“April showers bring May flowers...”

It’s just the beginning of April and yet we’ve had both the showers and the flowers! A month ago I had a truck-load of compost delivered by Carol (the Compost Lady), and I started shoveling. After more than a few wheelbarrows filled to brimming, I took a break and covered the compost with a tarp in case it rained. Well, good thing I did - in between quite a few storms I managed to finally get all the compost off my driveway and spread throughout my garden. In the meantime, my yard has come alive.

Recently I decided that I wanted to maximize my edible-garden space. Several years ago I had brick raised beds built.

The area of my yard that has the vegetable garden is the only area that gets full-sun throughout the day. In order to expand I took a sledge hammer to two of the brick beds, the middle 8-foot round and a back rectangular bed. I drew out a 20 foot circle and decided that in it there would be four concentric rings - four rows to plant in.

I should have cancelled my membership at the gym because the digging, shoveling and moving brick was, and continues to be, far more intense than my workouts at the gym! The reward for this manual labor however is way greater than any gym workout, my garden is getting rebuilt and it’s so beautiful outside - much nicer than the smelly gym. From the picture you can see that I’m almost done. The weather forecast looks good so I’ll be able to finish and be ready for my spring planting.

Before I started this endeavor I read up on the best methods of digging the beds. A great resource was Barbara Damrosch’s book, Garden Primer. She and her husband have a large organic farm in Maine and much of their produce is used in local restaurants, even some in New York. I used Barbara’s method of double digging and I’ve even drawn a little diagram of how it’s done:

This is where I used a lot of the compost that I had delivered. I'm excited to see how it all turns out!

the Bay-Friendly Garden Tour

Sunday, April 25th, from 10a.m. to 4 p.m is the Bay-Friendly Garden Tour. This is a wonderful tour of gardens in the Bay Area - Berkeley, Emeryville, Alameda & Fremont. The tour is FREE, you just need to register on their website and they will send you a booklet with directions, pictures and a schedule of talks being given. You can load up your bikes and ride to see the gardens, or choose a cluster of homes and then walk to each garden. The gardens chosen utilize drought-tolerant, organic and environmentally friendly practices.

New arrivals!

What looks like just a little hole or cave in the bamboo turns out to be a snug little nest for my wild mommy cat and her five kittens!

I have named the mother cat “Mimi”. She comes to my back door for food, and in the morning I walk out to the back of the yard where her nest is and bring her breakfast in bed. By the end of May the kittens will be at the age to be fixed and have their shots...let me know if you’d like a sweet addition to your home! However many might stay with me, I’m thinking of naming them after the plants and flowers and herbs in my garden: Parsley, Pansy, Columbine, Daisy, Rose, Weed, etc.

My Open Garden

My target date for this year’s open garden at my home is Mother’s Day, May 9th. I will send out emails with an invitation. As always, there will be tea and cookies and white wine. What a lovely way to spend the day!

Beautiful Spring

I love to look around me and see even the oldest most twisted tree awash in blossoms! With the dark skies the colors stand out even brighter. The flowering quince is just about done, the daffodils are still standing tall, the tulips are still pushing through, but the fruit (and ornamental fruit) trees are in bloom...big time!

I love to cut branches and put them in a large vase. Shown here are branches from my ornamental plum tree. The Forsythia just started blooming and they make a beautiful arrangement as well.

We are getting close to spring, and now is the time to start your vegetable seeds indoors...actually you could have started last month (I’m a little late!). I am also preparing my garden beds. Each year I order a load of composted manure that is mixed with wood shavings from Carol Jones. I call her “Carol the Compost Lady.” For $50.00 she’ll deliver a pickup truck full - towering full, and fork it onto your driveway or street. I mulch my existing beds with this also. Years ago my hairdresser Bob worked in a small salon that was in an old Victorian in downtown Sacramento. The garden was absolutely beautiful. I asked him how did he get everything to look so lush? Bob and the other stylists all chorused, “Carol the compost lady!” If you would like to order compost from her you can call her at: (916) 397-2854 (She prefers payment in cash).

What a great idea!

One of my clients, dear and beloved Linda Haakenson, took photos of her garden and then had notecards made up from them! She went to shutterfly.com and for a box of 12 notecards including envelopes, it costs $9.99. Again, what a great idea. You can share your garden along with a handwritten note.

Habitat for Humanity Award

I am very proud to announce that I have been given an Award from Habitat for Humanity. I have been designing the landscapes for their latest homes in Sacramento. We have just completed four homes on Forrest Street in Sacramento, and we made “Gold” level in the LEED Certification (to find out more about LEED and the U.S. Green Building Council, click here). The landscapes are all drought tolerant, have no lawn and include an area for roof run-off to permeate the soil. Our next home will be planted this week, on Mahogany Street, not too far from the other four. The work I do for Habit is pro bono (I do it for free). Believe me, it’s not because I have so much free time and excess income that I do this, it’s because it feels so good to contribute.

Many things bring me joy in life, but there are two that take precedence: Creating beauty and being able to give to people. The work I do fulfills both of these. The landscapes I create are all focused on beauty, and the joy it brings to my clients make me feel so good! Sometimes clients will tell me how their new landscape or garden has changed the way they do things - from not going out to their yard to spending all of their time in their yard! When I hear this I get a tremendous sense of well being. I feel that I’ve been able to give in a way that will keep on giving and changing. To be among the team at Habitat for Humanity is a great honor.

Habitat for Humanity was started by Millard & Linda Fuller back in 1976. It so happened that Jimmy Carter was a volunteer, and continues to be a volunteer in the building of houses. Habitat for Humanity is now a global organization, and besides working locally in building homes for low income families, it also works toward providing relief in disaster areas such as Haiti and now Chile.

A wonderful thing to do for yourself or your whole office would be to attend one of the Habitat Tours that are given on Thursdays. It only takes an hour, and they give you a history of Habitat for Humanity, a tour of their Restore and a profile of the families that are working to get a home.

The office and Restore are located in the Old Army Depot - 8351 Umbria Ave., Bldg. 5

The phone number at the office is: (916) 440-1215 ext. 1109

The next tours will be:

3/11/10 8:00 a.m.

3/25/10 10:00 a.m.