What have we done? Part 2

The back yard is where we've done most of our gardening so far. I'll start at the house and move back.

The back of the house has two large windows, and below each one there are three hydrangea plants that are not on the drip system. They are doing really well though. Last summer they were covered in blooms, and in the late winter when they were completely bare, we cut each branch back about halfway down. Now in late May, they are full and green again, with many proto-blooms developing. We recently planted a fourth hydrangea in the right-side planting area.

On the west side of the patio, along the fence there's a planting area served by the drip system that originally had a huge clump of native flowering plants; we didn't like that they were taking over the whole area, so I pulled them all out. That area also had a colony of bulb plants that produced large yellow flowers with frilly petals. The flowers were similar to an iris, but the stalks were large and tubular. I don't know what they were, but they were also taking over, so I recently pulled all of them out as well. That planting area is currently fairly haphazard: we have a couple of succulents (one is aloe) that aren't doing too well (too much water?), and a small gardenia that we planted last fall. Our plan for this area is to get an espalier pear tree attached to the fence. In fact, we ordered one several months ago, but apparently this winter was so wet that the entire supply was destroyed by mold. Maybe next year!

The east side of the patio is not served by the drip system, so it is currently blank, except for our established lime tree. Last winter I pruned the lime tree to improve air circulation among the branches, which should keep pest infestation down and yield better fruit. I was perhaps a bit overzealous with the shears: there are a couple of "holes" in the canopy now! Oh well, the circulation will be excellent :), and the holes will fill back in eventually. I am currently battling a scale infestation on the lime (and the inevitable ant army that follows); more on that in a separate post.

Beyond our deck, where the back yard begins to slope up, we put in a pomegranate tree on the left side (in front of our established lemon tree), and a young Japanese maple on the right, which we received as a gift from our neighbors. We currently have a row of herbs (dill, rosemary, thyme, basil, cilantro, and parsley) along the firs retaining wall on the right.

Moving up the right side, above the second retaining wall there used to be a small red smoke bush that I didn't like at all, so we dug it out. We recently planted four blueberry bushes here in a semicircle, and a persimmon tree at the center of this circle. These plants are having...issues. More on that in a future post.

On the left side, behind the established lemon, we planted an Avocado tree. Most avocados need a male and female tree present to get fruit, but the variety we planted only needs the one tree. This avocado will eventually grow to 14' diameter and height. It's going to be huge! And hopefully give us lots of avocados over the years.

Finally, at the top of the yard we have our vegetable patch behind a wooden gate and wrought-iron railing. This flat area is maybe 10' deep and 20' wide, divided roughly in half by a stone walkway. When we moved in, there was nothing up here except a composting bin, but it is served by three 8-port drip heads (these are Zone 4 in the back yard). Over the winter, I grew snap peas, spinach and carrots. Unfortunately, something (birds?) completely ate the young spinach and carrot plants, but the peas did pretty well, so we got some nitrogen fixed into the soil. In the spring, I removed all of the pea plants, and amended the soil in the planting bed on the east side of the veggie patch (our natural soil is very heavy clay). Now we have started growing several vegetables there (this year we started from plants, not from seed): corn, cherry tomatoes, regular tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, and red onion scattered between the other plants. I installed six 360-degree sprinkler heads to cover this planted area with overlapping spray.

In addition to the veggie patch, we planted 24 strawberry plants in front of the iron railing (on both sides of the gate), along the top of the retaining wall that enables the veggie patch to be flat. We also planted a fig tree up on top, near the back fence. When we planted all of the fruit trees (pomegranate, persimmon, avocado, and fig), I dug oversize holes and amended the heavy soil liberally.