Climate Resilient Landscapes

Tag: garden

  • Introducing… the Terra Foundation Grant

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    Kristine
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    Note: I wrote this post in April, shortly before I started doing full-time propagation work at a local nursery and filling most of my remaining free time with gardening to fulfill this grant. I’m not going to change the verb tenses. I am at the point now, at the end of September, where I can…

  • Sunflowers and the Uncanny Valley

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    Kristine
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    Sometimes, I feel I have to explain why there are “so many” sunflowers in my yard (when internally, my perception is that there is certainly more room for more sunflowers of all types).  Talking with my son, a newly minted landscape architect, a native plant master, and an all-around good guy, I mused over the…

  • Failures and Victories, Part 5: Irrigation

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    Kristine
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    Welcome to another episode of good and bad choices I’ve made in my home landscape. Previous posts in this series cover hardscape; beds, berms, and swales; living mulch; and fencing. Today’s post again feels very personal, and I want to give a disclaimer that while some of the things I’m discussing today may or may not work…

  • Failures and Victories, Part 3: Living Mulch

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    Kristine
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    This is the third post in a series on landscaping failures and victories at home. Earlier posts covered hardscapes and beds, berms, and swales. I’m a huge fan of landscape designer Benjamin Vogt. I encourage you to check out his website and to peruse his book Prairie Up. In a nutshell, Vogt’s aesthetic is about…

  • Failures and Victories, Part 2: Beds, Berms, Swales

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    Kristine
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    Last week, I started a series on gardening failures and victories in our own yard, starting with hardscape. I hesitated a bit writing this week’s, because it goes against what seems to be conventional wisdom about how to garden. But here it goes. And be aware… this is very much written for my context: dry,…

  • Failures and Victories, Part 1: Hardscape

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    Kristine
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    In reflecting on my home landscape, I think about some things I am glad I’ve done as well as some choices I regret. I’ll start a little series on my thoughts. The first is hardscaping. Our victories: ribbon driveway, permeable reused paver patio, reused bench. Our failures: boulders and decomposed granite pathways. The first thing…

  • What’s with all those leaf bags? Part 3: soil health.

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    Kristine
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    I said in the last Pollinator Post that the main point of amending with compost isn’t to add nutrients for plants; it’s to support soil health, water infiltration, soil texture, and soil structure. Let’s get into that. Soil health is “the continued capacity of soil to function as a vital living ecosystem that sustains plants,…

  • What are all those leaf bags about? Part 1: show me the money.

    What are all those leaf bags about? Part 1: show me the money.

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    Kristine
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    Anyone walking by our home can see a stacked row of kraft yard waste bags against the north side. Recently, an entrepreneurial fellow stopped by to ask if we would like to pay him to haul them away. Maybe now is a good time to start to explain. I am a master composter. I studied…

  • The Problem with Landscape Fabric

    The Problem with Landscape Fabric

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    Kristine
    in

    Weeds are a problem. (Clearly I know this–I have visible weeds and am often visibly weeding.) However, landscape fabric is not the solution. This “fabric” as used in the residential landscape is usually spun polypropylene, a petroleum product which will never decompose. It is often laid over bare soil or over undesired landscaping treated with…