Ecologically minded garden design without trees?
GroundskeeperSmalley
6 years ago
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6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoGroundskeeperSmalley
6 years agoRelated Discussions
first home,first garden! Litter my mind with creativity/knowledge
Comments (16)Cute house. Is that a baby on the lawn next to the driveway? LOL. I'm not a professional landscaper, but here's my advice from a first time homebuyers perspective who learned the hard way: Lots of great advice here...I agree with starting with soil amendment, then trees, shrubs, perennials / garden in that order, and wait a year before delving into major changes unless you have a pro landscaper. Keep in mind seasonal interest, evergreens and deciduous. Do you want privacy? You can place trees to block views. Do you want a place to entertain and relax? If so, then you can consider a patio in your landscaping scheme. I also perused my neighborhood for similar homes to get a better idea of my likes vs. dislikes, and expanded on that, and I've spent winter months perusing the web, garden books and magazines for a wealth of information. Usually when I did something on a whim, I later regretted it. I have a neighbor who took a beautiful lilac shrub, hacked it down to the ground at 10:00 pm, the night before she threw a party, to "make more room for seating". We couldn't believe it (as this was the last shrub in their yard). I also have a lilac shrub that I later trimmed up into a tree form to make room for a rocking chair underneath, and it's adorable, very English-gardenish, my husband's favorite place to relax...so the moral of the story is my neighbor has regrets, I'm sure, as she later replanted another shrub in the same place. LOL. As far as your veggie gardens, some municipalities don't allow veggie gardens at the front of your home, so it's always best to check on municipal codes. Consider installing a rain barrel. Our community sells them dirt cheap as a recycling program (old pickle barrels), as opposed to the pricing you see on the internet. Your plants will love you for it, and you'll save on your water bill. Our local dump provides free compost and mulch if you pick it up and load yourself. I always check on gardenweb regarding plant selections, and I've always found this most reliable vs. zone hardiness or performance from garden magazines or nurseries. Gardenweb -trees, perennial forums, etc. are a plethora of valuable information, couldn't live without. Fence - get a property survey if no property markers on site. Check with city hall to see if they have any on record. Inform your adjoining neighbors before installing, as a courtesy, they'll appreciate it, and you can also make sure there are no property line disputes. Confirm municipal codes regarding height, permit requirements, material, etc. I wouldn't skimp on the quality as this will add value to your home, and appeal to future homebuyers with kids and pets. I noticed your access to the back yard is via the side door - think about whether you want your fenced area to encompass the back door as well, technically this area is considered the "side yard" and not the "back yard", in which there may be different height or permit requirements, so again, my best advice is to confirm municipal code (our municipality is very strict). As far as visual sensations, curb appeal increases the value of your home. Bricks - I would not get rid of them if they match the brick on your home. Depending on the year your home was built, you'd be hard pressed to ever find them again, and you never know when you might need them. You could use them as a pillar base for a pergola, for example, and it would look like it was original to the home. Just some things to think about. That's my 2 cents worth. Good luck, and most of all have fun. I knew absolutely nothing about gardening or landscaping, and now I'm hooked. I find gardening very therapeutic. Regards, Kim...See MoreHow do I control an invading perennial without killing the tree??
Comments (6)There is this thing called a lawnmower. You probably already have one. It's job is to cut things down close to the ground. Since it is so effective at killing plants that can't handle continous cutting, it doesn't really seem to be recognized as one of the best machines ever invented for controlling unwanted plants. It will get rid of the loosestrife. It will also significantly control the mint, though it is much better at growing under the cutting blades. Any plant that either cannot handle continuous cutting, or cannot grow close to the ground can easily be controlled with the mower. This covers almost all of the truly bad plants. Compared to poison ivy, rosa multiflora, bush honeysuckle and phragmites, dandelions are not a concern....See MoreIncorporating ecological land care principles
Comments (36)After a long absence from gardenweb, I stumble on this new forum. What a coincindence because I have been absent because I told myself no cruising the web until I had finally eradicated the ivy that is threatening to strangle the north border of my property. I bought a 40 year old home from the original owner. This owner had done the original landscaping way back when so i had some very nice, well established plants...mostly natives. Pinus contorta contorta, Doug Fir, Redwood, Coffeeberry, Manzanita, a glorious and huge ceanothus, Port Orford Cedar. But I also got ivy plants that went on forever, a dying pear tree, a dying Monterey Pine, liquid ambers and norway maples planted way to close together. I have thought of the seven year process more a rehabilitation process. I went at it like triage: remove the dying pine, thin the maples, prune and try to bring back the pear. Little by little remove that damn ivy. I finally got back to the two mother plants.....with stems as big around as my upper arm. IT has been a three year process gettign rid of it two lawn waste bins a week. I have had great fun replanting that denuded area....using natives only....tiarella, saxifrage, heucheras, dicentra, ribes, Oso berry, ceanothus, evergreen huckleberry, more manzanita, native hazelnut, mountain mahogany. I am glad it took me so long to remove it all because it gave me time to reallythink about what I wanted there. 7 years ago Iwas largely ignorant of CA natives having moved here from the midwest. I have always been an organic gardener so ecological principles go without saying.What I have noticed during this whole process is to get it done right takes enormous patience, hard work and knowledge. OR lots of money so you can hire the right folk to do it for you pronto. Unfortunately the average person seens not to have any or all of the above. Not that it is theei fault. Americans work longer hours than most of our first world counterparts. Because we want to or because we must just ot make ends meet. So when I look around my forty year old neighborhood I see either sadly neglected and overgrown yards....or unispired bonsaid/poodle cut plants tended to by mow/blow/go guys. There are a few folk who like to garden and have "restored" their yards but only after patronizing the big box retail/hardware places and ending up with the safe things: margurites, junipers, roses, agapanthus, etc. The natives dont seem to be considered even though we have at least 3 wonderful native plant nurseries nearby. I hope this can change and look upon my little back yard restoration as a step in the right direction. Claire...See MoreDesigning with aging, disabilities in mind
Comments (21)As far as kitchen design is concerned I dealt with all of these. My elderly mother lives with us. She is 80 years old and loves to cook and we want her to feel able to cook as long as she can and be safe and confident doing so. Here are some of the things we did in the kitchen: 1) Lowered countertop on the cooktop and prep side (the finished height including the 3cm soapstone is 33inches.) 2) Went with induction cooktop due to safety issues. I was originally thinking high BTU gas rangetops like CC or the Bluestar but when my mom used the single hob Max Burton, she fell in love with the induction as there are no flames and she liked that the pots did not get too hot. So minimized chance of burns. We went with 36in Gaggenau induction. The knob is very very intuitive and my mom was able to pick it up in a few mins. 3) A separate prep sink which is shallower. This was easier on her back. We installed the Franke Beach and also installed a compost bin close by. But this has made prep very very easy for her. Not much lifting or bending down to reach trash etc. We also chose Kohler Karbon as the faucet here as it was easier for her to direct water where she wants and have both her hands free. The joystick was also easier than the levers we tried. We were debating whether or not to a tapmaster here. We ended up installing one and my mom loves it. 4) Mise en Place design. As she aged, my mother's stature shrunk. She is barely 4ft 10inches now. The biggest challenge in the old kitchen was reach for her. In this kitchen, we had her stand and mapped her arm reach. All of the things she typically uses for cooking is right within her reach. With lower counters, we were able to get the uppers installed lower too with the necessary 18in clearance. Now the bottom shelf of the upper is within easy reach. The canisters there have some texture to provide better grip. Nothing too heavy there. We also did shelves on the cabinet door for things like tea and coffee. The best thing was however the drawers. I do not have a separate pantry and anyways, we wanted cooking ingrediants to be within reach. We ended up sizing the drawers to fit OXO POP containers for all the staples. Super heavy duty glides which are soft close are important here. I learned about these here. These containers are BPA free, airtight and release with a simple press lift. Much much easier for arthritic hands. No lifting or twisting of heavy jars. All of the dry goods --> rice, lentils, grains, steelcut oats are all here and have scoops already in them. 4) A place to sit and prep. We wanted to have a place where we can tuck in a stool under the counter where she can sit and prep things like shelling peas, stuffing peppers, making dumplings etc. Unfortunately we did not have space in the counter run. So instead the kitchen table is a sturdy butcher block and she has a right sized chair to do that. Standing and prepping for long is too hard for her. 5) Lighter weight cookware --> I struggle with this as I do love my Le creuset and Demeyere. But to make it easy and safe for my mom to lift, I got a few pots from IKEA which are great on induction and the weight is not too much. Other ADA things we did in the house include: 6) No transition access One of the design principles we used was to avoid any transitions. We have no carpet and there is no transition (wooden trim piece) between the wood and the tile. Nothing to trip over. In fact there is no transition threshhold between kitchen and the courtyard even. Footmats where used have a grippy bottom to avoid tripping. 7) Bathroom: We installed a curbless shower, an ADA rated seat, a easy to reach niche near the seat for soap, champoo etc. The TP holder is a grab bar in disguise. The shower rod is installed into solid wood and can be used as a grab bar. We also got a longer shower bar so that when sitting the shower head is still easy to reach and she does not have to get her head wet. The tiles go up to the ceiling and have solid backing behind them Eventually we can install grab bars where ever necessary. There is a towel hook inside the shower stall to minimize drips and avoid falls. We did have an ADA design person review our plan and give us advice. 8) Elderly friendly furniture In every public room (living room, family, foyer, kitchen) in the house as well as her room, there are chairs which are sized right for her. Not too high, not too deep, with arms to pull herself up, softer, and heavy enough to not slide if she leans on it. These are in perspective just a number of small things but it has been quite remarkable to see how comfortable it has made our home for my mom. I would not say that we spent too much money on it and definitely the compromizes were very minimal but just a lot of upfront thinkign and analysis has made a huge difference. And I know that when we are older in a few years, we will appreciate all of this. Just last week an elderly neighbor brought her daughter and son in law over to see our home and get ideas for the in law unit they are remodeling for her and her husband....See Moredbarron
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoGroundskeeperSmalley
6 years agoSkip1909
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoGroundskeeperSmalley
6 years agoSkip1909
6 years agodocmom_gw
6 years agoGroundskeeperSmalley
6 years ago
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