The New Garden

Looking east towards the San Simeon circle.
The first row of the first bed is laid out.

We are lucky to have our house and backyard crowded into the north corner of our diamond-shaped acre. That leaves most of our rough acre to the south: the gully that's Coat Hanger Valley and a flat area that's by San Simeon circle. It's in that flat area — as you drive in from San Simeon, to the left of the driveway before it drops into the gully — where we are creating the new garden.

Narrow, tan-colored concrete blocks will frame not one, not two, but three raised garden beds.

We found a great place to buy the blocks. Each one weighs over thirty pounds. Each raised garden will have two rows of blocks adding up to sixty blocks. That's about 1,800 pounds, not counting the caps.

Looking west towards our house.

The delivery charge is too much. Plus I really had no idea how it would all fit together: full blocks, end blocks, end half blocks, male and female ends, and corners. So to keep our trusty Smoke Ganesha (a/k/a Ford Explorer) from collapsing from the weight, we've made three trips to the brickyard to collect enough blocks for two beds. Two or three more trips should do it for the third bed and the caps.

We haven't completely figured out dirt, yet. This area used to be a garden some time in the past. There's fine, dark dirt and buried, cast iron irrigation lines. Plus, we saved a pile of dirt from the old garden that used to be in the backyard. But we will need to buy some topsoil, I'm sure.

Conceptual sketch of the
completed new garden.

This town is full of stories about buying topsoil that's so hot, it kills seedlings. So Shari is studying different sources, and eying the bountiful gardens by the Montessori school down the hill with its beds of overflowing greens and piles of rich dirt. So, where did they get that dirt?

We also haven't figured out the fencing, something to keep out javelinas and rabbits and discourage casual critter passers-by, at least temporarily. Lizards, ground squirrels and chipmunks can climb over anything.

Then there are birds to worry about, shade cloths to set up, gates to build, and more driveway curbs to cut for access. A work bench and a tool rack would be nice, and water lines are mandatory.

Nazar

Nazar is now the alpha canine of the house. He's getting lots of attention and affection and is displaying a remarkable ability to remain in the present -- as opposed to we humans who typically are stuck in the past or our thoughts. He, too, is a teacher -- a veritable guru.

He's also really good at catching things. I keep telling him to get opposable thumbs.

(Our thanks to Shoshana for taking the video.)