Back in the Saddle Again!

It's summer in So Cal. And while I have two part time jobs I have been out of graduate school for a semester. And yet my garden is sadly lacking in attention (though I've taken plenty of pictures and need to have a couple of "catch up" posts again). Well, at least it looks that way.

I gave it some thought the other day. I spend two to three hours a week out there. But there seems to be little to no improvement.

Perhaps I should give you guys a little bit of background: My yard is mostly dirt. Adobe clay to be more precise. What does that mean? That means it's not well-draining soil. The "soil" is hard as a rock, because "Hey, it's clay!" And because I am in So Cal, it's hot. Perpetually. In fact, my area is it's own little micro climate that is roughly 10 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than anywhere else around.

Some more background. I broke the sprinklers many many many many many years ago. We (my father and myself) don't have the money or the time to get them fixed or do it ourselves. Though time is beginning to give us a few bonuses we didn't expect.

Now, we used to have the most beautiful lawn in the neighborhood. Even after I broke the sprinklers. We had a Kentucky Blue Grass and Rye mixture. Absolutely breathtaking and lush. But then a gardener, who is no longer in our employ, decided to mow the weed-laden yard of one of his clients. Then, without emptying his catch bag he proceeded to mow our lawn. It would not have been such a big ordeal, but his bag had a HOLE THE SIZE OF NEBRASKA in it. Therefore, he seeded our yard with weeds. And they thrived. And our grass died. And now the lawn is dirt. This gardener had also ripped up (we think, but cannot prove that he stole) $2000 worth of ornamental strawberries that we had planted out front. Then to top it all off, he charged us $96 for his "services". You bet your sweet bippy we told him where he could put his bill.

So, my yard is mostly dirt. Weeding dirt every week is great in that there are few weeds in my yard. But the neighbors don't really see much of an improvement because I'm just weeding dirt.

Well, I have tired of dirt. And since the sprinklers are broken I am beginning to entertain the idea of a small desert garden. I don't want to convert the entire yard to a desert garden, I am too big a fan of the English cottage garden to be a full desert convert. But I am beginning to see the practicality of it. Besides barrel cacti are pretty awesome! Also, one of my best friends has been in a succulent mood and now I am finding them to be adorably cute.

So I went to Home Depot yesterday looking for some barrel cacti, but the three they had on display were sadly lacking in personality. So, I purchased four awesome looking miniature succulents (photos to follow in a later post as me mum has borrowed my camera) and planted them together in a planter for my front porch.

My Nasturtiums that I transplanted are thriving which is a shock as they pretty much hate anyone who transplants them. So I have decided to try the experiment again with a new round of Nasturtiums.

Underneath my blood plum tree I planted the standard Johnny Jump Ups and my jet black Pansies, we'll see if I get any results there.

Next to my dwarf peach tree I had a lot of blank dirt so I seeded a wild flower mix. Things should pop up in a week or so. I'll definitely get pics of my stuff versus standard internet pics.

But, just so you know what I am expecting to see in my garden I have scoured the internet via that mysterious messenger that is Google Lucky Search to find you some cool images of my dream garden.

Here are some sample images of the succulents I got. Mine are cuter :D

So, what do you think of my gardening choices?