Filed under: Cash for Grass | Tags: budget, cash, Cash for Grass, kids, lawn, milkweed, plants, rock, Roseville, seeds, wildflowers
main front ex-lawn
gate to street stepping stones
- driveway strip
- driveway strip from driveway
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Filed under: Cash for Grass | Tags: bird, border, Cash for Grass, feeder, finch, garden, landscape, mulch, netting, plants, rock, seeds, silence, wildflower, Zen, Zen rock garden
Much work done on the project over the long weekend. First, Rose and Calvin planted a couple hundred wildflower seeds carefully in seed trays in the backyard, which turned out to be a very labor intensive way to feed premium seeds to finches.
For round two, I protected the seeds with plastic netting, and also hung a bird feeder with finch seed nearby to try to distract them. ($27 for netting, feeder, and seeds, not counting wildflower seed losses)
Seeds with finch fence
I also managed to get all the rock mulch spread. Phase 1 is almost complete. All that is left is to put in the last handful of small plants, and finish the border, which will require about 20 linear feet of additional border rock.
The down side to buying all very small plants to save money is that they are so small at this point that it is hard to see them among the rock. The yard looks more like a zen rock garden than a living landscape. (If you are a zen master, I understand that a rock garden is also alive in its way, but it is not, therefore it remains noisily in silence.) I hope the plants not only survive but will fill in by late spring and give the appearance that I knew what I was doing.
Can you count the plants in the area which used to be lawn in the photo below?
Zen Rock Garden Replaces Lawn
Wrong. The correct answer is way more than that, and two of the ones you counted were actually boulders…
No, not quite that many, I still have to buy some, and the wildflowers are hopefully going to grow in the seed trays to be put in later…
Yes, that’s about right. Nicely figured.
Filed under: Cash for Grass | Tags: cash, Christmas, grass, planting, plants, rock, seeds, yard
Getting closer
Filed under: Cash for Grass | Tags: cash, decorating, festive, grass, landscaping, lawn, leaves, lights, rock, seeds, vacation
This Christmas I chose landscaping over putting up holiday lighting. Our house does not look very festive, but I do have a big pile of rock. Maybe I can build a rockman with a top hat and carrot nose. And I have a mound of grass in my courtyard that is starting to turn brown. Could I put a manger next to it and call it hay?
Today is the first day of a two week (forced) vacation for employees of my company. At least I will have all the time I need to finish what can be done on my landscape, plant all my seeds, and attend to a number of other household projects. How exciting! I finished putting in the plants I have and spreading rock around the infamous strip between driveways, except for the plants I can’t get yet or am growing from seeds that I have not yet planted. I got started on the far end of the main area formerly known as lawn. Rose helped by climbing up and down the rock pile, and occasionally piling up leaves and jumping on them.
Driveway Strip Finished
Driveway Strip Side ViewMain Yard Far Side
Main Yard Far End
Filed under: Cash for Grass | Tags: All Things Wild, big, buckets, cash, cobble, Dr. Hurd, drops, dump, grass, kids, labor, load, manzanita, mulch, pile, planting, rock, stone, stream, tons, truck, wagons
Today the big dump truck came with 8 tons of rock: 6 tons of mulch and 2 tons of river cobble to form artificial stream beds in the drainage areas.
Being a sunny Saturday afternoon, all the kids in the neighborhood came out as soon as they heard the runble of the truck booming down the street. The truck thundered right up to our house and dropped its 8-ton load right on the driveway.
Then the kids went to work, six in all. They eagerly grabbed wagons, buckets, and tools and all jumped in to help move the rock around. And to play “king of the rock pile”.
Rock Princes and Princesses - L to R: James, Emele, Rose, Sabrina, Jenna, Calvin
The mulch will have to wait for the plants, but the cobble was ready to go in right away. Within two hours, the kids and I had placed all two tons of the cobble, while my neighbor laid the entire border for the driveway strip using the Petrified Seashore I had brought home the other day, more than compensating for the little work I had to undo to include his bit in the project.
Taking Shape; Calvin lies on top of the rock pile
Kid-layed Cobble
Oh, yeah, also I went first thing in the morning to see All-Things-Wild Genelle at the farmer’s market to get more native plants. That was another $200. It would have been more but I am being budget conscious and buying the smallest size available of everything. They are plants. They will grow eventually, right? All the kids went this time because they wanted to see Genelle and talk to her again, even though they all had to ride home awkwardly in the minivan while sharing their seats with a large number of assorted native plants.
I finished the day by actually planting our first new plant, the “Dr. Hurd manzanita” I bought last week.
The First New Plant - Dr. Hurd Manzanita
Filed under: Cash for Grass | Tags: A&A Steppig Stones, boulders, cash, class, cobble, Google, grass, green, landscape, lawn, mulch, native, Newcastle, petrified, plants, rock, wild
I decided I wanted to put a nice stone border around the edges of the project to keep the rock mulch from spilling over. I hadn’t seen anything I liked for a border at Sierra, but using the power of Google I found another local rock seller, A&A Stepping Stones in Newcastle.
Rose and I drove up to look around after I got off work yesterday, because Rose loves rocks and dirt. My other kids did not want another van ride sharing seats with boulders. They had a dazzling selection of rocks, and I found a species that comes in long, narrow rectangular pieces, absolutely perfect for a border. Rose and I loaded about 150 linear feet of it onto a pallet to be carried to my minivan. The stone is called “Petrified Seashore”, which is ironic because I was petrified when it wieghed in at 530 pounds and the clerk rang it up at $228. Plus $38 for about ten or so ordinary 40-pound decorative boulders that we also chose. Rose again got to ride awkwardly in between the 900 pounds of rocks in the minivan, not counting several pounds she had secretly stuffed into her pockets as souveneirs.
This relates to the neighbors because today after work I finished laying the rock to make the border between my half of the driveway strip and my neighbor’s grassy half. As soon as I finished, my neighbor came out and said that he did want in on the plan after all, if it is not too late to do the whole driveway strip. His wife is into gardening, thinks my native plant habitat is a really great idea, and wants to help.
I am so excited to have the neighbors on board. Despite having to take out the border I just layed and add to the rock order, I think it will look much better to not have the strip split up. And I have the comfort of company in the insanity. Also, they have three kids who want to help, and free child labor is always welcome where moving rock is concerned.
Flagstone, Petrified Seashore, and boulders staged on grassless yard
Filed under: Cash for Grass | Tags: California, cash, grass, lawn, manzanita, native, plant, rock, rose, wild
Then we went rock shopping and ordered 6 tons of rock from Sierra Rock, to be delivered next Saturday. Not having a place to put the rock yet, and feeling like I might now be doing things just a bit out of order, I spent the rest of the day ripping out the remaining grass. The pace picked up quickly once I got away from the tree, and I did not swear as much. My half of the driveway strip peeled off really easily, and I finished it all in about four hours.
I had also bought and brought home some flagstones from Sierra Rock at the same time I ordered the other rock, to make a path from the sidewalk to the courtyard entry. My kids had to sit awkwardly in the minivan because of the pile of stones on the floor and in the middle seat, but that is they price they pay for going along when Dad runs errands.
I‘m now in for about $550 so far. It looks now like the whole project will cost about $1,400. With the $700 check I hope to get and lawn-lady savings, this should pay for itself in less than a year. More importantly, it is within the margin of what my wife calculated my $1,200 quote to actually mean.
The pile of sod in my courtyard has grown enormous. I might have to actually pay someone to haul it away, which would increase the budget.
Really huge grass pile
