Analyzing your site

Here is a good example of the importance of analyzing the conditions of a site before detemining a design.  This apartment building had a badly designed patio area.  The area has no shade from about 10 AM until evening.  On the other side of the fence is the lane and two apartment buildings.  Across the lawn, about 40' away, is the south side of a ten storey concrete apartment building.  Directly facing this patio at ground level are large windowed bedrooms of a suite, without privacy screening.  In fact, we were the only people who ever sat in the two chairs provided on the patio.

Before

As with many apartment buildings, the garden area is actually a rooftop garden, over the parkade. Unfortunately, the original landscape design allowed for very little soil, and the depth of the soil is 4"- 7".  The design did not seem to have included drainage.  Most of the garden is a bog.




The surface of the patio is mud covered with a thin layer of non-compactible gravel. The entrance to the patio is either across the boggy lawn, or slaloming through the half barrels sunk into the patio surface.  The arbour built over the patio remains empty because there is nowhere to grow vines around the base of the arbour posts.

In summary, we have a shadeless, full sun, uneven surfaced, viewless patio.  Attempts have been made to green the patio with herbs and Roses and Hypericum:  random plantings in random containers.

Install Day, April 2012

We, The Cultivated Gardeners, were asked to design an alternative to the unused patio.  

After

Our first consideration was compiling a list of full sun bog plants.  Secondly, we removed the rocks and mud, and replaced that with healthy, organic soil.  Carpenters fixing the fence had already removed the arbour.  Then we created a design using complementary plants, and focusing on textures, repetition, and all season interest.  We also threw in some blueberries and garlic, and a tomato plant grew from the compost in the soil mix.

April 2013

Ironically, within months of us installing this new garden, the strata owners wanted a seating area to enjoy their beautiful garden.

Rain Gardens vs. Swales

I am researching rain gardens for a new garden design.  The clients live in Richmond, and have a high water table--inches below the surface of their lawn.  They have asked me to design a garden with a rain garden feature, that would tie into a drain.

I have been pondering how to design a rain garden when water frequently sits close to the surface.  If there is no drain, the rain garden will be a pond for most of the winter months.  If there is a drain, where should it be located to be effective?

Rain Garden

Part of my research has been to define the term rain garden.  In fact, a rain garden is a planted garden that holds water for, ideally, no more than 48 hours.  A rain garden may look no different than the rest of the garden, but the soil could be boggy at rainy times of the year.

Dry River Bed

Construction of bioswales on
Blenheim Street, Vancouver

The photographs my clients sent me of their favourite gardens are in fact dry river beds. Dry river beds are not planted, and they may or may not have a lining.  If a dry river bed has a lining, it is designed to move water.  If a dry river bed does not have a lining, it is designed to absorb water, and may have a French drain beneath, which moves water.  A dry river bed should be located at a lower grade than the rest of the garden.






A swale slows the pace of water down a slope. In Vancouver, there are a series of swales on Blenheim street.  Before these were installed, rainfall was channeled down the hill and into drains strategically placed by the road side. Now, the water is channeled into curb breaks, and collects in the swale with much of the water absorbing into the ground.  If too much water is channeled through the curb break at one time, a catch basin at the end of the swale stops the water from flowing over the sidewalk and back onto the street.  The catch basin is higher than the bottom of the swale.  If the catch basin was placed at the bottom of the swale, water would simply collect in that and be swept into the ocean.  The bottom of the swale should be designed with pervious soils to allow water to be absorbed into the ground.

Resist the Annuals! (for a couple of weeks)

Fibrous Begonia

This weekend's weather forecast for Vancouver promises the beautiful sunshine we have all been waiting for throughout the first half of our cool, rainy spring.   The garden centres are packed with gorgeous reds, yellows, pinks, and blues of spring annuals.  

Yesterday I visited a garden centre to buy some Seasoil for a planter, and I could not resist wandering the aisles looking at all the bright, cheery flowers, especially festive on such a sunny day.  I started pondering what annuals would complement the new garden we installed at our parents' home, but I stopped myself.

Professional gardeners follow a rule in the Lower Mainland to not plant annuals until the Victoria Day weekend.  This date is considered the safe date after which temperatures won't suddenly dip, and the annuals will be set back.  An easy way to gage planting annuals is to wait until the municipal summer annuals are installed in parks and focal areas of municipalities.

Annuals are grown in greenhouses, protected from the elements.  If we put them out in our gardens too soon, the annuals may not die, but they may spend a lot of energy fighting to survive;  energy that they could be using to bloom had they stayed in a protected environment a little longer.

This weekend we are also expecting record breaking heat temperatures which are not predicted to last.  We do not want to scald or fry any new plantings, so try to resist buying annuals this weekend.  

If you want to be outdoors, spend the time working your composter, and separating out the usable compost.  Weed parts of the garden.  Check your plants' health and happiness.  Do a sun/shade analysis of your garden to see how the big plants have grown and affected other plants in the garden.  Basically, fosick about and get reacquainted with your garden.