Gardening on the Rocks: The Driveway Landscaping one year update

In my last post I highlighted the stunning sage blooms along the driveway and today I'm taking a look back at the progress in the driveway landscaping project done during 2012.

Summer Showers bring Sage Flowers

The Silverado Sage along the driveway are in bloom again and even more gorgeous than last year now they have matured.  The Silverados have a deeper color than standard sages and are less leggy.

Gardening on the Rocks: What's new in my own garden?

It's been a while since I posted about my own garden and there have been recent changes that are beginning to pay off.  The biggest change is the wheel garden, which is bigger and better.  We've had several good rains so it's also been a good spring generally for the garden.

We built the circle garden last year to cover a bare spot in the yard.  At the time I limited the size of each wedge for ease of working and the amount of soil and other materials available.

Plant ABCs: N is for Nasella Tenuissima

The ABCs of plants in my garden series highlights the letter N for Nasella Tenuissima or Mexican Feather Grass.

Driveway Landscaping Completed

Cross another big project off the list -- the driveway landscaping is done!

First Anniversary for the New Garage - Part One

There are times when the best way to deal with a garden problem area is to build something, not just grow something.  Last year we went big on this concept by building a garage/workshop and also ended up with more usable gardening space.  Here's the new garage I've shown when posting about the new landscaping along the driveway.

A year ago we started with this

In January 2011 we began a long-planned project to construct a garage/workshop in an underutilized side yard.  In celebration of the first anniversary of completing the project I'm sharing some of the planning and construction process.

The original driveway ended at the double gate and the yard beyond was an eyesore.  Here's a view of the area from the roof of the house.

A rocky south-facing slope in direct sun most of the day, it was the least inviting spot in the yard making it the perfect spot to build a garage/workshop to handle the overflow from our ever growing list of DIY projects.

In addition to the functional requirements, a top priority was that the new construction should look like the house which is "Shed" style.  We based the plans on the New England saltbox because it provided flexible space and similar lines to the house.  We also decided to go with a wide one-car garage instead of a full two-car in order to leave some gardening space between the house and garage.

While most projects around here are DIY, a new garage is not something we would construct by ourselves.  We both have extensive experience in construction and project management so we acted as our own contractor on the project and subbed everything else out.

After developing our plans we hired an engineer to design the foundation as required by the city.  Once the engineering drawings were approved and the permits acquired, we were ready to go.  The foundation contractor dropped off really cool equipment the first day.

I watched the work from an upstairs window, best to stay safe when these guys are moving this equipment around

The crew unearthed this huge stone which they moved into place for us to use as a bench facing the creek.  It's roughly 4'x3' and we estimate it weighs at least 400 lbs.   We had about five minutes to decide and no changing our minds now.  The rock bench will be incorporated into a low wall and garden under the trees.  In the background you can see where some of that top soil ended up and the beginnings of a new garden between the house and garage.

    
After the forms were prepared, we had big cement trucks in the driveway too.  We did have to trim a few secondary tree limbs from the beautiful live oak to the right, fortunately the largest limb across the drive remained untouched.

It rained for the first time in months
 
 Rain is good for cement, it cures slowly and results in a stronger slab

 It was a big day when the frame began to go up

 
Finally the roof went up, the attic is large enough for lots of storage and we ran water lines if someone wants to convert it to living space in the future.

A view from the side, the building steps down the hill with the workshop on the the back separate from the garage.  The space on the second level can be used as a studio when I have messy projects.

It really started to look like a building once the sides were enclosed and the roof is decked

Standing seam roof to match the house

Wrapped and ready for the stone exterior, we had a rare snow delay.

It was cold too, the temperature stayed below freezing for three days.  The construction crews I worked with in Boston would have thought this was great weather to work in, here in San Antonio they took a few days off.

After the snow melted and the weather warmed up we were ready to get back on track.

Stay tuned for Part Two - The Stone Masons

More Progress on the Driveway Project

It was a beautiful weekend here in San Antonio so we took the opportunity to work on the driveway project.  You can read about the beginning of the project here.

We added a row of Mexican Feather Grass (Nasella tenuissima) along the driveway and Gulf Muhly (Muhlenbergia capillaris)  near the front.

Yes, that sure is a lot of concrete and these plants should help soften it.

In addition to the low maintenance requirement, we have chosen plants that can be easily and inexpensively replaced should they be lost in the inevitable encounters with skateboards, soccer balls, or car tires.

The next step is to remove the grass over to the neighbor's driveway near the street and plant more grasses.

Sometimes it helps to look back at the before photos.

Okay, that does look so much better already and it should improve quickly from here.

Deary, Deery, Deer!

It's a good thing they're kinda cute because gardening with deer around can be a challenge.  Most of the time I'm okay with it and select plants accordingly.

On Sunday I took this photo of a red shrimp plant for my Garden Bloggers Bloom Day post.

A few hours later I walked through the same spot and noticed all but one of those same blooms missing.

I knew right away what had happened.  The deer, again.  Even though I had been out in the yard much of the time and they don't usually bother shrimp plants.

So I looked around....

I didn't have to look far because these two were over by the creek grazing and watching me.  They even waited while I retrieved the camera and calmly posed for their mug shots.

Busted!

I was surprised they went for the shrimp plants since one neighbor has a large bed of them right next to a popular deer hang-out by the creek.  Very few plants are completely deer proof.


Later  in the day I found this damage to a Bush Morning Glory in the front yard so it will have to move behind the fence.

We also planted a row of Hesperaloe parviflora along the driveway Sunday afternoon.  The next morning several had been pulled out.  

Deer typically inspect new plants this way so it wasn't a surprise even though hesperaloe are not palatable to deer.  My husband put them back in the ground and there was only a little damage since these are pretty tough plants.


In the last two cases, the "perp" made a clean getaway.  That's a lot of damage in just two days.


It's all part of living with deer in the neighborhood.

A New Project for the New Year

In south central Texas ringing in the New Year means we have about six weeks to get going on big spring projects.  We don't have to wait for Groundhog Day to know that by mid-February the weather will be consistently warmer.  Even though we can have a rare freeze into March, we need to get our projects well underway early in the year or it will be too hot all too quickly.  Here in San Antonio, the record high for February is a toasty 100F set in 1997.

Relatively mild winters mean that we have better weather for major gardening projects in the winter than summer.  It's also important to get plants established before the heat sets in.  With that in mind I'm ready to start work on the gardening project list.  Since the list is long we'll focus on projects with maximum impact.

Our first project this year is the driveway hellstrip -- 100' of neglected, rocky clay soil and fill along the concrete driveway.

 

To preserve the existing trees our house was set on an angle to the street.  Anyone approaching from the south looks straight at the double garage door from several blocks away.  Definitely not the best first impression of the house.  We can't move the house so we'll improve the view.

Low maintenance is the priority for this spot.   The original plan for a row of my favorite Texas Mountain Laurel (Sophora secundiflora) was revised when we found the shallow water lines run back about half way along the driveway.  Limited digging depth means no trees.  With all day sun and no irrigation I've chosen Silverado sage (Leucophyllum frutescens), Mexican feather grass (nasella tenuissima), and Red yucca (hesperaloe parviflora).

 

These plants are existing in the front yard and repeating them will visually unite the sections across the driveway.

We coordinated with the neighbors so the planting bed will go over to their driveway at the street to hide the water access ports.  Plants will be kept low within 15' of the street for safety.  A neighborly path through the bed will be included at a convenient spot.

There is a significant chance of rain Sunday or Monday and no freeze for the next 10 days so we planted the Silverado sage plants on Saturday.

These may look small now, but they will grow fast here and top out around six feet.  We use one gallon plants most of the time since they are easier to plant.  The hesperaloe parviflora will be installed soon and more plants in late February.  The biggest challenge will be fighting the bermuda grass that has taken hold here.

Our neighbors drove up just as we finished and were very pleased to see progress since they've been looking at our boring garage door for 20 years.

There's a lot of work left, but it's so good to see a needed project get started.