Our urban wasteland kitchen garden

Our kitchen garden started out as a driveway if you recall. Last year we managed to break up and haul out 30+ tons/1800 sq. feet of what was the former driveway. Don't worry, we still have enough driveway to park three cars. This newly claimed area was to allow for two additions: a kitchen garden and an orchard. The orchard is well on its way and the 7 new fruit trees are all doing well.

From 2010 Landscape

I've been a little behind on the kitchen garden/potager. First, this area looks a lot like an urban wasteland since it's as hard as a rock, has poor drainage and not a stitch of plantable soil. Pretty much the single worst set of qualifications for a kitchen garden. Earlier this year I wrote about the project plan for this area and how we're going to transform it into a kitchen garden/green space.

To start the garden project, in the last couple of weeks I managed to get the concrete block retaining wall installed that borders between our kitchen garden space and the 5+ acre lot next to us. The property line is marked with a low creek area that flows with water all winter and helps prevent us from floating away. To help prevent erosion and minimize the risk of flooding, we installed a retaining wall and dug the creek out. In addition, we're raising the soil level of our property approximately 4".

From 2010 Landscape

My least favorite aspect of this project is that when it's all said and done, you won't even be able to see this retaining wall since it will be behind our fence. It was just one of those necessary projects that had to be done to move to the next step.

After finishing the retaining wall, I started laying the brick paths. The kitchen garden is a long shotgun area (18'x36') and will be a high trafficked area since it's the main way to get to the back of the house. Therefore, I wanted permanent paths that were wide enough to haul supplies and lumber to the back where our workshop is located. Today, I completed the first section of the path using brick I found on Craigslist.

From 2010 Landscape

This path will tie into a small 9'x10' patio that will be directly viewable from the picture window in our dining room, and will then connect on the other side with another short path that goes to the gate to our backyard.

As you can see from the picture, the area is very rocky. The dirt is hard packed clay that's impossible to get a shovel in. Eventually, to finish this area I will be building a series of 10+ raised beds for planting in. Once the raised beds are built, I'll haul in decent soil soil. I don't expect to start getting the raised beds built till next year, but it's a perfect late winter/early spring project.

I hope to complete all of the brick work for this by the end of August. I have to balance this task with painting windows and trim, since we're trying to finish up the house painting project. Before you know it, it'll be the rain season here again, but at least this year I'll be standing in front of the picture window looking out and admiring the nice brick work.

Pushing the limits...

Fall is known for one thing in the Pacific Northwest: rain. Thankfully, this year we've been blessed with day after day of excellent weather. I know one thing for sure - it won't last forever. Come November 1st, the rain/flood season bears down.

Given my poor blog posting performance, I thought I'd take the time to put together a compiled list (mostly pictures) of the past months activities.

Let there be red - Chinese Red!

When we first picked the house colors, we went with a moss green, bramble wood brown, and terra cotta orange. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't force myself to like the orange. It just wasn't working for me. So... I went to the paint store and found the most striking color I could find -- Chinese Red. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

From The Making of a Craftsman Home

Scraping, scraping, scraping, and then more scraping.

I'll say one thing -- this paint doesn't fall off the house by itself.

From The Making of a Craftsman Home

DIRT!

Remember that 15 cubic yard truck load of dirt? Welcome to the new vegetable garden. Hard to believe that just 3 short months ago this was the driveway. Now that's what I call progress of the green type. Next year, I'll be planting lettuce, beets, squash, onions, leeks -- and more. Stay tuned.

From The Making of a Craftsman Home

Water?

Just two years ago our property was completely flat and the water had nowhere to go. Now, there's barely a flat spot remaining -- plus, there are two wetland water retention pools and a drainage creek that directs water over to the stream that runs alongside our property. In addition, I'm installing new gutter downspouts that carry the water away from the foundation. All of this will either work really well, or fail miserably and we'll float away. Hard to say when you live on a former wetland.

From The Making of a Craftsman Home

From The Making of a Craftsman Home

More Trees

At one time, we had two trees in the backyard. Now we've got so many trees that each time we count them -- we come up with a different number. There is somewhere between 20 and 24 trees in the backyard of varying sizes. Recently, I planted an Oregon Ash and several Quaking Aspens. Both of these trees are native to the Northwest. The Oregon Ash loves water and can put up with wet feet. I planted it on the edge of the wetland water retention pool. The Quaking Aspens also love water, and are found in valleys along rivers in the Northwest.

From The Making of a Craftsman Home

There is light at the end of the tunnel -- between dusk and dawn that is

In our spare time, we installed a set of low-voltage craftsman style lights. I really dislike outdoor solar lights since the batteries fail after about the first year, and then they aren't very bright. Therefore, I hardwired a set of low voltage lights.

From The Making of a Craftsman Home

What's next?

Let's face it -- the good weather is about the end. My guesstimate is that the rain will start in the next couple of weeks. From here on out, it's all about the inside of the house.