Patio Makeover Day 2 June 14, 2009

Whoa, 7:00 a.m. and the crew is here on time! I was pooped just watching them yesterday what with running back and forth to Home Depot for supplies and continuing to paint the lumber in the garage. At $500 a day, I’m glad the guys are not the state highway crew — you know, 17 guys standing around watching the one dig a ditch. No, all three of Nick’s Construction crew dug all day yesterday for the new gas line.

PREPARING FOR A GAS FIREPLACE

I was not intending to have gas. When we brought the fireplace boxes home yesterday, we found it was propane, and would have a propane tank sitting next to it. Nick said that anything which used propane could accommodate a gas connection and would look so much nicer.  Okay. Sure.

I didn’t realize this would consume an entire day ($500 for labor) and cost an additional couple of hundred dollars for supplies. Plus $1600 for the fireplace. Gulp, Tracy Cheney  just bumped the budget up another $2000!  I pray the measuring is perfect, the thing looks fabulous when its assembled at the end of the project, and works!

Bill wants an automatic sprinkler system in our 340 square feet, so the gas lines are buried, and then sprinkler ditches dug.

PRIVACY SCREEN

The guys got the privacy screen up on the five foot block wall between our neighbors and us! Finally, I’m not looking directly into their kitchen after two months of living here.

If you were doing something similar, you could easily get 8 ft premade sections of lattice at any big box home center. However, I didn’t want the typical diamond pattern seen everywhere. We used that for our hot tub cabana in Houston. I had to stain seemingly miles of it, and found it to be very thin indeed. It didn’t take long before it had split under the hot sun. I’ve decided I don’t want to repaint this lattice, and I wanted a square pattern. It was quite a futile hunt looking for some that wasn’t white vinyl.  I ended up having my lattice made by fencing company, and it cost three times what I could have gotten at Home Depot.

To attach the lattice to the wall, three 6×12’s were screwed into the top of the wall. Then it was a simple (ha!) task to screw in the lattice sections.

I don’t like the color!!!! I can’t believe it.  I’d made several trips back and forth from Dunn Edwards for paint chips. We had held them up to the block wall under various light conditions. The intent was to blend with the wall color. We spent hours painting the lattice before the crew arrived. And it’s too yellow, not tan. Ugh.

PREPARING FOR LIGHTS ON THE FENCE

Because we didn’t have decent lighting in the patio, we wanted to have lights mounted on this back wall. The challenge for Nick and crew was finding some hollow place in the existing wall to thread in electric wire. Then they drilled holes up through the posts to hang the new lights.

The electric line was laid in the same trenches with the PVC pipe for the sprinklers. A junction box was installed at the fence. Plugs were added for future use (like Christmas lights entwined on the arbor), and a light switches installed on the house.

And our eight hours were over!

Patio Makeover Day 1 June 11, 2009

WISHING FOR A FIREPLACE

In preparing for this day, I’d spent over three weeks looking for just the right water fountain to be our focal point. I’d originally wanted a fireplace.  I’d  envisioned that to be the first view when you walk through the front door — an attractive fireplace covering the boring tan block wall we currently look at. I wanted the patio to be an extension of the living room to the eye.

But Nick our contractor said it would cost several thousand, and it would have to be at least 30 inches deep to be functional. With only a seven foot width to play with (7×34), it just didn’t seem like a good idea to build something sticking out that far. It’s pretty hard to visualize what the space will feel like when built out. It’s long and skinny, and I want it to feel spacious and functional. I went to a couple upscale garden centers — they had premade fireplaces, but they were massive and too expensive for this condo redo.

WISHING FOR A FOUNTAIN

Then I had the brilliant idea of inviting the contractors to build a waterfall from tile or prestacked stones.  Yes, it would be thin enough for our space constraints. We could pick out the colors.  Since the building is a yellow Italian style, and our living room furniture is yellow with blonde floors, I went to every tile store in the area looking for just the right colors.  But just before I bought non-refundable tiles, it occurred to me it would save a lot all the way around if I could find an existing Italian fountain.  After three weeks of constant shopping and contemplating, I did! While we’d seen a lot of lions, cupids, and Buddhas, we found one that looks weathered and charming. And it sounds good, too. Yes, we had listened to them all. I loved the fountain pictured here, but alas, it didn’t tinkle loud enough to mask the urban noises created when people live cheek to jowl.

Loved the fountain, but not Italian style

So we’d planned, measured, shopped, changed our minds a bunch of times, bought a pile of supplies…. and then last night I found a yellow slate fireplace in the aisle of Costco! Of all places. Twelve hours before we were to start the project, there IT was behind the tofu display. Only 18 inches wide — the same size the planters are to be. I stopped dead, circled around and around, then moved on. The fountain had just been delivered on Friday. But I ended up circling back to the fireplace, then mentioned it casually to my husband. Bill thought it was a good price for what it was. But I felt it would blow the budget majorly. We checked out, without the fireplace.

A FIREPLACE AND A FOUNTAIN, OH MY! END OF BUDGET

When Nick Herrera said his crew would arrive at 7 AM on Monday morning, he meant it. The first thing I greeted him with was that I’d found a fireplace! Fortunately, the project hadn’t even begun, so we made adjustments to our plans. And then we went off to fetch the humongously heavy thing.  I going to have to dip into more savings (George Bush would approve of such spending  during a deep recession!! smart??). I’d unwittingly added another day of labor costs to our project.  The men had to dig deep trenches for the gas line, plus run pipe from the front of the house.

My fantasy of getting the project done in a week evaporated. Although the hard-working crew only took a break for lunch, it was a long day of digging and breaking up the existing concrete.  We were left at the end with mounds of debris. But I was ever so grateful not to have done the digging!

Changing plans to include fireplace

Digging gas trenches patio fireplace

A Patio Makeover June 9, 2009

Me, The Pitiful Gardener, with Patio Makeover Crew

For the past two months I’ve hemmed and hawed over what to do about the long narrow patio behind our new townhouse. My husband has had a lot of imput — he wants a no-care yard. After a quarter-acre lawn in Houston and five acres in the Sierra Mountains — the most time-consuming of the properties we’ve lived in over the last decade — Bill’s tired of even thinking about a yard.

RESCUE THIS PITIFUL PATIO PROJECT

Myself being a pitiful gardener anyway, I can certainly agree with his point. My husband’s career has moved us around quite a bit. It’s meant that we’ve redone so many yards, and then haven’t gotten to stay long enough to enjoy them leisurely over years — the new owners have. Gardening is not the #1 hobby for either of us. We garden to make our home look attractive, not wile away our hours.  So, the decision has been made to turn this dirt into hardscape, rather than into grass and flowerbeds needing tending. Given that Los Angeles has imposed draconian water restrictions and we can only water landscapes for 10 minutes on Mondays and Thursdays, this makes sense in the broader context as well.

I’ll be posting the process as we go along. And I want to get this done in two weeks or less! That means some hard labor, but not all my own. I’m hiring the muscle.

Even though I’ve done careful planning, and gobs of shopping, I know a project like this will evolve. It’s creativity at work — lots of problem-solving as it goes along and making decisions about things I don’t know much about.

NOT A DO-IT-YOURSELF PROJECT THIS TIME

Nick Herrera, General Contractor, Patio Makeover

My goal is to get this done by Father’s Day. My husband’s gift is not having to lift a finger to make this patio. The only way that will happen is by hiring some professional expertise. I don’t have time to experiment. Usually my husband wants to  figure things out himself over time. But that involves months of weekends. So this is a big gift that he’s happily accepting!

I’m working with a general contractor who is willing to tackle a very small project, Nick Herrera, of Nick’s Construction. Perhaps the recession is making more people available,  as Nick has come to rescue the pitiful gardener’s patio makeover. Since this is a small project, I wanted someone who is knowledgable and licensed in all aspects of construction. I figure it will be less expensive in the long run because Nick or his crew can take care of every aspect of the operation, rather than subcontracting out  each phase to individual experts.

CHOOSING A CONTRACTOR INSTEAD OF UNSKILLED LABOR

I was reluctant to use a handyman — although many of them claim they can do everything! Perhaps they can. But the fellow who paints my hallway isn’t necessarily an electrician. I’m not eager to take the chance to find out if he is or not, and get fried in the meantime. Plus, they aren’t likely to have insurance or worker’s comp for himself or a helper. I’m paying to get this done quickly, and I don’t want time or materials wasted while they experiment. I know there are going to be lots of problem-solving as we go along, and I want guys who have lots of experience to be able to finish this with polish.

I considered running the gauntlet of day laborers ringing our local Home Depot for the back-breaking work of demolishing the existing concrete, painting the wood, hauling dirt. But that’s a scary prospect. When you show up at 7 a.m., if you even make eye contact with one worker, your vehicle is mobbed. Men throwing themselves at you… in another setting, perhaps flattering, but in this setting, quite unsettling. Just try to get them out of your truck! It’s impossible to determine who has what skills, plus it’s unsupervised strangers coming to the house.

Because I want this done in a timely manner, I’ve hired Nick who has a long track record in the community.  He told me where I could check out his work, he’s friendly and patient, and his crew has been with him thirty years! Not unskilled laborers, but men who really know how to build the components of this project.

I expect it to be well-worth the investment at $500 per day. And it will be a real treat not to do it ourselves!

Picking the Wrong Plant! May 24, 2009

When you decides it’s time to plant, and you’ve figured out exactly where you’re going to do this activity, of course you want to make the right choice! Stands to reason. Not being one with much spare time, and most of that still going into trying to make the stuff from a large roomy house with two attics fit into an LA condo, I’ve wanted to be careful about my new plant choices. Ahem… I should not admit this publicly, but I’ve already made a boo boo. That’s just part of gardening.

The front of our place faces east, and doesn’t get sun past noon. Given that this is southern CA, I still thought that provided enough sun to have some coreopsis — a cheerful yellow flower I’ve enjoyed even in my Washington garden under gloomy skies. Apparently not! Within a week it’s shriveled up. I’ve kept a close watch on this — my first purchase for the new place. Although overgrown flowerbeds have been thinned out and those plants moved around, or we bought the same plant to replace dead ones due to broken sprinkler heads, these were the first new choices.  Brother, it’s sad to bomb so soon in the process! The coreopsis is planted with  geraniums and delphiniums, which also love sun and seem to be doing fine. So, what’s the problem?

In troubleshooting this, I realize it could have been the plant (maybe not as healthy as I thought), it could be the watering (too much, too little?), soil (freshly purchased), or the amount of sunlight. That’s how it is in gardening… sometimes it’s just trial and error. Hopefully, not too much of this for one particular spot! Considering that I’ll be starting from scratch in the backyard, this is not so encouraging. Is it a case that I so wanted the coreopsis I put it in a place where it can’t do well? I admit that I wanted a burst of yellow blooms to greet visitors at the front door. But regardless of how healthy the plant was, it can’t survive where it doesn’t belong. That’s the number one rule of gardening, and the one that gets broken the most!

A New Yard to Tend With Neglected Roses May 17, 2009

It’s been a month living in our new property. While settling into the condo, unpacking boxes, and trying to get too much stuff into not-enough cupboards, I study the yard at different times of the day. Buying a place that has been neglected for well over a year, trimming overgrown plants was the first task — and it made the biggest improvement. It helped to see what we actually had. Thankfully, it wasn’t as bad as it looked.

Fortunately for this pitiful gardener, we have 20 thriving floribunda rose bushes lining the driveway. Here in southern California, these white roses are found everywhere, having gained popularity over the past two decades. They are hardy, thank goodness, for ours had been woefully neglected. I don’t know how they survived with so little water. They don’t have those nasty, hooky thorns to deal with, which made trimming less painful. I definitely recommend them, if you want a fairly care-free rose. Now that ours have been pruned back to attractive shapes rather than being a mass of waving wild, loopy canes, our driveway looks cheerful.

Most roses demand a lot of care. But this iceberg variety is a good choice for someone who doesn’t want to fuss over plants requiring frequent attention, yet produces flowers nearly year-round.

Roses are thirsty plants, so these are benefiting from automatic sprinklers gently aimed at the base of the plants. Roses don’t like to get their leaves wet, so avoid spraying them from the top. Otherwise, you’ll get rust and disease, which covered these plants. But here’s what you do about that — just pull off any spotted or brown leaves. However, don’t let them scatter on the ground.Throw them in the trash. I also clipped off all the spent blooms so the plants wouldn’t expend energy holding on to them; plus this tidied up the scraggly look.

I applied a dose of rose food, which won’t need to be done again until mid-summer.

Next I had to get rid of the aphids. You gotta do this, as big numbers of these guys will damage your buds. Look for these green bugs at the base of your buds — they really blend in. Not being a fan of hard-core chemicals, I was tempted to use ladybugs. I released a batch of them in my garden in Washington, but they immediately flew over to the neighbors. So, I’m trying a supposedly eco-friendly spray. It’s taken awhile to inspect the bushes and spray each week, but I think I’m on top of the problem now and don’t expect to find many during this weekend’s inspection.

This labor has already paid off. Water, food, and a good haircut works wonders for roses just as it does for people! While the plants looked rather bedraggled at first, in a month they are now covered in blossoms!

Moving! April 23, 2009

Not my favorite activity, but it’s occupied my time for the past month. After unpacking boxes and hanging pictures, I’ve begun analyzing the overgrown flowerbeds and nondescript back patio.

Basically I’m watching the sun patterns, ripping out weeds, and looking at the sprinkler patterns. Living in LA, we are in the midst of a three year drought — our farmers aren’t going to get water for their crops, it’s that serious. Looking at what’s happening with our own watering situation in a new garden is critical. We discovered big dry areas, sprinkler heads watering the driveway and little else, and overgrown plants blocking others. Next we’ll tackle the plants planted next to each other that shouldn’t be — drought tolerant shrubs overpowering shade-loving azaleas.

It’s definitely another opportunity to put into practice the knowledge packed into our little book, “The Pitiful Gardener’s Handbook!”

If It’s Cold Outside, It’s Time To Plan For When It Isn’t March 16, 2009

We always recommend that you take time to study your yard and even sketch it to help plan for improvements.  This exercise makes you actually focus on what’s growing well and where you need a better choice of plants. Before the frenzy of impulse shopping takes over as the weather warms, now is a good time to put in some garden think-time.

Here’s a really great article that shows you exactly how to go through the process in simple steps.  Click here to read it:

http://realestate.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=18310799&GT1=35000.

Before You Plant, Get Some Good Tools March 12, 2009

When you’re not really positive about what you need for sure, the huge tool variety in the garden section can be overwhelming. All that gleaming, shiny metal that looks oh so necessary. Do you need all of it, some of it, or none of it? How many different hoes does one gardener need?

Well, it really isn’t a garden if you aren’t rearranging the natural enviroment to create something new. And you do that with tools.

The first thing you need is a shovel to turn over the soil, and then to dig holes. And all those hoes — they really do have different uses.  The floral hoe cuts deep into the dirt if you’re going after tap roots. The scufle hoe is scraped just under the dirt to clean out roots growing near the surface.

You need a couple of hand tools – the wire-pronged cultivator goes after weeds in closely planted borders, and the trowel is needed for planting the small stuff. A hand pruner is a must for trimming.

With just a few tools you can get the most bang for your gardening buck!

Recession Proof Your Garden with Knowledge March 8, 2009

These days nobody can afford wasting money buying plants over and over again for their yard. Of course you want to get it right the first time — or at a least pretty close! If you know you’ve been less than successful and want to get a handle on it, than you need our book, The Pitiful Gardener’s Handbook. It’s such an inexpensive way to save a bundle.

One of the techniques we promote is how to choose the right plant for the right spot.  That will save you a bunch of money! It means resisting impulse shopping right now — either through gorgeous catalogs that look mighty pretty when it’s bleccky outside, or at the garden shows that force the blooms unrealistically, or in the nurseries that have trucked in plants grown in warmer climates. Very little of that will actually make it in your hard-to-fill garden spot.  Don’t rely on the “guess and hope” method. You really need to get something hardy grown in your climate that can withstand a little neglect from you.

Need some help figuring out what you’re doing right and wrong in the garden?

BUY OUR BOOK AS A TERRIFIC GIFT FOR YOU OR YOUR BROWN-THUMBED FRIENDS! ONLY $10.00 with FREE SHIPPING!

Forget the Seed Catalogs February 23, 2009

Each year the seed catalogs start jamming up the mailbox. The weather’s bleak, the yards are barren, the catalogs are blooming with color. Great marketing. And oh, how delectable. But what a no-no for the pitiful gardener about to order a wheelbarrow of temptation. Chances are, you don’t know the plants, you won’t get them into the right place, and you’ll order too much!

Now you may actually have a spot in mind that looked rather ratty last year, and you’re thinking seeds are going to do it for you. You’d really do better buying large plants so you get exactly what you need. But since you’re contemplating this problem area (and we’re really proud of you, by the way), maybe plants aren’t the way to go. Perhaps a more permanent solution is needed — a terrace, patio, pathway. While daydreaming over the catalogs, also try visualizing a trouble-free area that will only require a one-time effort from you. Putting in an attractive hardscape — whether it’s cement, brick, paving stones — is not only a time-saver, but a stress-reducer and money-saver as well!