Tom’s Garden

Growing by the Bay

Tag: pool

retaining wall

Retaining Wall

By

On March 14, 2015

In garden structures

retaining wall

Here you see a retaining wall in process near the crabapple tree. Because my lot is on a steep (but, fortunately, south-facing) hillside, I need to terrace extensively. I learned from travels in Inca country in Peru that multiple small terraces are better than a few larger ones (this is one of my biggest). It’s also important to try to reduce the weight the wall is trying to hold back, so my fill is redwood chip mulch. Finally, it’s essential to allow water to run through the wall rather than trying to hold it all back, so I don’t make the stones too tight fitting. This wall is made from broken-up slabs that used to surround the swimming pool before we made it into a garden.

pool garden, year 2

pool garden, year two

By

On March 30, 2009

In gardens

pool garden, year 2

This year we decided to expand the garden that used to be a swimming pool. We broke up the decking that used to surround the pool.

removal of pool decking

We had to tear out the old drip system, and I’m redoing it now. We had to undo some of the plantings as well, since the paths and beds are no longer quite the same. Because the pool is about 70 percent bigger, we added a central bed. We edged the beds with bricks and made the central bed an oval shape. It amuses me to think of the result as a tiny Getty Center garden.

christensen center garden

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dirt

A pile of dirt

By

On March 10, 2008

In Uncategorized

a pile of dirt

Yep, that’s what it is. Some guy was widening his driveway. I’m using the dirt to fill in my swimming pool, which will now be a garden. It will require about ten piles like this one.

Left Coast Gardening

Our garden lies in what Sunset calls “one of Northern California’s finest horticultural climates.” We are located in an area of wet mild winters and dry mild summers — a Mediterranean climate zone. It’s a region with unique challenges and opportunities. I love gardening here.

Approaches to gardening are strongly determined by scale. Our garden is a small family garden. Its core was formerly a swimming pool. Often we might be growing just a single plant in a container, or a handful of plants, where a larger-scale gardening operation might be planting long rows of crops. Over time we have adjusted to find the right balance for our home garden.

On Top

All this new stuff goes on top
turn it over, turn it over
wait and water down
from the dark bottom
turn it inside out
let it spread through
Sift down even
Watch it sprout.

A mind like compost.

— Gary Snyder

 

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