One of the things gardening teaches, is the re-use part of reduce, reuse, recycle. Perhaps repurpose is a better word for the project I am sharing today. Several years ago, ok a couple of decades plus years ago, we removed some “walls“ in our garden. The walls were here when we purchased the house and were built out of cinder block. A few were used to create raised beds, but most were just 2 foot high enclosures that separated the flower beds from the walkways. Over time we gave away many of the cinder blocks to friends who needed them for their own projects.

Then a couple years ago I made a concerted effort to find someplace to donate the used cinder blocks. After speaking to three people at ReStore, including the manager, they agreed to pickup the cinder blocks if we would stack them in the driveway on their pallets. We brought the pallets home and stacked over 2/3s of the blocks onto them. Sure enough, the pickup crew showed up at the appointed time and took away the blocks. Yeah! Only 1/3 of them left! A couple days later I went out to ReStore to get another pallet to complete the process and was told they would not like to get the rest of the blocks. By this time my stack of cinderblocks looked like this.

But the best part is I finally found a purpose for the cinder block.

I was running out of time to have the cinderblocks go to a new home, as we were having a fairly large event in our backyard soon. What to do, what to do? Then I saw an article where someone had built raised beds out of cinder blocks, and by using them in a unique way, were able to make them look new and fun. It gave me enough of a vision to re-examine my stash of cinder blocks. They would become the wall to place a potted shade garden on.

I rearranged the blocks and began to move potted shade plants in. I found some old pot hangers, filled them with potted Diascia hybrids and repurposed a strawberry pot with Superflorens Begonias. I added Impatiens, both walleriana and New Guinea hybrids that were elsewhere in my yard. A lovely old Asparagus densiflorens ‘Springeri'  joined them. The added bonus of putting these moderate or greater water lovers together is that they are now not spread all about the yard, but in one place, where it is easier to supply them with their higher water needs.

In May, I had the pleasure of attending the Sunset Magazine Celebration Weekend held for the first time ever, at Cornerstone in Sonoma County.  Previously, for years, Celebration Weekend was held at Sunset Magazine's headquarters in Menlo Park.  I was thrilled to learn that visiting the Sunset test gardens is now so much closer to home for all of us who live in Solano County.   

Seeing as there were/are gardens at Cornerstone already (I had previously blogged about this a few years back), Cornerstone seemed to be both a natural and ideal place for Sunset to plant its test gardens.  The test gardens include the “Flower Room” which features homegrown flowers used for assembling bouquets; the “Farm Garden” where edible plants take center stage (always my favorite as I love to cook and eat); the “Cocktail Garden” where ingredients and garnishes necessary for mixing cocktails is grown in containers; the “Gathering Space” where succulents are incorporated in the landscape to create a space for entertaining; and a “Backyard Orchard” where fruits such as apricot and apple trees best suited for the Sonoma climate, are planted for successive harvesting.

The Sunset test gardens are a great way to find inspiration in learning how to incorporate the colors and textures of edible plant into a more traditional, ornamental landscape.  Pictures of the “Farm Garden” in particular, are included with this blog entry. 

While the Sunset Celebration Weekend only happens once a year, you can still visit the gardens for free year-round during operating hours.  For more information, please see http://www.cornerstonesonoma.com/sunset/.

Last fall our neighbor passed away unexpectedly. He never married and his heirs were his 12 siblings who all lived out of state.  His family arrived to gather his belongings and clear out his house. Another neighbor approached the family and made an offer to purchase the house. There was no will, so the house has been in probate. Meanwhile the house sits there waiting for the estate to be settled.

Although our neighbor retired from Hines Nursery, his property was never landscaped. It is mainly Johnson grass with crab grass. The several trees in the yard have been planted by the birds and have grown over the years with out any care. It is basically a blank canvas.

As the neighborhood watched over the vacant property, a suggestion to plant a neighborhood garden in the backyard was made. The potential new owner made this suggestion as he is maintaining the lawns. The thought was, even if the house ends up being rented, we were adding to its value.

Collectively, we purchased a variety of tomatoes and peppers and added English cucumbers and watermelons.  Seeds for corn, yellow squash and mammoth sunflowers were sown.  The corn has been planted a second time about three weeks after the first seeds were sown.

Without a planned watering schedule the garden gets watered by hand on a regular basis. A friend from Napa brought his small garden tractor and rototilled the garden initially.  We did not amend the soil nor add fertilizer to the garden. No obvious pests have appeared as I write this blog.  Since the garden is in sun all day, the same plants we put in our garden are half the size of the ones in the neighborhood garden.

I plan to continue this blog as the summer progresses and we harvest. It has been a fun project and certainly brought us all together.

Graduations, Flowers

New hope for our future

Everything's growing anew