It has been a while since I've posted an update for the Seed GROW Project, but my 'Spitfire' Nasturiums have finally started taking off.
They don't seem to be climbing as much as they are trailing. They have blanketed the ground where my tomatillos and tomatoes are growing.
When I planted them, I put one seed at each post of our front yard garden. They're now really starting to peek through to mingle with the coneflowers.
Some plants still haven't flowered yet. 
The pictures, in order, have been: the Pebble Beach golf course logo, the Sierra Club hiking club logo, an image of an orange with the words “Grown in California” under it, the Robert Mondavi wine label, the NPR logo, a picture of a skier, a picture of Lara Bars wrappers, an image from the 2000 US Open, and a picture of a boy reading under a tree with the words “Time for Yourself”. I told him there are multiple gifts, and they are all related. Jason has lined up the images on our kitchen counter, and just stares at them. Want to know what he thought he was getting? A round of golf at Pebble Beach, a hiking trip up in Tahoe, a lifetime supply of orange juice, membership to the Robert Mondavi wine club, NPR was going to announce his birthday on the radio, I was taking him skiing in Canada, a box of Lara bars, tickets to the 2012 US Open, and that I cleared time off with his boss to do all of this stuff. Nice guess, but that’s not what you’re getting dude.
So- what do all of the images have in common? The answer is SO simple. They were all done by the same graphic designer. They were all done by a man named Michael Schwab.
Over 8 years ago, before Jason and I were even married, we were in San Francisco on one of our many date days. We went into a store to browse, and he came across these prints that he loved. They were all different areas of the Golden Gate National Parks . Most of them were framed already- he checked out the price and said “Yikes”, Jason didn’t spend that kind of money on pictures to hang on the walls. We looked over to the side and they had posters available too- for only $12.95! That was more in his price range. He settled on a poster that had multiple different parks on it side by side, and said someday he’d have it framed. Well, he hasn’t. For over 8 years that poster has remained in its original plastic wrapping. After we got married, it found a home in our filing cabinet- and every time we actually work on filing together (which is only around tax season usually) he’ll see it and say “I need to get that framed so I can hang it up”.
The second picture I chose was of the Cliff House. I chose this picture because Jason and I do an urban hike together that starts in Golden Gate Park, whips through the Presidio, takes us along the coast until we get to the Sutro Baths and Cliff House, and then back into Golden Gate Park. We’ve done this hike together several times in the last ten years that we’ve been together, and I’m always REALLY happy to see the Cliff House because it means we’re almost done with the hike (it’s long, and very tiring!). We used to stop here for a bit of a break and check out Musee Mecanique (before it moved to Fisherman’s Wharf), which has a bunch of antique arcade games and the infamous “Laffing Sal”, pictured above. After Musee Mecanique moved, we found a place called the Park Chalet that is nearby where we can stop for a break after our long hike before heading home. Did I mention Park Chalet is a brewery? Yeah, so now seeing Cliff House signifies it’s time for a BEER, which is much needed after hiking for several hours (just ask anyone that we’ve made go on this hike with us).
The fourth picture I chose was the one of Muir Woods. This is actually my favorite out of all of them, and the one I thought he’d like the most too. Not only does it remind me of hiking there with him, but it reminds me of our trips to Yosemite, Tahoe and Big Tree’s together too.
Our evening went like this: Get home, kiddo says "I think we need to water plants". Um okay, you're right. This whole watering thing is fairly new to us this year as we've had rain storms every week since like January (that's NOT normal btw). So, we ventured off into the garden, hose in hand. It only took two minutes before she was hopping into the shower of water, trying to get all wet. I think I said "No Alex, I don't want you to get all wet", or maybe it was "No Alex, stop getting me wet", but then it actually started feeling good. So, we popped off the nozzle head and attached a sprinkler head, and we literally "ran with it".
And she says to me, "Can I help you water the vegetables tomorrow too?" and I want to tell her "Yes! I did this all for you! This garden is yours!" but instead I say "We'll see, it depends on whether you have a good day at school or not." *sigh* It's tough being the parent sometimes.
But the garden is now drenched. I had one heck of a time watering it with her than I would have with out. And it was nice to stop being an adult, for at least 30 minutes.
Not Pictured: Me. Because a 3 year old with a camera PLUS water doesn't mix.
Most of the new additions are pretty small, but they'll fill into the space nicely. My grandparents love to visit the beach (notice the abalone shells), so I tried to add some tropical plants- or at least as tropical as we can get here in Sacramento. My mom and I both dug up some of our canna's to bring over, so they now have four different kinds that will colorfully greet them each summer. I also wanted to add some plants that could break up all of this fence. I bought them a Robertson's naval orange tree because they love to eat oranges (and citrus is kinda my thing...ya know?). I chose Robertson because it is a heavy producer, but is also one of the more compact oranges- so I can keep this tree below 6 feet without any problems. I also chose it because the fruit tends to grow on the outside of the tree- so they wont have to be digging into the tree to find their fruit. Some of the other "taller" additions are two Rose of Sharon 'Sugar Tip' Hibiscus and a 'Syringa Boomerang' Lilac- all which I got from Farmer Fred. Actually, over half of the plants I used for my grandparent's garden I got from Fred, so I really lucked out! Thank you again Fred!
I also added some hardy verbena to form into a nice purple carpet, some salvia grahamii to keep the hummingbirds happy, and autumn joy sedum to feed the bees and the birds.
I put a lot of annuals in the yard to add temporary color until the other plants have a chance to fill in. There are petunias, zinnias, coleus- even a couple tomato plants will provide some nice color. The hardest part of this little day project was the soil. It was horrible! It was full of rocks and chunks of cement. I spent a large part of the day digging their soil out, and replacing it with a much higher quality of soil and some compost. I had planned on using most of the bagged soil I brought to dress up some pots, but I ended up using it all in the beds- the pots can get done another day! I ran drip lines to all of the new plants, then used 5 bags of bark to cover up all of my lines. The final result is 100 times better than how it started. Sure- if I had tons of money I could have done a lot more, but this is perfect for them as it is. I think they were just happy that I came and helped out for the day. 
Sorry, just overly excited about the succession of blooms we're having- especially since all the rain has put a damper on my vegetable garden. I swear, I'll get back to vegetables soon. And not just artichokes.
How about this blue? I couldn't get a decent shot of this- but it's actually purple and blue right now, and it's stunning! I'm really hoping today's storm doesn't knock it over. This is Larkspur 'Chorus Violet'.
Coreopsis 'Early Sunrise'
Marigolds....
An occasional Rudbeckia bloom here and there, it's a bit early for them though....
Another Bachelor Button....
Our first daylily bloom of the year, a yellow one that I don't know the name of.
Jupiter's Beard....
I believe this is Cheiranthus x allionii "Siberian Wallflower". I really need to do a better job at remembering all of the names of my plants.
Watsonia 'Raspberry Delight' (I think?! I have two- and can never remember which is which!)
The Meyer lemon tree is still covered in blooms.......
A Kangaroo Paw is just about to bloom...if my neighbors ivy doesn't smother it to death beforehand.....
Achillea
When we bought our house it had about 100 rose bushes surrounding the whole perimeter. I ripped them all out. This one comes back every year, despite me hacking away at it with a shovel. Because of its persistent nature, I've decided to let it stay, since it seems to be almost as stubborn as me. I don't know what kind it is though.
Oh- thanks to the rain, we still have lettuce! Normally it's bolting at this point from prolonged periods of heat. Since we're experiencing weather we should be having in March, the lettuce gets a longer season.
I think that's all I'll show for now. Guess I should save some of my hodge podge garden to show you next week :)
What I'm struggling with is trying to find a nice mix of plants to fill in the space- that I can afford! Sure, it's easy to stick in a bunch of cheap annuals to brighten up the space- but they'll die! And we'd be right back to this in a few months.....
I'm also going to be adding some edibles to the space. I got a few extra tomato plants from kiddo's school garden project, along with a lemon cucumber plant, and I'm thinking they could use some herbs too.... basil, rosemary, maybe a sage.... 
So, my question to you would be: what do I do? If you had limited funds, how would you go about sprucing it up? Keep in mind it should be low maintenance, and there is a drip system in this space that I easily manage the watering with. Any ideas are welcome! (Pictures are courtesy of my mom- Thanks mom!)
May 19th, 2009 we started with having a bunch of old trees removed. Before you bash me for having trees removed, you have to understand they were 60 year old Modesto Ash trees, heavily infested with mistle toe. Modesto Ash have a lifespan of 50 years, their time was over.
This was all of the lawn I used to have. Now, keep in mind, this is only my side yard. For those of you who are lawn lovers, I still have plenty! But this entire section is now gone. And I don't miss it.
Last fall we started with having the fence built, and the 10 feet on the outside of the fence had its lawn removed. Thanks to neighborhood CCR's, this is where I had to put my fence, and this is as tall as my fence could be. Last fall I put in a bunch of plants out here, along with six citrus trees. This picture was taken December 7th, 2009, after we got snow. In Sacramento. Yes, I know my Christmas light/sheet covered citrus trees are ugly to look at from the road, but they MADE IT. They are all still alive! It's worth it to me to have a few neighbors turn their noses up at me in order to save these trees. Not many of the other plants I planted in this section made it.
Here we're at March 21st, 2010. You might recognize this picture from my Ugly Garden post. This is still much more prettier than the lawn I had before. This is what we jokingly referred to as Xeriscaping. It has changed quite a bit over the past two months.
It's now May 23rd, 2010. No more lawn, no more plain dirt. Our garden is started. It has a long ways to go before it is the picture that I have in my head, but gosh darn it I am so proud of it! This used to be several thousand square feet of lawn that we never walked on....but now....
now we have Tomato Alley.... where you will find several varieties of tomatoes that should last us through the summer- such as Great White, Black Krim, Mr. Stripey, Black Cherry, and Japanese Black Trifele. The tomatoes are mixed in with various peppers and herbs- like sage, cilantro, tons of basil (can you ever have too much basil?), cumin, and black sesame.
And on the street side the citrus are doing awesome. Here we have Chandler pummelo, Yosemite Gold mandarin, Owari Satsuma mandarin, Red Rio grapefruit, Midknight Valencia orange, and a Bearss lime. Plant-wise we'll have year round color- starting with the citrus in the winter, followed by the poppies, daffodils, lavender, and irises in the spring, with a variety of coneflowers, gaillardia, achillea, sedum, and salvia's taking us from summer to fall.
The biggest reward would be that we're actually enjoying the space now. We never even walked over to this side of the yard before, we just kind of ignored it. Now, we come out here every evening. I think we'll enjoy it more once we install french doors on this side of the house (now we have to walk around the house to get here), and I think it will look much nicer once we install the patio and walkways (I mulched them as a temporary measure). Arbors over the gates covered in climbing roses will help add some vertical height, as will the Garden Prince almond tree, the Fuji apple, and the two pomegranate trees that are also planted in here. But, if I finished all of that now, what would I have to work on in 2011?
