Blue Planet Garden Blog

Lawn Reform Contest – The Winners are In!

And I am blown away by the creative, inspiring and heartfelt responses to the contest announcing the creation of the Lawn Reform Coalition. If you can’t wait to find out who the three lucky winners of John Greenlee’s The American Meadow Garden are, scroll down to the end.   Otherwise, here’s a recap of some of the amazing contest contributors.

I used to have a lawn, but now I have a wildlife refuge

Many of those who ripped out their lawn did so in recognition that a non-native monoculture does nothing to support pollinators and wildlife, native or otherwise. Bloggers were eloquent in describing the wonderful diversity of bees, birds and insects that thrive in their gardens, including David of Montana Wildlife Gardener,

whose announcement that he replaced

his lawn with an interpretive sign shows

how thoroughly committed he

is to creating life-sustaining diversity

in his garden.

No concrete was harmed in the making of this garden

Curious as to what happened to my old planter fountain

 

Which I ditched to make room for this?

It's been reinvented as a succulent container in my friends Mary Lu and Bob's garden.  Mary Lu sent me this photo. Can hardly wait to see it when it fills in a bit.

 

Both she and Bob are very happy with the way the fountain brightens up a bare spot next to the house and announces the entrance to the blue garden.  I'm happy that my old fountain, which had already been repurposed once, is bringing joy to another set of gardeners.

In fact, the only person NOT happy turns out to be my husband Nick, who had to lug all 3 hunks of concrete up two flights of steps in 100 degree weather.

Thanks honey!

Lawn Reform Blog Contest: I used to have a lawn but now I have...

That’s the question I’m hoping you will answer!

As part of my ongoing quest to replace the Great American Lawn with garden, I’ve teamed up with an amazing coalition of gardeners to create Lawn Reform, a new website that advocates for:

• Regionally Appropriate Lawn Species
• Eco-Friendly Care for all Lawns
• Design Ideas to Reduce or Replace Lawns

UC Verde Grass is rocking the house!

Have you been waiting with bated breath for an update on the UC Verde grass alternative lawn I planted? I’ve now rounded the corner on week 8 and the grass looks great!

First, to recap, I planted more closely than would be desirable for a larger lawn – 6” apart vs. a more economical 12” to 18”.  As anyone who reads my blog regularly knows, I’m a pretty lazy gardener, thoroughly devoted to a survival-of-the-fittest style of gardening.  Other than mixing in a little compost, nothing special was done to prepare the soil for the plugs, although I have replanted this little patch of lawn several times over the past three years, so the soil is more pliable than typical clay would be.

For the first two weeks I watered the lawn 3 to 5 minutes, once or twice a day, then tapered off to letting it have the same amount the rest of the moderate water plants were getting. Not that I know how much that is as my magical ET controller makes those decisions for me.  One to three times a week I would turn the sprinklers on for an extra 3 minutes, but did not follow any specific schedule (see lazy gardener reference above).

 

Close up view - have yet to mow

I weeded for about twenty minutes at week 3 and again at week 7, but otherwise, the grass has been on its own.

And if you are wondering how effective sheet mulching has been at keeping the grass contained, the short answer is, not very:

UC Verde grass making a run for the border

I think the key to my success has been several weeks of really hot weather.  In fact, the day I planted was followed by a week of 100 degree plus temperatures.  One of my clients who wants a lawn to complement her newly installed California native and mediterranean garden primarily so that her dogs will have a place to romp, decided to try out a UC Verde lawn as well.  Here’s a picture of hers at week 4. 

As you can see, not as far along as mine was at week 2, most likely because the weather has been cooler than usual for much of the time.  

Close up of Pat's Orinda lawn at week 4.  Most of the stolon growth you see occurred in week 3 when we had another hot spell.

 

Susan's Concord lawn at week two, planted just prior to a heatwave.

A quick round up of other testers: Shirley at Eden Maker’s blog has also had disappointing results with her Southern California experiment, even though she planted earlier.  Meanwhile, Lazy Gardening blog (hmmm, a kindred spirit?) in Arizona reports steller results. My conclusions so far are that supplemental water for the first couple of weeks plus hot, hot weather are the keys to quick expansion.

Is this what winter has in store for me?

I figure I have about two months until the grass goes dormant.  I’m thinking of following Troy from GardenNative’s suggestion and interplanting with miniature crocus bulbs to create some winter interest.  Pat, my Orinda client is considering sowing wild flowers in hers.  And for those who just cannot stomach the idea of winter dormancy, here's an MSNBC video on the fine art of painting your lawn green.

 Me?  I draw the line at painting walls purple.

Crocus photograph courtesy of White Flower Farms

Blog commenters, this one's for you

 

photo courtesy of Creative Think

I was all set to blog about my UC Verde test (which is going fabulously, thanks for asking!) but figured I’d squeeze in a quick post on the Reveal Seven Things About Yourself garden meme that’s been going around.

 

Pomona Belvedere of the informative and lush Tulips in the Woods, Susan Cohan, designer extraordinaire and author of Miss Rumphius’ Rules and my friend and fellow proselytizer on lawnless landscapes Laura Schaub from Interleafings have bestowed upon me the meme award that’s been plastered all over the blogosphere of late. If you haven’t heard of it before, here’s how it works:

•    Link back to the person who gave you the award.
•    Reveal seven things about yourself.
•    Choose seven other blogs to nominate, and post a link to them.
•    Let each of your choices know that they have been tagged by posting a comment on their blog.
•    Notify your tagger(s) the post is up.

 

Job number three

Since I already blather on about gardens nonstop, I don’t think there is anything gardenesque left to reveal.  Instead, here's a recap of seven jobs that led up to me becoming a garden designer and how each one helped me prepare for my new career:

1.    Candy Counter Girl at the local multiplex.  This was pre-cash registers, folks; we added up the price of all the drinks, popcorn and sweets in our head.  This helped prepare me to do my own bookkeeping.

2.    US Census Taker.  Had to lie about my age to get this gig; I was only 17 and a few months short of being legal.  No need to go into how learning to lie has helped me be a successful garden designer.

3.    Manicurist.  This job paid for my last two years of college and taught me the fine art of pushing clients beyond their creative comfort zone. (Of course you can carry off hot pink nails, Mrs Smith!)

4.    Cigarette Model. I’m not kidding.  I was paid to smoke cigarettes so the advertising folks could see the visual effects of photographing someone actually smoking vs. kayaking or rollerskating while simply holding a cigarette, which is what most ads seem to be.  Needless to say, their idea did not catch on.  Design lesson – it’s possible to be too creative.  Life lesson – smoking’s yucky.

5.    In-store Sampler for Emmets Irish Cream Liqueur.  Their plan was to take down Bailey’s with a more authentic product.  Even with my stalwart help all those years ago, they continue to run a distant second.  From this I learned if a client is happy with something, don’t waste time convincing them to switch to something only slightly better.

6.    Regional Manager for a gourmet chocolate chain.  Mostly I just learned that people really like chocolate – but I also learned that a palette can be educated, so I always take the time to explain why I am suggesting one garden element over another.

7.    Marketing Manager in the food industry.  Besides the fine art of persuasion, I learned that people say they like to eat one way (usually healthy stuff), but in reality eat a completely different way (junk food, what else?).  This taught me to encourage clients to be realistic about how their lifestyles so we don’t create a photo-op garden that they just won’t be able to maintain.

And now for the part where I tag other bloggers.  In an effort not to flood the garden blogging world with the same posts over and over, I’ve decided to modify things a big and tag seven of my favorite blog commenters.   Of course I read and enjoy all their blogs as well, but I am regularly blown away by the funny, thoughtful and insightful comments that are left on my blog.  Without a doubt, reading what you all have to say is my favorite part about blogging.  So I’d love it if you decide to participate on your own blog, but consider this a get out of jail free card if you’d rather not.

Daffodil Planter who brings the same wit to commentary as she does to her own nationally recognized blog.

Kim from The Inadvertent Farmer.  Ever since Kim followed my suggestion to try Tiltshifting garden photos, but opted to do it on her camel, I love the fact that I never quite know how she’ll interpret my design advice. (but looking forward to finding out if she really does paint her chicken coop purple!)

Michelle From Seed to Table (warning, don’t visit her mouthwatering blog when you are hungry) whose lighthearted comments are so good at capturing the spirit of my posts.

Rob from Our French Garden.  Everyone knows Rob and his wonderful blog, where he shares the beauty of his life in France, but knowing I delight in his British slang, he regularly peppers his comments for me -  cheeky bastard!

Town Mouse from Town Mouse and Country Mouse, whose wholehearted embracing of California natives doesn’t preclude her from taking an interest in what other gardeners are up to.

VW, from VW Garden who has a wonderful meandering way with a comment that tells me she is genuinely interested in what I have to say.

Wayne from Pathway Horticulture.  Wayne has delighted me with his heartfelt love of gardening ever since his first comment, when he had to overcome his dislike of my original tagline “No design? Then step away from the plant.”  Wayne, I’m glad you did.

I know I can only have seven, so have skipped James from Lost in the Landscape because he's already been tagged, but his thoughtful, informed comments exactly mirror the thoughtful, informed posts he puts on his own blog.

To those who nominated me for this, I was dreading writing this post, but it’s turned out to be fun.  Thanks for reading and especially thanks to all of you who read and comment regularly – you have made this such a rewarding experience and I value each and every one of your comments.