The winters in Ferndale can be long and wet, so wet that it makes getting any gardening done nearly impossible at times. Even mowing the lawn becomes a challenge, and unlike what I was used to in San Jose, the …
One plant I really miss from San Jose is the beautiful and fragrant wisteria that we had growing on the arbor I made. So after erecting our deer fence the poles looks unfinished, kind of like my unfinished fence in …
Lori and I spent the day putting in the posts for the beginning of our deer fence on the north side of the house. We’re still waiting for the baseboards to arrive which will also act as a flood diverter, …
Lori is really happy to have her lavender blooming. Similar to my lupine triumph, Lori had tried several times to plant lavender, but kept losing them to the winter floods. Every once in awhile we find something that makes it …
I wasn’t expecting the lupines to bloom so quickly. The seed package that we used was a mixed color assortment, but so far the colors that have bloomed coordinate well with the neighboring plants. It’s nice to finally have some …
Lori had about as much luck growing lavender in this garden as I had growing hollyhocks and lupines in San Jose. Too wet the first few tries, which seems odd, because it’s English lavender, and England isn’t known for its …
These are the two rhodies that we originally intended to plant. Amazing how hard it is to go to a nursery and only buy the plants you intended to. We planned to buy these two, and came away with double …
Here’s another view of her hard work. Plants are starting to fill in, and it’s starting to look more like a garden rather than a nursery. Now it’s up to me to make sure the next flood control project is …
Lori’s done a wonderful job with her part of the yard over the summer. I wish I could say the same for the rest of it, which mostly at this point falls under my jurisdiction. After the disastrous flood of …
Lori’s been attacking the herb garden with some gusto and it’s starting to look much better. I think I’ve finally convinced her that even though she wants to be a green gardener, slug bait is a good thing. In addition …
Artie came out with me to the front yard to check out the damage left from the flood. He didn’t like walking in the mud, which made it pretty hard to get around the front yard. This weekend I’ll start …
I am really starting to hate the last two weeks of December, as it seems like the flooding just keeps getting worse every year. Our herb garden, our paths, everything that we worked so hard on this summer are now …
The herb garden has some new plants since you’ve last seen it. In the foreground is the beginnings of a boxwood hedge that will line both sides of the brick walkway that goes to the front door. We bought a …
After recycling the parts of the old front fence into raised beds, Lori and I started planting the herbs and other plants that she started from seeds this winter. I also went to a couple of plant shows and picked …
We finally got a halfway decent Sunday weatherwise so we got the other two paths put in. We also placed some wine barrels in the front, and once the soil drys out a bit more we’re ready to start planting!
Here’s the beginnings of Lori’s herb garden. In planning it, we came to the realization that this small section of our yard was about the same size as the entire backyard of our home in San Jose. It will feature …
