Increasing Drainage

I was reading another blog today, and came across the advice to put gravel at the bottom of a planting hole to increase drainage. It makes sense–gravel has better drainage then clay, so put it at the bottom of a hole and its gotta help.

Well several soil classes, and a job at the extension service have taught me differently. It’s doesn’t help at all: it makes it worse. I’m now going to explain the science behind it. If you want to just trust me you can stop reading.

Soil texture refers to the size of soil particles. Clay particles are small, sand particles are large. Usually, across a soil profile there is little difference, or a very gradual difference in soil texture.

Now move into an urban soil. We disrupt it so much, many times there are drastic changes in the soil texture. That drastic change is made when we put gravel at the bottom of a planting hole. When there is a change in soil texture like that, and you procede to put water on it, an interesting thing happens. Say you have a clay soil, and then a layer of gravel. Instead of the water draining into the gravel, it collects in the layer of soil until all the pore space is filled with water. The water collects in the clay, not drains in the gravel. Once it does spill over into the gravel layer, the gravel layer also will collect water until all the pore space is filled with water before spilling out to the next layer of soil.

Confusing?

To get a better idea, imagine a sponge next to anything that isn’t a sponge. You put water on it, and it doesn’t start draining until it is absolutely full. Same concept with soil: the gravel acts as a sponge.

There are ways to get better drainage, and gravel is usually involved. The key is to allow drainage from the gravel layer, usually by a piper or other method. This site has some good illustrations.

Book Review: Temple Square Gardening

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Temple Square Gardening

I read this book a while ago, and really quite enjoyed it.

I’ll give a little bit of background behind Temple Square. It’s in the center of Salt Lake City, and refers to the area surrounding the Salt Lake Temple belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Most of the gardens are roof top gardens and raised bed areas. They are most known for their annual flower beds. This book is the best that I know of to learn more about annual flower bed design. No longer do you have to place annual flowers randomly in a bed–they have a simple method to make beds look spectacular.

The method first involves the use of a skeleton, taller plants that follow a curve. Next are the accent plants that flesh out the design curve, these are less upright, but still prominent annuals. The bed is then filled with lower ground cover type plants. Finnally, sparkle plants can add a little extra interest.

If you love annual flower beds, or need more information on raised gardens, this is a great book to turn to.

Snowshoeing, Christmas

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Winter has come with full force. A couple weeks ago we went snowshoeing up Card canyon with Dillon and Heather. Peter came along and did wonderfully–slept most of the time. It was a nice easy trail, none of the steep slopes and dangerous descents that I’ve been on before. I don’t think Peter would have liked that.

Christmas was wonderful–although I had a massive headache on that day. I received lots of fun presents, and I think everyone liked what I gave them. Favorite presents include a salad shooter from my mom (I don’t have to grate cheese by hand! I hate grating cheese), and a way cute watch from my sister-in-law. I gave Joe a ukulele, and he seems to enjoy it. I bought Peter a new church outfit for Christmas, and here he is all spiffied up with his Dad.

Very handsome men if you ask me. I’ve putting in a video of Peter playing–he waves at the end. I’m not kidding.

Peter Play

Congratulations

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Joe graduated this semester. I’m very happy and proud of him. I know too many people who take way too long to get through school–but my husband is done with his Bachelor’s. We are planning on going to grad school in the summer or fall so Joe can be a physical therapist. All done applying to schools, just waiting to here back.

Joe also has a new job working grave at Icon doing assembly line. Not the most exciting–but he’ll make good money and it will only be for a few months. Peter had his two month shots and did wonderfully. He is also  starting to sleep at night better. Only woke up once last night to feed him. He is crying less, smiling more and still growing tons.

Christmas Time is Here

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It’s been a great week. We put up our Christmas tree, outdoor lights, and wrapped presents. The next day we had a ton of snow, so its beginning to feel a lot like Christmas. On Sunday, Peter was blessed by his Dad. It was a very sweet experience. Afterwards, we packed our apartment with all the relatives. I wasn’t quite sure we could fit everyone, but it worked out pretty well.

Peter is happier and less fussy, which means I have more time on my hands and I’m not so much on edge. He also is sleeping not too bad at night–I’ve gone from getting up three times to getting up twice. The best thing is he recognizes me and smiles at me. I love the fact that he calms down and cheers up for me.

Smiles

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Peter is smiling at us. In the mornings, after he wakes up and eats, I’ll lay him down on the floor and he kicks and moves his arms and is just as happy as can be. It was where I got the first really good smile from him.

Working…

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This is from an article about crazy google interview questions. I figured this out.

You have eight balls all of the same size… …7 of them weigh the same, and one of them weighs slightly more. How can you find the ball that is heavier by using a balance and only two weighings?

Have fun.

So I was thinking this morning, and realized something. The harder you work, the easier things get. For instance–if you study hard for a test, the test is easy. And if you put your laundry away right after it’s done, you don’t have to later iron. Anyway–it made me motivated to do better.

We went up to my Grandparents yesterday and had lots of fun. Peoa is always a fun visit.

This morning, I was feeding Peter at 6:00, hoping he would go back to sleep. Instead he decided to poop a ton. I went to change him–and he went so much it had escaped his diaper. I decided the onsie was a goner, so instead of pulling it over his head and getting poop all over baby, I cut it off. I finally got him cleaned up and in new clothes. He was quite awake by this time, and as I was playing with him he spit up quite a bit all over his new clothes. I decided just to give him a bath. After that and a lot of time with the binky, he did go back asleep.

Revamp This Garden

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The season is winding down. My vegetable garden was cleaned up over a month ago, and I have had little to do gardening wise. Lately, I have been thinking a lot about design, and brainstorming of ways to improve the gardens of houses in my area. I currently rent the upstairs of a house with a much neglected yard. One of the first things that I did when I moved in was evaluated the situation. Here’s the current landscape:

Like much of the landscapes in my yard it has a total of three plant–Kentucky bluegrass, Tam juniper, and a Norway maple. Definite room for improvement. There isn’t a lot of space, but I’m sure I could do better than what’s there.

You can’t see it in this picture, but the maple has been pruned (and not with great care) to make way for traffic going up the side alley, and power lines above. It is a horrible looking tree. The junipers have been neglected, and are out of place. Both the tree and junipers need to go. The lawn has been horribly neglected. Any semblenance of rountine mainteance doesn’t exist for the lawn, besides regular mowing. It needs a dose of lawn weedkiller first, and then reseeding to help the bare spots. To help prevent it from returning to the sad state it is in, it needs better irrigation. But the lawn is too small to serve any useful purpose. I think it should go too.

Now with a bare slate, this small garden can be filed with plants. All of it could be transformed with variety of perennials, dwarf shrubs, ornamental grasses and a small ornamental tree. In many gardens, I think that owners hold on to what is there too long. Getting rid of what’s there and staring over can seem a little daunting, but it can be done in phases. Its much easier to deal with new plants in the right place, than old diseased plants that just don’t fit.

Pictures

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Peter is getting fat, I’m getting used to disjointed sleep, and the warm November is absolutely amazing. Here’s the pictures my sister took for me:

Good Things in my Life

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A lovely baby who had his first bath today. He liked it better than a sponge bath.

A baby who is growing. He was 9 lbs 1 oz and 22.5 inches at the doctors office yesterday.

Fitting into my pre-pregnancy pants and losing my stomach two weeks after giving birth.

No longer being pregnant and being tired no longer how long I slept, itching and being unable to tie my shoes.

Not having to go to work.

Afternoon naps, and walks in the beautiful fall weather. Except it snowed today, so the walks might end.

Visits from Grandma–who absolutely loves Peter and provides dinner.

Space heaters for the drafty apartment.

A husband who works long hours, goes to school, all with no complaining and a kiss for his wife and son. I’m lucky to have him so I can be home. He’s amazing.