But it could start in my mail box. Checks in the Mail! In the long run it would also fill my wallet and complete a number of project$ that I've had to leave on hold for lack of expensive pieces or trim - or costly assistance in doing the task.....

You are The Wheel of Fortune

Good fortune and happiness but sometimes a species of intoxication with success

The Wheel of Fortune is all about big things, luck, change, fortune. Almost always good fortune. You are lucky in all things that you do and happy with the things that come to you. Be careful that success does not go to your head however. Sometimes luck can change.


IF you are curious about which card you are, go here:
www.flarn.com/~warlock/tarot/

Ok. So I celebrated a call back from the casting agency in SanFrancisco (and possibly dulled a bit of anxiety over a day of job interviews and skill testing) with a sherry glass (yes, it holds about two ounces) of elderberry wine (made by HoneyRun without added sulfites - or arsenic) and what I’m thinking about isn’t the run down to San Francisco in Monday for what is most likely going to seem more like a tryout for American Idol than an actual audition. No. What I’m thinking about is the cross section view of the soil in my front yard and possible strategies for dealing with the problems it presents…
Historically, at least part of the block I live on was a “town dump”. One neighbor tells me he has 18th century bottles boiling up from the seasonal mud in his back yard.

I have old auto parts.
But the topsoil is beautiful! Makes the farmer in me itch to plant. Of course, I’m profoundly satisfied when I drive I-5 down through the Imperial Valley all that planted farmland. That I am also irritated at how poorly the land seems to be managed is secondary. The plowing and planting and harvest, fallow times and full; the orchards, neatly spaced and productive – these things fill my soul with peace.
So when I bought land I attempted to create that in my own front yard.
The first attempt failed – I really wasn’t totally to blame. Serpentine clay and a lack of water in the summer were part of the problem.
So with the new house, I get to try again. I worry about chlorinated water, of course – won’t drink it or use it in cooking, rather feel it’s unhealthy to bathe in but I can’t afford the household filter yet.
Looking at the soil as the basic indicator of gardening success, I was delighted that this whole area is deep rich dark soil. It inspired me to plant things when I looked into the sewer and water trenches last May. Lovely moist black earth, fragrant, worm friendly… The original settlers here planted grapes and figs; there are ancient Cherokee plums (likely a native species, they tend to red foliage) and other fruit trees that have thrived in this neighborhood.
So. I want an orchard with flowers, artichokes and asparagus, grapes, roses, a lilac (not so sure about the ever present hydrangea) fuchsias, daffies, tulips (no deer to eat them this time!).
The property is on a slight slope. Yes, it drains quickly, but there are standing puddles every time it rains.
Makes it hard to walk around out there. Makes a mess of the floors when you come in...
The problem is that some wise soul, who owned this property before I arrived, had chosen to deal with the winter mud that dominates the landscape and the life style between December and April ( seasonal rainfall is a major issue all along the Pacific Coast, regardless of season) by dumping tons of unwashed river gravel on the surface.

Local serpentine mud, when mixed with gravel, becomes very much like concrete aggregate when it’s dry. Doesn’t stay that way when it’s wet, but it required a mattock to dig a hole through it after the soil is softened with sufficient water.
Below the 4 to 6 inch deep layer of gravel is that lovely black soil, compressed and wormless, almost dead.
The thoughts that occupy my mind at the moment are ones on how to deal with that damned layer of gravel and clay without totally digging up the entire front yard.
My strategy has been to drill wide and deep, dig a ten-dollar hole, so to speak, and get well below the gravel into the nice, if inert, soil. Then I back fill the hole with potting soil nearly to the surface of the mound made by the diggings and plant the tree, shrub, vine in that place – a flower pot with an open bottom. In the time it takes the tree to root deeply into the soil under the gravel, that earth should be oxygenated and impacted by the soil microbes that are added to potting soil and the humic acid I add to the fish and seaweed emulsion I feed my plants.
I trenched out about five bags worth of potting soil along the front path – there I’m planting primroses and bulbs, tubers and rhizomes.
At other side of the front yard, there is little of the gravel strata, more of the lovely dark soil.
Lots of big yellow night crawlers.
I think I’ll be planting more worms, too – around the trees and in the trench that I’ve dug through the gravel.
At the moment though, recent rains have left me with a need for patience.
Costco was selling four packs of grapes. Two Concords and two Niagras (white Concords).
I’m such a sucker! But it was only $17, which is less than I’ll pay for one bare root apple tree.
So now I have to keep the dears alive until the soil dries up enough that I can not only start, but finish, a hole for each of them.
I guess it’s grapes instead of a passiflora at the front of the walk… Two holes needed there.
If I plant in the back, the soil there may have abundant blackberries, peppermint and broken glass (pottery too, but it’s all modern), rusty nails and the like, but there isn’t much in the way of gravel. I guess this part was used as a garden by earlier residents.
I can put two grapes back there. Quite a lot of sun, decent soil…
This could be fun.

I admit the thought sparks my exuberance
should a visit include your Protruberance
Which is not to say You
are not welcome, too
as you are Very Good with the Lubricants.




Photo: Concept by Charles Papavoine 1987
Art Unlimited, Postbus 1760, 1000 BT Amsterdam