Why I Oughta...

Last year, I planted three Inferno Coleus in the Island Bed in our front yard - the first time I've used Coleus as a bedding plant.  By the end of the season, I wrote this post praising coleus in mid-October .   I learned to like them so much that I included "use more coleus" as my #6 item on my 2025 to-do list .  My plan for the island bed was to extend the bed (done) and plant it full this year .  Part of that planting is to use a sun-tolerant coleus in front of the trees (Ginkgo and Korean Maple) and behind the (planned) perennials.   I found these striking "sun coleus" at the nursery and decided to buy two six-packs of them:   The tag says they're named Crimson Gold Versa Coleus: Here is what Ball Seed has to say about Crimson Gold Coleus : Versatile coleus variety thrives in sun and shade. Long-lasting, deep red leaves with golden-green edges pop as landscape or garden component. Well-branched, vigorous habit. With twelve (12) plugs in-h...

Yesterday, I updated my pizza oven project with the latest progress on the small, timber retaining wall that I've been building in front of the oven.  The goal is to create a small, flat surface that I can use to work/bake in front of the oven.  The grade required a small wall and after hemming-and-hawing on what to do, I opted for action:  get the oven operational. Yesterday's post showed how I set the timbers and backfilled with TONS of gravel for drainage .    The next step in the process is to fold over the non-woven landscape fabric on top of the gravel - this fabric serves as a 'separation layer' from the soil that is behind the gravel.  It also is the separation layer to the soil I intend to pile on top.  Below is a look at the fabric folded back on the gravel: After the fabric was in place, I started to dig out the large pile of earth that I excavated for this project and began to fill in the space.  After a few inches, I compacted the so...

The last post I shared about the pizza oven was back in late March when I shared a photo showing the first four timbers being brought on-site and talked about I was in-the-middle of the excavation.  In that post , I laid out the next few steps (pasted below).  Since that post in late March, I've progressed through the first seven steps and the first part (the hard part) of Step 8.  1. Clear back/sides down grade. 2. Dig out under timbers to drywell stone. 3. Lay out Fabric. 4. Lay down gravel + paver base to create level base for bottom timbers. 5. Start with the timber at the base of the slab, level it out and anchor in the ground with rebar. 6. Work around the timbers - anchoring them with rebar. 7. Stack additional timbers - attach with timberloks. 8. Backfill with gravel, drape the fabric over. 9. Back fill with earth. 10. Fill center with base + gravel. As a reminder, we have a large, deep drywell under this part of the yard.  When I dug the slab foun...

I started my new garden with Summer Beauty Alliums.  They're really great.  Since then, I've found something I like a tiny-bit better:  Serendipity Alliums.  They bloom later in the year.  And for longer .   (Turns out, there's a third variety - Millenium - that sort-of fits in between these two .) Over the years, I've grown and divided both Summer Beauty and Serendipity and placed them around the garden.  Each of the past few Falls, I've divided the Serendipity clumps.  Starting with two, I now have five .  All IB2DWs.   Now, I'm drawn towards the Serendipity due to the bloom time and length, I still have a bunch of Summer Beauties in the garden.  And, guess what?  They're early Spring stars.  A bunch of my garden hasn't woken-up yet.  Hostas are in the ground.  Peonies are just little red tips.  Astilbes and ferns are showing their first few shoots.   But allium clumps?  Their gree...

Here we go:  twenty-five items on my 'to-do list' for 2025.  Just like the past few years, this list includes twenty-five garden ideas, projects, plans and priorities.  Here's 2024's to-do list .  And scorecard (18 out of 25 complete ).  Here's 2023 to-do list .  And scorecard (22 of 25 complete ). Here's 2022's to-do list .  And scorecard (20 of 25 complete).   Last year, the seven that I didn't complete include leaf mulch, working the lawn, parkway planting, building an orangerie box, improving the southside entrance landing, being a weeder and paying attention to my tree nursery.   A few of those will persist and show up in the 25 below. 1. Gravel Path Improvement. This was marked as 'Priority Project #1' this year . And, I've already completed about 60% of the renovation . Once I finalize the pizza oven project, I'll use the remaining nonwoven fabric to finish the gravel path. 2. Make the Pizza Oven operational. This was marke...

In the photo below you can see a number of 'crowns' or slightly different colored dots that are scattered around this bed.  What are those?  Ostrich Fern crowns.  They're filling up the bed behind the Oak tree - tree swing tree.  And, they've naturalized.  They're spreading and multiplying.  It feels like this is a moment:  keep or dig up and remove.   As I mentioned...they multiply.  So, this year there might be twenty.  Next year...there might be 40.    The issue:  I don't have anything to replace them.  But, despite falling in love with Ostrich Ferns, I've moved on to other ferns.  Autumn Ferns, in particular.  But, those don't naturalize.   This is where I've always envisioned a 'garden path'.  Perhaps I leave these now (don't do a "Fern Upgrade") and utilize non-woven cloth to smother out any Ostrich ferns in the way. 

Progress on the pizza oven MVP continues.  At least in terms of the hard surface part of the project.  Back ten days ago, I showed the first timber (6x6x8 treated ground-contact) being placed on site and talked about how much more excavation was required.  A few days ago, I posted a photo showing the three other timbers that I brought home from the lumber store that were ready to get placed for dry-fitting .  Now that I have the first four timbers on-site, I can start to see how much more excavation is required.  With the wall being about ten-inches-tall, that means that I would like to have about ten-inches of gravel behind the wall.  Thus, excavation is for the space required for the timbers to be square plus ten-inches in each direction.  Below is a look at the current state of the area:  All four timbers are on-site and I've been pulling away at the earth that needs to be retained: My plan is to use a flat shovel to create a clean edge in the...

Last I checked-in on the pizza oven ground project, I was dry-fitting the first 6x6 treated (ground-contact) timber that I'll use to retain the earth and (I think) hold in gravel in the middle of the surface.  I spent a little bit of time this past weekend doing more excavation and found time to run to the hardware store to bring home three more 6x6 timbers.   Below, you can see the three timbers (and a pile of bags of gravel) that I'll haul to the backyard in the coming days.  Once back there, I'll use them to make sure I've excavated *enough* earth.  My plan is to dry-fit all of these in the ground, then measure what over-dig still needs to be done that will allow for a foot-or-so of gravel to sit *behind* (earth-side) of the wall.   I'll next update the project once I put all the timbers in and fit.  After that, I'll finalize the excavation, lay down the nonwoven fabric, establish the grade for the first course of timbers with gravel and/or pa...

I continue to find small bits of time to excavate and prep the ground in front of the pizza oven slab.  After work, on weekends.  A little bit at a time.  This is #2 on my list of 'priority projects', but that full project also includes weather-proofing the actual oven .  The other part is the hard-surface to stand-on, in-front of the oven.  My (current) thinking is that I'll create an 8x8(ish) area that is edged with landscape timbers.  I'll use a nonwoven geotextile underneath the whole thing and install a couple of timbers as a retaining wall - to help handle the grade change.   Here's my initial excavation post showing some of the dirt removal .   And, just last week, I measured the depth of grade-change at the seven-foot-deep-mark.  About 12" of earth that needs to be held back .  Over the weekend, I picked up one (1) 6x6x8 treated ground-contact landscape timber from the big box lumber store.  It is H E A V Y.  ...

On my walk back to the train at Union Station, I wandered through the riverwalk plaza at Riverside Plaza.  There are a pair of companion buildings at 10 and 120 S. Riverside Plaza that have been going through a renovation of both their interiors (I think) and their exterior/outside plaza spaces .  The riverwalk portion appears to have wrapped up last Fall and was planted before Winter.   The space is a series of linear, raised beds.  And certainly feels like they've taken some inspiration from places like the Highline - that have a more linear nature.   The beds don't have any trees (unlike the Highline), but are multi-level raised beds full of perennials.  I'm pretty sure this area gets full mid-day sun, but due to the tall buildings all around, is probably in the shade in the morning and later in the afternoon. What jumped out to me this week were the dormant grasses in the bed.  There were A LOT of them.  Planted in a mass.  And....

I've excavated the landing in front of the pizza oven a little bit at a time over the past week-or-so.  I've managed to remove about seven(ish) feet x eight(ish) feet in area.  I'd like to get back to (at least) 8x8.  But, I've also begun to figure out what I'm facing in terms of earth that needs to be held back.  Below, is a photo showing the rear edge of the site - showing about eleven-inches of height at seven-feet-back.  The grade isn't too steep in this spot, so if I take out another foot, I'm guessing this might raise up to one-foot-tall.    Here's the initial excavation post from last week . My plan is to get all of the earth removed so I can start to use the eight-foot timber as guide to find level.  Underneath the wall area, I'll excavate a bit to fill with gravel + paver base.   At 12" tall, I'm dealing with a timber with a 5.5" true height.  Thinking two 6x6's (11 inches) might be enough.  But, that all depends on wh...

The weather recently has been doing with late Winter/early Spring does around here:  Move all over the place.  Some 60's and some 30's.  I've been trying to fit in some early garden work during the warmer moments - from clean-up to bed extensions to...now...kicking off the pizza oven project for 2025.   I labeled this my #2 priority project earlier this month and talked about getting it 'operational' was my goal :  that means getting it water-tight and getting the hard surface right in front of the oven mud-free - and...presentable.   I am going to first address the hard surface.   This whole project - in the most ideal state - requires A LOT of things - retaining walls, paver patio, covered roof, prep surface and (likely) a bar.  But, for now, I'm looking at what I can get done NOW - this Spring.  And something that is both cost-effective and (at least somewhat) attractive.   There's a 26" drop between the grade of ...

A couple days ago, I posted the details of some of my 2025 priority projects in the garden including my initial (#1) project:  renovating the gravel path on the side of our house .  In that post , I walked through my learning journey about geotextiles and their differences - non-woven vs. woven.  And, how they have different drainage and separation impacts.  After poking around, I ended up landing on the use of a nonwoven geotextile under the gravel will stop the 'sinking gravel' that has occurred over the years.   I found this roll of nonwoven geotextile that is four-feet-wide by 100-feet long.  It is listed as "8 ounce" weight and in-hand it feels substantial.   The gravel path on the side of our house is laid down with bluestone chips, so this project isn't straight-forward.  If this was a net-new path, the job would be easier:  lay down the fabric then pour on the bluestone chips.  But in this case, I had to find a way to s...

Two days ago, I posted some photos showing the first step in the 'lazy bed extension' around our island bed in the front yard .  This was one of my priority projects for the year - #3.  I started with laying down cardboard to smother out the grass along the driveway.  That section went about twelve feet by three-feet wide.   For step two in this process, I went with filling-in the stretch of grass between the sidewalk back to the (current) island bed.  This section is about five-feet deep by twelve feet long.  I laid down two layers of cardboard with a slight overlap (both overlapped between the two of them and overlapped with the first layer on the driveway side).  I wet it down with the hose.  Then, topped with municipal biosolids.  And, finally...a layer of other organic yard material (leaves, grass clippings, etc) on top.  I mixed those together and used my hose again to wet it all together.   Below are a couple of sho...

Yesterday, I shared the overview of my third priority for 2025 - expanding the front yard island bed .  These first three ( Pizza Oven MVP , Renovation of the bluestone chips gravel path and this island bed) were pulled from my initial 'early look' list .   We caught a little bit of a run of decent weather this past weekend, so I opted to start the island bed expansion/extension.   Remember....I talked about one of the most critical components to this project:  time.  I need time to smother out the turf grass.  And time for the biosolids to 'mellow' out a little bit.   This bed started back in Summer last year when I dug up and created a kidney-bean-shaped island bed with a Korean Maple tree (Northern Glow) and a dwarf (Spring Grove) Ginkgo tree .   In the post yesterday, I showed the size (12x12) of the extensions and looked at some potential plantings.  This bed, when complete (at more than 150ish square feet) will be ...