Progression of a Project

I love it when a plan comes together. I love it more when I don't know what I'm doing but fake it and somehow it works out, which is usually the case. The faking-it part, that is. Fortunately for me, plants are so forgiving that it works out most of the time. This blog post is thus the progression of a medium-sized project as it nears completion, the jury is still out whether or not it is successful. A little more work to go, but I hope the end results match the image in my mind. Here we go:

This is the property and home when we bought it in late 2015. The labyrinth is, of course, gone, replaced with a full garden. The edge of the labyrinth, closest to the camera, is the area we'll be looking at.

Here is the labyrinth last April after the rocks were removed, the sand pushed back to allow for the removal of the landscape fabric underneath, and plants beginning to be placed.

This is about August last summer. The labyrinth is the garden area seen in the upper left, the additional space was created when we moved the rocks and began planting meadow plants. The edge of this area still screamed "circle" to me and I wanted to mix it up.

Here it is from the south looking north. The whole garden just sort of ends in field grass, not very interesting.

That's when I had the idea to make it a "step down" and to plant it with fescue and other drought-tolerant scrubby plants as a transition to the surrounding landscape. This photo is from early spring this year with basically nothing emerging. There are many grasses, asters and herbaceous perennials in there. And Hobbes, of course.

My "step down" got a little deeper and wider thanks to Facilities Manager. He mounded the soil on the south side of the swale. I had not thought about putting the soil there, I actually didn't think about it much but he started and the mounds affectionately became the Himalayas. That's assistant FM Sharon, who always seems to be doing some heavy work for us.

OK, I like the change in profile to the land. I just went with it and decided I would create it as I went.

Facilities Manager added chunky gravel to the base of the pit to help keep mud down. He eventually, with the help of friends, added smaller crushed gravel to complete the look.

I still wasn't sure what I would do with the Himalayas. The kitties had their own ideas.

Because the soil used to make the mounds was basically turned-over field grass and the surrounding soil, we needed to solarize or sterilize the soil to kill weed seeds and the grass. We did this by covering the mounds in plastic. I learned after we did this that clear plastic works better as it acts as a greenhouse, trapping sunlight and really heating things up. D'OH! Live and learn. We are really just winging it, after all.

As seen looking towards the west. The soil on the right is the edge of what was the labyrinth. After I took these photos, I cut openings in the plastic and planted a few Arctostaphylos species to get them off to a good start, as well as a few blue fescue grasses. We waited a couple of months until I couldn't stand it any longer and I recently removed the plastic. I probably should have waited a few more months, but . . . I was impatient.

Here it is with the plastic removed and the plants in place. I decided to soften the edges by raking soil down to the gravel so it forms a soft edge. The grassy area between the two mountains of soil will eventually be graded so it slopes down and becomes level with the gravel to make for easy access and a more welcoming feel.

The edges of the labyrinth garden have many low-growing cascading plants that will eventually cover the edges, such as trailing rosemary, Zauschneria or California fuchsia, sedums and others. If we had more resources, I would edge the labyrinth side of the gravel walk in rock to make for a kind of low retaining wall. Maybe another day. I also wish to add flag stones in a meandering pattern to create a very rough and informal walkway, just for fun. I hope to plant more fescue in the gravel, to make it more naturalistic.

As seen from behind, chickens following me. 

This path through the center of the labyrinth will continue down to the vegetable garden someday. For now it ends here and, to the left, there's a step down to the new gravelly area. That design will evolve into a more comfortable solution for getting down there. I'm open to ideas!

Here is one of the berms (and chickens) looking south. In time, as everything fills in, the horizon lines will change.

The view just to the right of the previous photo showing both berms.

Just for fun, here's a shot of the labyrinth as it looks today, same shot as the first photo.

This whole garden, while I do have gardening experience, is really a big experiment. There are no rules, we're making it up as we go and having fun doing it. This latest project, while not complete, will I believe be unusual and interesting when it fills in. If it doesn't work, the worst thing that can happen is that we fill it back in (aaack . . . not really [FM says who said what now?]) and plant grass seed. As it is, however, I think it will connect with the outlying hills and scrubby country foliage and make for a more interesting horizon overall. Are we crazy? A little, but that keeps it fun.

That's it for this week at Chickadee Gardens. As always, thank you for reading and commenting and happy gardening one and all!