Unearthed More Roots Located at the Bottom of the Slope
Month: June 2017
Building a Rock/Succulent Garden
I am in the process of converting a garden space into a rock/succulent garden. Spent the past few days removing everything–Solandra maxima, small Japanese maple, a medium sized Brugmansia, miscellaneous plants, and a bazillion bulbs.
While removing the current irrigation system, I found an amazingly large root growing through the entire space. The garden space is only 4.5′ x 7′. Curious how anything else was able to compete.
The irrigation system was in place when we moved in. The main line seems to be quite deep.
This morning, my first task will be to remove the root. I am hoping to remove it in one piece. That may not be possible.
Next will be the removal of some of the soil, prep the bed, organize the rocks, and set up the drip system.
Then after all of that, get the plants in the ground!
Detail of rocks that are currently being used in my garden and will be used in the rock/succulent garden.
What have I learned? Two tools that have been helpful in the removal of bulbs and unwanted other stuff.
The tool with the blue handle was designed for harvesting grapes, but I used it in place of my fingers.
Always wear proper eye protection when digging in soil that has some hard bits and rocks. It is important to protect your eyes from possible flying debris.
No excuses–if your goggles steam up, use a couple crops of Sea Drops. It is typically sold in scuba diving shops.
The bottle lasts a really long time. I started using my bottle in the early 90s.
Terrarium Update
The interior of the terrarium is beginning to look like snow covered mountains.
The fungus is covering nearly everything.
Wallpieces, Concrete Columns, Flax
While archiving project working files for the garden wallpieces, I thought it would be a good idea to have the layout image with the finished wallpiece.
I chose to switch the colors on this wallpiece. When the two are viewed together on the wall, I wanted the dark brown rope of the embroidery stitches to act as a frame.
Our the weekend our neighbor gave use two solid concrete columns.
The columns are 29″ x 8.5″ x 9″
Leaning toward building a faux fireplace as the focal on the back wall of the courtyard between the two wallpieces. Need to relocate the Cordia boissieri, Texas Wild Olive. The location isn’t sunny enough.
Need to stain the columns and perhaps even break off some hunks to give the visual feel of age. The mantel will be a couple of thick slabs of wood. Inside the “fireplace” will be snake plants to stand in for the flames of a fire.
Can’t wait to get started, but first I must finish building a rock garden. Over the weekend I removed the plants and bulbs. Today I started removing the soil and locating the irrigation system.
Harvested Flax Seed