Project In-Progress

Oof, projects in-progress can look like a mess! There is some order to this chaos, I swear! Although, I will say that I prefer less chaos. In my ideal installation EVERYTHING gets done and then, like a week later, we come in with the plants, place them, ponder everything, and then plant. If contractors leave enough wire with their lighting fixtures we can then adjust those at that time. In this install we just din’t really have control of that. I can also see here that the sheet mulching is…. not great. I need several layers of OVERLAPPING cardboard. what happened here was that they literally planted the plants BEFORE they sheet mulched? It didn’t make a lot of sense.

This very small backyard was very boring. Why have a boring backyard when you can have color, and texture, and useable space?

Before picture. Photo is a long narrow lawn with a house on the left and a retaining wall on the right.

Currently, It looks like this. You can see we have added a new path and meanders through the middle of the landscape rather than crammed uncomfortable against the house. We’ve got some colorful plantings, a few small trees to help the absolutely scorching heat, and towards the far end there is a small patio with some raised beds, some really cute terracotta pots for herbs, and a self-contained ceramic water feature. We also bought a nice trellis from Terratrellis to help break up a very large and boring hot wall.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to seeing how this turns out!

Pottery and Beyond

I live right near Pottery and Beyond in Emeryville so I like to stop by there now and then to see what they have in stock. Seeing containers and water features in person can be really useful. They do give a small industry discount, so that is nice. Most, if not all of their stock is from Pacific, Home, and Garden. You can just get their catalog or look online there to see the entire catalog. To order from Pacific, Home, and Garden you do need to have a wholesale account AND they are in Stockton (way, way… way out there). I don’t think they will deliver small orders.

So, for me, it’s worth it to go peek at items in person and determine if it is worth it to order from the wholesale company.

This visit I am looking at self contained water features for a small backyard client. These are nice because you don’t have to dig a giant pit like for the other types of pondless features. These contained fountains are easy to set up and really do have a nice water sound.

I thought this was a really nice one! It’s not a design I have seen before and I like the tall narrow design and the pattern.

The above video gives you a nice idea for how they sound. They are definitely less natural sounding because you can hear the ceramic echo. I don’t mind that and think they are just a great solution for small spaces, patios, and are just no-fuss kind of water features.

Pottery and Beyond also has a fair amount of hilarious ceramic or cement garden features. Please behold this hilarious sad fish. Why did I not buy this for myself?! I may have to go back.

Behold this sad fish. LOL.

Exploring MIT: A Glimpse into T**'s Alma Mater

During our East Coast visit, we spent some time on the MIT campus. It was really lovely to see where T** went to school and to show J*** around. The campus is beautiful. T** shared a fantastic story about dropping thousands of super balls from the ceiling of one of the buildings. We’ll leave out the environmental impact of that little adventure!

This might be the building he was talking about.

We came across signage for a rainwater harvesting project that was quite impressive. It’s great to see these types of initiatives on a college campus, inspiring young minds. This project features a 50,000-gallon cistern, and all the collected water is used for flushing toilets and landscaping irrigation around the building. Here isn article from 2009 about it.

Rainwater Harvesting at The Strata Center

We came across signage for a rainwater harvesting project that was quite impressive. It’s great to see these types of initiatives on a college campus, inspiring young minds. This project features a 50,000-gallon cistern, and all the collected water is used for flushing toilets and landscaping irrigation around the building. Here isn article from 2009 about it.

We also admired a rock wall memorial, complete with a water feature and seating area. I like how the rock retaining wall follows the form of the built up soil behind it.

The campus had some gabions in use as well. For those who are unfamiliar, a gabion is a wire container filled with rocks, which can be construction waste like broken concrete or other large rocks. They can serve as seating if you add a nice cap, and as retaining walls if you include a barrier on the retaining side. My feelings about gabions are mixed. While they’re an excellent way to keep broken concrete out of landfills, they need to be filled with pieces that fit well and look nice, which can add time and labor to a project. Moreover, there’s the concern about little fingers getting caught or small rodents and spiders making homes in them. However, with the right client willing to cover the extra effort, they can be a sustainable and attractive option.

The weather was incredibly humid, something I'm not used to anymore! I do love the East Coast though. Later we will meet up with some old friends and then we are off to RI, one of my favorite places!