By Jim McCausland, Sunset Magazine

Rock work can be daunting. What size rocks do you need for landscape construction, for example—and how big a rock can you handle by yourself? The chart below shows coverage and recommended sizes to make a wall. Your experience, strength, and equipment determine how heavy a rock you can safely handle.

For big jobs (walls over 4 feet tall) or anything larger than one-man rock, get professional help and advice. But there are lots of jobs even novices can handle well. Start with something simple, like edging a gravel path in stone.

Because rock is handled in bulk and sold by the ton, every load contains individual rocks that are well above and below the size you paid for. That isn't a bad thing, since larger rocks go on the bottom, and smaller ones on top and in the spaces between larger rocks.

For a given volume, rock weight also varies greatly (think of the differences between pumice and granite, for example). But the chart below, based on rock from Lynch Creek Quarry in Puyallup, Washington, gives useful averages. Among landscapers, the definitions of one-man, two-man, and three-man rock will skew toward the high side of the weights shown here.

 

From looking at the chart, it's clear that most of us won't be picking up a 250 pound rock any time soon, so "one-man rock" must mean something else, and indeed it does: it's the size rock one person can move into place with a 6- to 8-foot pry bar. The lever is a beautiful thing when it comes to moving rocks around—one that makes you feel considerably stronger than you are. Use it to help roll big rocks along, or to lever them into position.

A two-wheeled garden cart can move rocks better than a wheelbarrow, whose high center of gravity and single wheel makes it unstable and tipsy.

A hand truck (the kind you use to move furniture) is good for one or two heavy rocks, since it has a very low center of gravity. Some tool yards rent a variation on this called a ball cart or basket dolly. It lies flat for loading, then is picked up by the handles and pushed.

Stone sleds were once used for commercial construction, but they have long since been replaced by trucks and heavy equipment. But you can use a snow sled covered by a piece of plywood to accomplish the same thing, dragging it along with heavy nylon rope (but beware: it tears up lawns).

An ancient Egyptian method also works well. Put down parallel rows of poles or pipes, set a plank or square of thick plywood on top of that, and put the heavy rock on top of that. Then you can roll the stone over the poles; it's especially useful in the construction of pyramids.

By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

There are few lavender farms in Southern California you can even visit, but between late June and the end of July you can not only visit New Oak Ranch in Ojai, California, you can harvest bundles of lavender stems for about what you'd pay for a frappuccino -- $5 for as much as you can stuff into an 8-inch twist-tie. The owners, Bill and Karen Evender provide shears and ties; you the labor, if you can call it that.  

 Even if you're not a crafter, it's a fun thing to do.  It gives you an excuse to plant yourself smack in the middle of 5,000 lavender plants and inhale for all you are worth.

To make the most of the day, pick up picnic supplies in Ojai first and have lunch at the Ranch; there's plenty of shade under the walnut trees. 

And take home some of the Ranch's products.  I recommend the lavender water.  It's lovely sprayed on your pillow just before you go to bed.  Or, if you are as domestic as Martha Stewart, sprayed on your linens before you iron them.  Not much chance of that happening in my house.

For day, hours, and directions, see their website.

By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

Candle lanterns like the one shown below look simple enough to figure out without instructions.  But why waste time blundering through it?  Willi Galloway shows how to turn old jars into candle lanterns step by step on her blog, DigginFood.  She's come up with some pretty embellishments, too.

* * *

I check in reguarly with Barbara E. at Wild Suburbia because she's way ahead of me in her adventure with California native plants, and I inevitably learn a lot.

Her blog entry on Native Grasses, Sedges, and Rush for the Garden, for instance, is practically a thesis. 

I like her photography, too.

Finally, even though other garden bloggers have linked to it, we wouldn't want you to miss Owen Dell (that's him hamming it up below) and BIlly Goodnik of The Garden Wise Guys rocking out on their video, Taking Out the Grass is a Gas on YouTube.

By Jim McCausland, Sunset Magazine

 

When I visited Karen & Dwight Sigworth’s Portland garden last week, I was awed by the greenhouse, which happened to be fitted with a recycled door and windows (see them in last Wednesday’s blog).

But those weren’t the only recycled pieces in the garden. The Sigworths’ ivy-covered garden wall also has a built-in recycled door and windows (top), and their woodshed (bottom) has more recycled windows—windows without walls. See a trend here?

You can see Sigworths’ garden yourself tomorrow on the Seeding Our Future garden tour, sponsored by the Foundation for Tigard Tualatin Schools.

 By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

Buy this new striped Mandevilla developed by Suntory Flowers Limited and tuck in some dark blue lobelia around the rim of the pot, and you've got a Fourth of July theme. How easy is that?  In Southern California you're most likely to find 'Stars & Stripes' at Armstrong Garden Centers.

Another fun idea for the Fourth from Sunset.  How-to details here.

By Jim McCausland, Sunset Magazine

 

Two excellent Oregon garden tours are coming up this weekend, both in the Portland area, and both full of splendid gardens. I previewed each of them last week, and came home with a wealth of great garden ideas.

The Seeding Our Future garden tour, sponsored by the Foundation for Tigard Tualatin Schools, runs Saturday from 10 to 4, and includes the widest range of gardens, from suburban gems to estates. Take this to see what may be the most beautiful garden greenhouse ever (pictured above), a thoughtfully designed Asian fusion garden by Paul Taylor, and a look at Bella Madrona (right), which for decades has been a very hot ticket among knowing gardeners.

There are six gardens total (four without lawns!), each with remarkable features, and an art show at Tigard High School. You can get into the art show free (it's on Friday), but you'll need a $20 ticket to visit the gardens. Go to the web site for more information.

The Association of Northwest Landscape Designers (ANLD) presents eleven gardens from 10 to 4 Saturday only, also for the price of a $20 ticket. Most of the entries are suburban gardens on city lots of all sizes, and taken together they show how you can master steep sites, corner lots, water restrictions, close neighbors, and more. Tickets were almost gone last time I checked, so if you want to join in, go to ANLD's web site fast.

By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

Dustin Gimbel, owner of Second Nature Garden Design, gardens mostly in containers by necessity.  (See yesterday's post below).  But Dustin doesn't limit himself to nursery pots.  Anything that will hold a few scoops of dirt is fair game.

These industrial-chic containers, for instance, are inexpensive metal storage bins from IKEA.  The fact they aren't very porous is actually an advantage in this hot roof-top situation, says Dustin.

 The handsome boxes below are alley finds Dustin rescued.  From the lettering you can still read on a few of them he believes they were old machine shop tool bins.  Because Dustin didn't want to drill holes in such handsome pieces, he filled them with a sharp potting soil and planted them with succulents, which don't require a lot of water.

And, finally, can you guess what these are?  Palm fronds in the streets after a high wind are a common occurrence in Southern California.  Dustin is rescuing them, too, and making what he calls "rafts" out of the sheaths.

What about you?  Are you planting in a container that would surprise us?  Send us a photo.

By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

You don't have to own land to enjoy plants, as Dustin Gimbel and Gary Putnam prove below.  The pad the two roommates share is just off Main Street in Seal Beach, California.  It's the town's oldest and most popular retail area.  Their place is tucked back between two-story retail buildings.  All you see from the front is a number and a gate.  Not exactly where you expect to find a garden.  I scratched my head, rechecked my address, and thought this can't be right.

As soon as you open the gate, though, there's evidence of garden -- plants spilling off walls, and pots lined up all along one side.  But it doesn't prepare you for the explosion of potted plants that greet you once you move into the central courtyard.  In fact, the only way you can really take in how much Gary and Dustin  packed into this little square is to show you what it looks like from the roof.   (That gray curtain that divides the space into foyer and living room, by the way, is Spanish moss draped over wire.)

Now for many people this would be enough.  But Gary wanted to grow tomatoes.  Not enough sun in the courtyard, not to mention room.  And Dustin, the owner of Second Nature Garden Design, needed more space to try out new plants.   Only one place to go -- the roof.  So they did.

And, to show just what dedicated gardeners these two are, here's how they access that roof.  You get used to climbing up that bouncy ladder, Dustin claims.  But it makes your heart thump a little the first time, that I know.  Kind of fun up there, though.

How about you?  Do you garden some place most people wouldn't think possible?  Tell us about it.  Even better, send photos.

By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

The Pacific Horticulture Symposium, "Gardening Under Mediterranean Skies VII: Lessons in Sustainable Gardening" set for Sept. 26-27 in Santa Barbara, California sold out a few days after it was posted.   If you missed out, you have another chance.  The same symposium will be repeated on October 3-4.

Here's what the package includes:

Saturday, Oct. 3:  continental breakfast and morning lecture at the Hotel Mar Monte, docent-lead tour and al fresco luncheon at spectacular Lotusland, (see photos below for a sneak preview) tour of a Susan Van Atta designed garden, and finally twlight tour and wine reception at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden.

Both photos above by Bill Dewey

Sunday:  continental breakfast, again at the Hotel Mar Monte, followed by tours of four private gardens designed by such well-known landscape architects such as Isabelle Greene and Lynn Woodbury.

There is also a bonus Friday night lecture.  Owen Dell will be speaking on "Sustainable Landscaping: A Visionary Look at the Future of Gardens".  Dell is the author of Sustainable Landscaping for Dummies which we reviewed on Fresh Dirt recently. 

If you sign up before September 1, the fee for the whole package is $320, which includes a one-year subscription to Pacific Horticulture magazine.  If you already a subscriber or are a member of either the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden or the Mediterranean Garden Society, your early registration fee is discounted to $295.   After September 1, add $50 to those figures.

Sounds like a lot of education and entertainment for the price.  The Hotel Mar Monte are offering discounted rates for Symposium members, which helps, too.

I think I've just talked myself into going.

For a registration form, email medskies@SDHortSoc.org or call (760) 295-2173.

By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

Johanna Silver, Sunset's test garden coordinator, writes about her experience growing garbanzo beans  on Our One Block Diet blog. It's her first time -- it would be mine, too -- and she is soliciting feedback. 

Take a look and add your expertise.