me also. Not low maintenance. >I also love the idea of attracting birds more. I have seen blue jays, cardinals, sparrows, and morning doves. A water feature would be great but I don't think I want a pond. If you want a wildlife garden area, circle where you want it on your layout. Do you want to see it from the patio? From the windows of which room? I'd advise a prefabbed, plug-in type of water feature for low maintenance. Most are hideous. Some are nice. Eventually, you can find one you like. >We also love the idea of doing raspberry, blueberry, blackberry bushes for the kids and birds, but I hear the roots can be very invasive. Why didn't you go over to the fruit forum and ask? The very nice people there would have explained to you that you need a 2' deep root barrier for the raspberries but none for the blackberries. (The lazy way to do it is a 2' deep raised bed, but that may not be smart in your zone.) You will want to plant this either on the east or west side, parallel to the property line but with a pathway at least as wide as the mower. You want this on the OPPOSITE side of property than the wildlife garden, if you really want it for the kids. If you want it mostly for birds, there are better choices of plant--far more attractive for people. If you want several types of raspberry, each needs a 2' deep root barrier between them, or the more aggressive types will take over. The bed needs to be 2' wide. Mulch it well to prevent weeds. Each plant needs 3' of length along the bed. Put a hedge up along the other side, between you and your other neighbors, to reduce the feeling of exposure. As far as the existing arbs, I'd personally do a mixed shrub border, but I fear you will want an orderly row of evergreens that will do nothing to soften the shape of the yard and will grown unmanageably huge themselves in time. I can't really see the commercial berms and sterile plantings plus wildlife combination. It does not at all work in my mind.

I've submitted three counts so far - one of my yard for Friday, Feb. 12, one for the local marsh on Saturday, Feb. 13, and one more of my yard for Saturday, Feb. 13. These reports are as submitted (emailed back from GBBC) First Report Locality: 02360, Plymouth, Plymouth County, MA Observation Date: FEB 12, 2010 Start Time: 6:45 AM Total Birding Time: 1 hour Party Size: 1 Skill: good Weather: excellent Snow Depth: Less than 2 in (5.1 cm) Habitat(s): deciduous woods coniferous woods scrub rural freshwater salt water Number of Species: 17 All Reported: yes Checklist: Wild Turkey - 15 Mourning Dove - 23 Downy Woodpecker - 1 Blue Jay - 5 American Crow - 4 Black-capped Chickadee - 1 Tufted Titmouse - 1 European Starling - 3 Song Sparrow - 2 White-throated Sparrow - 4 Dark-eyed Junco - 6 Northern Cardinal - 9 Red-winged Blackbird - 13 Purple Finch - 1 House Finch - 3 American Goldfinch - 15 House Sparrow - 20 Second Report Locality: 02360, Plymouth, Plymouth County, MA Observation Date: FEB 13, 2010 Start Time: 2:30 AM Total Birding Time: 15 minutes Party Size: 1 Skill: good Weather: excellent Snow Depth: Less than 2 in (5.1 cm) Habitat(s): deciduous woods coniferous woods scrub rural salt water Number of Species: 5 All Reported: no Checklist: Canada Goose - 125 American Black Duck - 3 Mallard - 2 Green-winged Teal - 3 Hooded Merganser - 1 Comments ---------------------------------------- Drive by sightings at Shifting Lots Preserve (adjacent to Ellisville Harbor State Park) ------------------------------------------------- Third Report Locality: 02360, Plymouth, Plymouth County, MA Observation Date: FEB 13, 2010 Start Time: 7:15 AM Total Birding Time: 1 hour Party Size: 1 Skill: good Weather: excellent Snow Depth: Less than 2 in (5.1 cm) Habitat(s): deciduous woods coniferous woods scrub rural freshwater salt water Number of Species: 17 All Reported: no Checklist: Wild Turkey - 13 Mourning Dove - 17 Downy Woodpecker - 1 Blue Jay - 13 American Crow - 3 Black-capped Chickadee - 3 Tufted Titmouse - 1 Hermit Thrush - 1 European Starling - 5 American Tree Sparrow - 1 Song Sparrow - 3 White-throated Sparrow - 6 Dark-eyed Junco - 12 Northern Cardinal - 7 Red-winged Blackbird - 5 American Goldfinch - 16 House Sparrow - 25 ***************************************************************************** I have another neighborhood count almost ready to submit for today, but I've emailed a few photos to a local guru for identification. There are some birds I've never seen before and I'm not sure if I've identified them correctly. Claire

The neighbor saw the bear in her garbage at 11am one Wed, shouted to DH as he was walking up to wait for DD's bus. Hasn't bothered our garbage except at night. 6-yo DD is never outside alone (except when she went out at dusk looking for me one time when DH and I were in the attic putting the window I had just poly'd back in, and then I yelled at her to get back in the house, when we came down I told her I wasn't mad, but explained my concerns, esp. that time of night). 11 yo DS is large enough that a bobcat would not mess with him, we have explained to both of them about staying together (with a grownup if possible), making a lot of noise while they're out, so that a bear would know they're there, and to back away slowly while talking, not run, if they see a bear. I don't think it's likely they'll see a bear walking up the driveway to the bus so I let them go by themselves this AM, they have to stay together and the neighbor's house is very close to the end of our driveway if there is trouble. Thank goodness the black bears here are not as aggressive as grizzlies up north. But it worries me that it has gotten used to getting into the garbage in the neighborhood. We've been spraying ours with ammonia (the soaked Pullups didn't discourage it LOL), we don't put meat scraps or bones out until the night before pickup (early AM or else we'd just put it out that day), I keep them in ziploc bags in fridge or freezer til that night. We're going to be putting up a motion sensor floodlight on that side of the garage too. But it goes out on Wed nights/Thurs early AM and pulls garbage cans down the street (most of our neighbors have Thurs pickup, we have Friday) and then (before or after) comes to our house to see what we've got out (may have some kitchen or bathroom trash out from midweek, but as I said no food scraps - we compost everything but meat, about all it can get from our garbage is used Kleenex, Pullups, maybe a ziploc bag that might smell like deli meat). We don't let DS out to play in the woods by himself either. My brother and I used to all the time, my parents never seemed that concerned (though my dad had a run in with a "mountain lion" on this property when he was a boy, and DB found a bobcat in the play house when we lived down the road when he was a kid). I think I'd be more afraid of a gator than a black bear or a bobcat. You can't scare a gator off, can you?

Gina, I do not have an OSH that close - the closest one is in WLA on Bundy near Olympic. We used to go there a lot when we lived in Venice, and then we were close to Sawtelle and Olympic and the Japanese shops/restaurants over there. Our closest nursery (besides HD, which is 1.1 away) is Armstrong's, and it's a bit pricey, but I did buy the wine barrel planters there because they were in much better shape than the ones at HD. If you want more rose bushes, you could have some of mine - we've been trying to get rid of them because they are difficult to control, plus they clash with our overall scheme. I've never had a mulberry, and I think I do not have room for one. Don't they make a mess? I saw yuzu orange trees at San Gabriel Nursery, but I do not know what to do with the oranges. I know you can use the juice in Ponzu, but I find that regular lemon juice and/or lime juice works well enough. My kaffir lime tree now has a lot of fruit on it, and I do not expect to be using that either. Annie, it sounds like you have a wonderful orchard planned, but it will certainly keep you very busy during harvest season. Right now, only our apple tree seems to get a whole lot of fruit ripe at just one time - the citrus trees produce fruit for most months of the year, which is very convenient. I'm afraid my grapes won't be very sweet because our summers are not hot, but the grapes at the Centinella Adobe were very sweet, and the vines were huge. I might try the Bonsai method on the cherimoya, once it gets established. We planted that and the Meyer lemon yesterday when I got home from work, and so my planting is done for a while now. Kevin is now used to the idea that we have six wine barrel planters lined up on the concrete across from the hot tub. They significantly increase our planting area, and I had planned to fill that area with some kind of planters from the very beginning. I took pictures yesterday and will try to post some today or this evening. Lars