The Grass Is Not Always Greener

It kind-of all started last year. After the usual mid-summer outbreak of sod-web worms chewing the grass to raggedy edges in the back yard. Then follow-up rounds of chinch bugs sucking the juices out of the lawn leaving patchy, dead areas.

At that point, it had been roughly a full two years since I gave up my addiction to commercial chemical fertilizers (and pesticides) and opted instead to feed and treat the lawn (and garden)with organic alternatives.

The fusion of all these factors brought me to the decision to quit fighting this predictable annual cycle. As much as possible anyway.

So when the thinning, damaged grass under the oak trees in the back last fall was at its worst, you may recall I created a pathway by removing a wide trail of the green stuff.

Making use of pine straw as the naturalistic covering for the trail it brought to my attention how making subtle changes to an area could give the same area a completely different feel. In keeping with the new-look lots of bromeliads, exotic-looking begonias, large-leaved crinums and bananas along with alocasias were added along the margins of the pathway. The idea was to create many new vignettes along the way.

All of these elements worked together to increase a sense of peacefulness while walking along under the oaks in the back garden.

Creating a naturalistic atmosphere between garden areas throughout is not to be confused with the numerous times lawn turf has been removed just because a new planting bed or veggie bed was in order. Such was the case last July when the front lawn was removed on the street side to create a drought resistant landscape bed. Well, now that I recall there was some pest damage to contend with there also.

I'm not against lawn turf. It has many useful qualities afterall. It serves as a restful break between many planting beds. It lies in wait for family to run, play, chase, and enjoy outdoor games. Even so, we have eliminated a large portion of it over the last few years. This has allowed for more increased habitats for the wildlife and at the same time inhibiting storm water run-off.

The use of pine straw as an alternative ground cover has become a favorite since the initial installation in the tropical pathway. In my mind it is reminescent of a forest floor. In some places such as the new circle garden fine pine and pine straw replaced the newly removed lawn.

Then there are those places where foot traffic wears down the grass. Or we could say troublesome areas where the grass just never seems to do well no matter the consistent efforts made to maintain it.

Such was the case between the house and two planting beds on the north side yard. It is the familiar route to the veggie garden.

An area of grass that struggled year after year. Even to the point of my laying down new sod every spring only to lose it by summers' end repeatedly.

I finally got it. Quit fighting it and come up with an alternate plan. Perfect.

Leaving the sparsely thriving grass in place, to keep from disturbing the micro-organisms growing just underneath, I layered this area with sheets of newspaper, moved the stones from the edge of the closest planting bed more toward the center, and pine straw became the new floor. With the gift of the wrought-iron chair (hugs to Mom) and the placement of a container pot next to it, a previously troublesome area became a focal point and another restful, peaceful place in the garden.

Interesting, too, how learning to work with our conditions rather than against them brings so much more peace of mind to the gardener.

Happy March, fellow gardeners! Spring is here and I wish you many hours of peace in your garden. Meems

Affordable Creation from a Designer Version

When old man winter visits with gusto and leaves a garden bleak and weary it is perfectly legitimate for the gardener to scurry off to the garden center for some colorful fillers.

With bright spots in mind to take the place of dull and dreary; winter blooming flowers will help grab our attention and keep us from staring at so much brittle-brown that dominates the garden otherwise.

But before we start planting there is some prep work to begin. You may remember the mention of measurements and stakes being hammered by the little one and helpers removing lawn grass.

It's a project I've had in mind for a few seasons. An area of grass I knew I wanted to remove eventually. There were design ideas to make it happen floating around in my head for a couple of years. The tropical pathway created last fall melded right into thoughts of this new space.

Then I saw a photo over at my friend Freda Cameron's blog, Defining Your Home Garden and Travel. The instant I scrolled through to it in her post, it all came together in my vision.

New Adirondack chairs had already been ordered in November.

I knew immediately what I could do to make my own space work for me.

With Cameron's permission, it became my inspiration photo.

What struck me initially was the circular brick surround and walkway. The circular brick being what I had envisioned for MY space but cost prohibitive at this time.

Now don't get too excited over those amazing flowers. It isn't the cottagy blooms that came to mind to duplicate. Although they would be glorious.

It was simply seeing that container garden in the midst of a circular design that confirmed to me how my area could work for what I had in mind and within my budget.

A sort of "design on a dime" version.

Getting started we find the center of the space and measure the area where the container would be situated. The container I had picked out is 39" wide and 18" deep. Then we measured out from the center to form the circle 6' in depth in every direction.

All of this was done prior to the hired man power showing up to take out the grass. Using a hose to lay out the outer boundary and then spray paint on the grass marked the outer limits.

With a machine like this handy for sod removal ~~grass could become endangered around here.

The tree is gone (far right side of photo), the grass is gone and the new container is put in place and leveled. And the man power is gone.

When thinking about a substitute for bricks laid so perfectly surrounding the circle and simultaneoulsy directing footsteps to adjoining pathways and seating areas it dictates that all materials used and plantings chosen will necessarily need to keep a low profile.

The grassy area above is the summertime view of that grassy area just removed; a time when garden life is brimming and overflowing. This image (August 2009) not only helps me remember the garden will return but it probably tells a better story of why the centered design must be kept low-lying. (Scrolling down to the very bottom of this blog you can view more photos of this area when grass dominated the landscape).

In lieu of bricks, I'll create my pathway in keeping with the tropical pathway this area feeds into on the far side.

Bales of pinestraw are purchased locally and easily spread for a naturalistic setting.

Keeping in mind ample passage space for carts and wheelbarrows consideration was given for enough room when measuring for the pathway. Placing the pine straw on the outside of the perimeter allows for passage on every side of the planted circle. I'll appreciate also keeping 18" out beyond the container cleared for re-planting and watering access.

Asiatic jasmine is a wonderfully versatile ground cover already in use in a few other locations around Hoe and Shovel. Trachelospermum asiaticum, Asiatic or sometimes called Asian Jasmine has a prostrate, dense growth and will eventually blanket the ground, forming a thick mat of shiny evergreen leaves. Remarkably, it does well in sun or shade. It is cold hardy below freezing and happy in our summer humidity.

This view of its usage in the front lawn gives you an idea of how it joins together carpeting the planted area. This cover is not especially fast growing but given some warmth and time it fills in nicely.

Once the 36 jasmine were planted a yard of pine fines was used to fill in as mulch between the plants.

Now for the fun and color. It's time to put some pretties in the big pot. A few were purchased but several are from cuttings and rootings. Shown here: Euphorbia leucocephala 'Silver Fog' (purchased)and english ivy (rooted from cuttings).

Other plants: Flax lily, lobelia, vinca, and violas (purchased); Iresine blood leaf, red penta, devil's backbone (from cuttings).

I used some left over grey cobblestone pavers for the base under my pot instead of rocks like in the designer version photo.

I'm still debating about whether to paint the new Adirondack chairs a bright color or leave the Cedar wood to age naturally which is the look I am partial to. Any thoughts?

By replacing the grass with plantings, this new area becomes the hub and connection point of four separate planting beds in the back garden. It will be a walk-through between them as well as a seating area and focal point located beyond the pool and screened lanai.

Patience is needed for the end result. It may prove necessary to buy more jasmine when they become available. I wiped out the garden center with this initial purchase. But it's a good start.

I do hope your gardening days arrive soon if they haven't already. We have more projects underway and more plants waiting to go into the ground. I bought my first-ever peach tree and the blooms are enough to swoon over. Stay tuned. Meems

Exchanging More Turf for Plants: Update

This post was originally published on Wednesday, July 8. An update was added at the bottom of the post on Friday, July 10. Thank you for following along.

If you live in Florida it's that time of year when all the heavy gardening should be complete. Gardeners should be finding relief in the comfort of air conditioning or the pool or in an ice bucket... whichever is more convenient.

After all who, in their right mind, would choose to garden in 90+ temps and 100% humidity! Not this gardener I can tell you. But, we can't do anything about the weather now can we?

Every year my spring timeline for gardening projects starts in January with the goal to be finished with all of them by the end of May. We can assuredly count on some wicked temperature highs in June.

So as June melds into July the ideal plan is garden maintenance mode... the things that must be done in order to keep things in order. No new projects for sure.

Basically by the time summer officially arrives I'm weary from months of rigorous gardening. When the relentless July/August summer heat sets in I'm more than willing to keep the garden chores as simple as possible.

I confess it has only been in the last month or so that I've felt like the garden made its full comeback from the freezes we experienced in January. Some of the cordylines have not fully recovered and the Jatropha trees have not filled out but at least they are giving it their best effort.

All that to say, this July I have not slowed down in the garden.

Every year while spring projects are the focus, not to mention the time the veggie garden requires, I have lists of tweaks I'd like to do 'if I ever get around to it'. Only it gets too hot, too fast and many things on that list get rolled-over to the fall list.

This year has been different.

I've taken up plenty of turf in the back garden this year. And for some reason I haven't managed to even post about them... but I'll get to it eventually.

I'm also actually getting to the 'if I ever get around to it' list or at least some of it anyway. Along with moving plants and still dividing plants and starting even more new cuttings and trimming this and trimming that...

Like a crazy, mad, gardening woman I began a new front lawn project last weekend.

This area has been troublesome for a long time. The front lawn slopes down to the road and even with an irrigation system it is difficult at best to provide the correct levels of water. One of the issues that has kept me from diving into this project is there are cables and wires running under the ground here. Yikes.

And another one is that it is a large project. What I've measured off to cut out on the roadside is over 30 feet long and the side that joins my neighbor is 25 feet long.

It's a sunny corner in the afternoons so the plant choices will be subject to very different considerations than the rest of the mostly shady yard.

The overall plan for this corner is to use all Florida Friendly and native plants. Some will be divisions from my garden, some will be plants I've rooted already, some will need to be purchased.

Here's where I've gotten so far. I've left the strip of lawn next to the gutter until I'm ready to plant it out. I'd hate to lose my soil to the gutter with a big downpour.

What do you think? Maybe I'll be done in another week? I'm working early mornings and late evenings to avoid the mid-day and afternoon sun. Then I move around to the back garden where it is nice and shady.

Update: July 10, 2009, Friday

I'm lacking enough time to write another post so I'm updating this one (originally posted Wednesday, July 8, 2009).

Other than the strip of barrier lawn at the street which will come out when I'm ready to plant there-- the last of the sod was removed yesterday morning. There were other commitments that kept me from gardening all day (read:grandchildren for the day) but I got right back to it this morning early. Even though I was rained out by noon I managed to dig up some plants from the back yard, divided and planted them. I'm feeling like I have a much better idea of where I'm going design-wise but still have some decisions to make. There is purple muhly grass involved.

I'll do my best to post again when it is finished.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Will Work for Mulch

Hoe & Shovel is blessed to have a surplus of oak trees. The photo above is a look to the north from the driveway. The trees are pretty much mirrored on the south side of the drive and then meet together to canopy over the pavement. In the back garden there are many more.

Trees were on the 'must-have list' for me when we were house shopping and purchased this house 24 years ago. So often in this part of Florida contractors are known for buying up abandoned or non-producing orange groves and then leveling the land to create massive stretches of housing complexes. We were looking for something with a more "old Florida" feel and a smaller more secluded neighborhood than the typical sprawl of homes with cookie cutter style. Gardening was only a dream for me way back then. I honestly had no idea the first thing about it but I was determined to take on this "big yard" at the time.

The trees provide my garden with numerous advantages. Probably the most important being the shade from the often brutal temps in the summer. The layout of the tree cover supplies an almost perfect balance of sun and shade for all the foliage I've used in my underplantings.

This time of year when the new spring growth in the oaks is bursting forth it is also releasing the spent leaves. So they are dropping to the ground in record numbers as I can only imagine they must do in the fall up north. In Florida we don't really lose our leaves in the fall- it isn't cold enough. I know--- another thing the northern gardeners must think is all backwards. But... it is all we know down here in the tropics. Leaves falling like mad in the spring.
This is the way my driveway looks (above) every 24 hours for the past three weeks. Now I'm not complaining, believe me. I aggressively collect them from the driveway and street side gladly. My handy Echo gas-blower is my friend along with a rake and my trusty wheelbarrow. The natural showering of organic material provides every one of my planted beds with the mulch needed to protect them all summer long.
Willingly, I cart wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow full of this precious commodity around to every bed in my garden and gently hand distribute under all my plantings. It has been years since I've spent money on mulch of any kind.

The weekly mowing right now sort of turns into more of a vacuuming as the majority of what's bagged consists of leaves. Typically I most often pile the grass clippings on top of the compost pile and wait for them to breakdown. My compost situation is a whole other story I could cover in another post. I've never really done much of my gardening by the book which goes for my compost area as well. Would I love to have a compost bin all neat and nice? It is on the wish list but this has worked for me all these years. So, this is the "pile" located on the "back 40" where no one else can see it but me. I deplete this pile occasionally as well to work the "black gold" into my beds.

Oak leaves break down beautifully when used as mulch. It's natural and it's acidic which is what most of the tropicals require for best growing conditions. The layers and layers my soil has received over the years has provided me with a remarkably rich and loamy environment for all my beds... not a typical environment found in this part of Florida. It's worth all the work and effort it takes during this already busy gardening season.


In addition, there are so many other reasons to keep either existing trees or to add trees to your garden. Not only do they help moderate weather extremes such as hot sun or strong winds but trees and shrubs offer habitat for wildlife and privacy for humans by screening adjacent property. They also increase soil porosity, allowing water to infiltrate rather than run off. Vegetation helps protect water quality by filtering out nutrients and pesticides that could otherwise reach a lake or stream and cause algal blooms or excessive plant growth.


What is your mulch of preference? I'm especially curious about gardeners north of Florida. What kind so you use and where do you get it? I go through this routine in the spring and then by the time winter rolls around I've dug and planted and moved plants around so much that I find I need some shoring up of the mulch. That's when I deplete my compost pile which gets quite large at times. Don't forget, we mow the lawn all year long.

the dirt on expansion projects

finally, this weekend i finished this expansion project- located at the back corner of my yard. previously this bed was half this size. the lime green potato vine was overrunning its bounds -- it now has plenty of room to continue sprawling and spilling over into the new bed. the new plants include a combination of zinnias, indigo spires, lantana, purple butterfly bush and variegated liriope to border. i left space for the trailing lantana which will eventually attempt to crowd out its neighbors.

on to the next project.

for a while i have wanted to do something about this area. over the years this section in the grass has sunken - yes, sunken. dropped --to form a shallow valley. added to that... the abundance of shade poorly affects the growing of grass. i have made several attempts at recovery to no avail. it's time for rearranging the landscape.

the solution:

a dump truck from a local nursery unloaded 5 yards of soil onto my driveway this morning. wow. my wheelbarrow made way more trips to the backyard than i bargained for. but i want to say this about dirt. there is just something wonderful & exciting about good dirt to a gardener... to handle it, to feel it, to smell it, to dig it ... just the sight of it... rich, dark and healthy. it's oh so inspiring.

the results:

another expansion project... a clean slate ... a blank canvas. oh my little designing mind has so many ideas. i also purchased more flagstone at another nursery today to extend the pathway that runs through the existing bed. stay tuned ... as this area develops i'll bring you updates.

over the weekend i put some red new guinea impatiens in the ground for fall where caladiums dotted the landscape in summer. i also put these in containers coupled with variegated ivy and lime green potato vine. i'm expecting these will transfer easily into the winter season in a few short weeks.