Putting in a Small Retaining Wall

The sidewalk is to the left.  In the foreground are two lavender plants and then the very edge of a holly bush.  At the far end on the right is my old rosemary plant.  So, I've cleaned all the debris, weeds and dead plants for the whole length of the sidewalk.  I'm going to build a short retaining wall using "cottage stones" from Home Depot.

This is the same area from a slightly different angle.

This is the retaining wall finished.  As you can see I've put down the landscape clothe and then planted alternating rosemary and lavender plants in the front.  The rocks along the sidewalk are ones I've collected from empty fields around the area. 

I Love Hens & Chicks

These are some Hen's & Chicks that I planted in an old ground level bird feeder.  It has a wire mesh bottom which gives perfect drainage.  I planted these back in April 2013 and they've grown and spread out beautifully.

More Hens & Chicks I moved from the front area of the front yard near the sidewalk.  People kept stepping on them - even though they're in my yard!  These are planted in a plastic pot that used to be a hanging pot.  It also has good drainage.  And again, these have really grown into big healthy plants.

Here's another group of rescued Hens & Chicks from near the front sidewalk.  It was only half this full when I planted the pot.  You can see all the little Chicks hanging off the edge of the container.  This is a squat terracotta bowl with a drainage hole in the bottom.

If you look closely, you can see these Hens & Chicks look a little sad.  They were planted in the ground but were hidden underneath some other plants.  I dug them up and planted them in this terracotta shallow bowl just about two weeks ago.  I saw them today and they are already looking very happy in their new home.  The rock is some sort of volcanic, light weight ( maybe it's pumice) rock that I found at a landscape rock business.

Two more pots with Hens & Chicks.  These were also taken from the front yard by the sidewalk back in April.  These are the saucers from underneath pots.  The one on the left is plastic and the one on the right is terracotta.  Again I have some of that volcanic rock as a contracting color.

Last one to show you today.  This is a stoneware shallow dish that was made for growing bonsai.  I killed my bonsai many years ago but kept the pot.  The rock is a piece of petrified wood ( don't remember where I found it ).  These Hens & Chicks are more of the batch I moved from the front of the yard.  I think the number of Hens & Chicks has doubled since planted in April.

Did I mention that I live in the Willamette Valley, Oregon, United States?  Overall we have pretty great summer weather.  In the late Fall, all Winter, and into early Spring we have lots and lots of rain.  So this part of Oregon is VERY green!

That's all for today!  Happy gardening.  Sandra

Greetings to All Who Visit Here

Hello!

I (admit) that I am an occasional gardener.  I let my garden do whatever it wants to do for long periods of time and then I can't stand it any more and I get out and spend hours and several days in a row to clean up the weeds, nurture the flowers and bushes, and generally making sure I don't embarrass the neighborhood too much.

I'll be showing some photos I took of my garden earlier this year, I think it was March 2013, and you will see for yourself what a disaster I had to start with.

Here are a few photos of my front yard...

Oh my . . . I can't seem to find the file where I put the initial photos of the disaster I called my front yard.  In the top photo you can see a big pile of leaves in the center and all that nice greenery in the front of the photo . . . most of those are nice, healthy, green weeds.

The second photo shows the yard that borders the sidewalk.  I had to dig out lots of plants and big weeds.  I also removed all my Hens & Chicks from this area because people would step on them.  Don't know why they wanted to walk on that part of my yard.  The big gray bush in the front is a lavender that's kind of out of control.

Third photo, another view from the sidewalk where you can see a very stubborn clump of grass towards the middle left side.  There's also a clump of Hens & Chicks I needed to remove before digging out the grass.  The lovely green vegitation towards the top right corner of the photo . . . nothing but weeds ( but at least it's GREEN! ).

Forth photo shows a sprinkler head that was installed right in the middle of the yard.  What WERE they thinking???  The dried, brown sticks / vegitation in the background are blackberry vines that I dug up from all over the front yard.

By the way, on the other side of the white fence is a pasture with one, probably very lonely, horse.  He's a sweetie and the neighborhood gives him carrots and apples from time to time.