Most all the plants and trees are planted!

Mulch is dirty work

Spreading Mulch is such a dirty job but I managed to spread 4" thick over the kraft paper. Now for planting and installing drip irrigation.

Kraft Paper

I do not recommend laying paper on a windy day - we got lucky and the winds died down for us. After laying the paper to smother the lawn we pour all that free mulch I acquired. In each of the holes cut out for plants I put newspaper 8 pages thick to ensure grass does not escape.

Lets keep going

I laid weed barrier down around the edged of the entire lawn area. This will ensure that the grass gets smothered and does not escape. The rest will be layered with 3 layers of Kraft paper so the grass is smothered but the moisture can still get down to that hard ass clay.

Rocks, Rocks and more Rocks

Robert carried all the rocks we had in the back yard to the front yard and placed them as a retaining wall. We then laid mulch 4" thick.

Plants that have been ordered

Ground Cover

• Veronica Oltensis 'Thyme' Slow growing Blue early Spring blooms 1" x 24"
• Alyssum Montamum 'Creeping Basket of Gold' Yellow Spring Blooms 4"x15"
• Zinnia grandflora 'Prairie Zinnia' Yellow late Summer blooms 4"x15" 2 pots
  
• Cerastium tomentosum 'Snow in Summer' 6"x12" 3 pots
  
• Oenothera fremontii 'Shimmer' Yellow late Spring flowers 10"x12"

Tall Plants

• Chilopsis Linear Monhews 'Timeless Beauty' Purple Summer Blooms 12'-18'x8'-15'
• Miscanthus 'Maiden hair Grass' 6'x3'
• Asclepias Physocarpa 'Family Jewels tree'MidSummer White blooms 6'x4' (Died)
• Cercis occidentalis 'Western Rose Bud' Fuscia Spring Blooms 10'x10
• Isomeris Aborea 'Bladderpod' year round yellow flowers 5'x5' (Died)
  

Medium Plants

• Rhus 'Gro Low' yellow late Spring blooms Fall color leaves 3'x8' 8 pots
• Camassia Leichtinii 'Blue Danube' 6 bulbs Blue late Spring blooms 3'x4'
• Caryopteris ciandonenisi 'Blue Mist' Blue Summer blooms 4'x4
• Calamagrostis acuflora 'Karl Foerster' Summer reed grass blooms 4'x24"
• Elytrigia elongata 'Jose Select' Reed Grass early Summer 4'x18'
• Helictotrichon sempervirens 'Blue Avena Grass' Summer 4'x2'
• Calamagrostis 'Overdam' Reed Grass Summer 4'x15"
• Muhlenbergia Capillaris 'Pink Muhly Grass' 3'x4'
  
• Dasylirion Wheeleri 4'x4'
• Phylica Pubescens Yellow Fall and Winter blooms 3'x3'

Small Plants

• Rosemarinus officinalis 'Irene' Purple late Spring thru fall flowers 12"x4'
• Achillea 'Paprika' Paprika Yarrow Summer bloom 24"x30"
• Geum Triflorium 'Praire Smoke' Summer Purple 15"x18"
• Solidago sphacelata 'Golden Fleece' Dwarf Goldenrod Yellow Summer & Fall 15"x24" 2 pots
• Ceratostigma plumbaginoides 'Hardy Plumbago' Blue Fall bloom 6"x18" 3 pots
• Artemisia 'Powis Castle' Silver Sage 36"x30" transplant 2 pots
• Marrubium rotundifolium Silver Edged Horehound 10"x18"
• Achillea Moonshine Yarrow Yellow Summer blooms 18"x24" 3 pots
• Santolina chamaecyparissus Gray Santolina was transplanted from the back yard - transplants easy
  
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Now we can begin

First I put weed fabric along the area's that would be difficult to put paper due to the slop and curve. We then laid Kraft paper down (3 layers).

Day Three

Day Three:
Abandon idea of removing sod and decide to keep lawn but smother it will layers of paper. First Job - Digging holes where future plants will live - next - cutting out the retaining wall at the bottom of the lawn area. This is back breaking work. Clay - gotta love it!


The black plastic bags you see in the photo are filled with mulch that I acquired for free using Craigslist.com

Day Two

Day Two:

Turning over the sod
- two time consuming and made the ground lumpy
on to Plan C

Day One:

We begin by removing sod. The clay in Pittsburg, CA is so hard that we can't
shake the dirt off each piece of sod easily....this small patch took all day - On to Plan B

The begining of Transformation

November 2009
Rain has fallen and the "dead" grass is growing back. I must move fast!

My beautiful yard before the drought

This is my beautiful yard before we had to cut back on the amount of water we use.