You can learn almost anything online, but there’s something comforting about leafing through a book. Especially when it’s packed with mid-century appropriate landscaping ideas, like this one –Better Homes & Gardens’ Landscape Planning (1963). It only cost a few bucks, but it’s worth way more (to us). Funny thing is, despite its age, the homes …
More →
Tag Archives: landscaping
-
book smarts
-
courtyard chaos
We’re used to small yards (or “gardens” as us Brits call ’em) so our outdoor space is a little overwhelming. It spans four areas; front and back yards (both with scruffy-looking lawns), a side patio (where we spend most outdoor time) and this entrance jungle courtyard. We’ve roughed-out simple plans for all four areas (which …
More → -
bird feeder
You don’t get much for under twenty bucks these days, but you can get this bird feeder, from CB2. Very much our colors too, so we had to snap it up. It just arrived, and we hung it on an existing hook by our side patio. Final destination TBD but I kinda like it there. …
More → -
redwood replacement
Just a quick bit of maintenance on the courtyard area, by our entrance. Between each of the poured concrete panels is a thin piece of redwood. These have been untouched for nearly 60 years, and they’re showing it. Some are completely rotten. So, we decided to replace them with new redwood. This was pretty cheap, …
More → -
patio planting
Our side patio – overlooked by living area, office and master bedroom – is where we spend most of our outdoor time. And it was probably the neatest outside area to begin with. So much so, we haven’t really done anything to it…apart from battle the leaf problem. Until now. Remember those couple of shrubs …
More → -
the claw
As you may have noticed, we’ve cut down a few trees and shrubs. We’ve also collected the odd leaf. Lucky for us, Sacramento City operates a winter street collection for leaves and trimmings, in addition to weekly pick-up of our (always full) yard waste container. And this is the pile we assembled. We were a …
More → -
front plant
Quick follow-up from my front yard update. Nothing to boast about here –we’re just trying to make good before winter. As I mentioned, we marked-off this area with string, then jointly tackled this project with Karen’s dad, while he was visiting. We dug the earth over and removed the roots of two shrubs I culled. …
More → -
curb appeal
Our place was rented out for a few years before we bought it, and the occupants added some interesting personal touches. This painted curb, for example, which looks like a red-blue-white national flag…for some fictional country. We planned to add a curb number anyhow, so obscuring this little number would be a bonus. The painted …
More → -
spiky plants
We don’t have much spare cash, so we’re doing as much we can ourselves. This includes ‘landscaping’ (this isn’t real landscaping, hence the inverted commas). So far, most of what we’ve done involves removing stuff. The time has come to start giving back. We’re fairly comfortable with choosing plants, though our tastes are undoubtedly narrower …
More →