drawing in the dirt

Remember that spray chalk? I finally used it to mark out the bulk of our future hardscape, lawn, garden beds and paths. From the roof, you can see how the yard looks way less daunting mapped out. Plus it gives me a guide for where to plant my largest shrubs and trees.

Shall we walk? Cross the patio and take the steps over the small pool… (click to biggify)

view of the yard from roof | patio area

Then head down the stairs with Bix to the area below the retaining wall…

bix runs down stairs

Wander down a few paths through what I picture as a lush, green jungle that will layer in some privacy from the street…

view of yard from the roof | area below patio

Take the stepping stones through the far corner bed to smell the flowering currants

stepping stones in the far corner bed

It’s rough, but I think you begin to get the picture… Bix sure does.

bix running down path

Now that the lawn area up top is mapped out, we can seed it…

view of yard from the roof | top of yard

This part of the yard over by the water collection tank stays shady the entire day, so no grass here. Just shade lovers to hide the manhole covers and a gravel path to take you around to the side yard…

future gravel path

Once we get the grass seed down, I’ll start the garden beds over here…

view from the side yard

Still firming up exact dimensions in the veggie area but there will definitely be raised beds (to form a barrier that keeps kids from toppling off the retaining wall) to the left and low (4′ high) espaliered fruit trees down the property line on the right…

view of garden zone

While we’re at it, this side of the retaining wall faces south…

view of front retaining wall

… which makes it perfect for an espaliered asian pear. You know, like this…

espaliered asian pear | tulsagardencenter.com

espaliered asian pear | tulsagardencenter.com

This is the food zone, after all. And yes, I’m greedy. I plan to take advantage of every last inch of it.

Speaking of zones, remember my planting zones?

planting zones

Now that the beds are roughly out, I’ll be heavy into planning what plants go where according to zone. I love this part!

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2 Responses to “drawing in the dirt”

  1. […] Which is perfect, because out back we want a full set of steel stairs at the end of the other retaining wall. Remember when I drew that?… […]

  2. […] just fine. And the beds that have mulch are holding fairly well. But the water runs down the paths I’ve been digging out that have yet to receive pea gravel and then pours out into the street. We […]