Wednesday Vignette: What a difference 9 months can make

Last November I posted photos of steeply terraced slope I used to pass weekly.  It's on a busy street in the neighborhood I lived in for 20 years, where homes, mostly condos and townhomes, are packed into small lots and garden space is scarce.  When I lived in the area, this particular slope wasn't terraced and, like many of those nearby, it was covered in weeds.  But in 2018, the owner built a 3-tiered retaining wall system and filled the area with fruit trees.  Admittedly, it looked rather stark when I first photographed it.

Here is what in looked like in November 2018, photographed from across the street.  The top tier was planted with fig trees, backed by decorative square frames.  The second tier contained a couple of what I guessed were peach or apricot trees and one humongous tomato plant.  The bottom tier was filled with citrus trees of different kinds and some low-growing herbs.

This week, almost 9 months to the day, I passed through the area again after a long absence and I noticed how different the the terraced slope looked after one year of good rain.  Fire department vehicles passing through forced me to pull over so I decided it was a good opportunity to take more photos.

This is what it looked like on Monday.  All the trees have filled out.  The figs on the top tier have a new espalier support structure.  There are now more fruit trees on the second tier. all of which are espaliered.  The citrus trees on the bottom tier all looked healthy and the rosemary and lavender planted between them is slowly filling in, although it has yet to spill over and soften those walls.  The structure on the upper right has also been spruced up with the addition of wood shingles and a spire topped with a weather vane.

Here's a side-by-side comparison from different angles.

I didn't manage to capture exactly the same angle but both these shots show the structure photographed from the north end looking south.  The 2018 photo is on the left and the 2019 photo is on the right.

These photos (2018 on the left and 2019 on the right) were take from the south side looking north.  The grassy weeds you can see in the distance in the right-hand photo gives you an idea of what this hillside looked like before the area was terraced.  That's the next door neighbor's weedy slope.

I didn't have time to take a lot of close-ups of individual plants but before and after shots of the finger lime tree (Citrus australasica) provide evidence of significant growth over a relatively short period.

2018 photo on the left and 2019 photo of the same plant on the right

Those cement block walls are still austere but, if this growth rate continues, I think the area should be quite attractive in a few years.  It's unlikely we'll get rain on par with last year's in the coming rain year (calculated from October 1st through September 30th) but we can hope and, in any case, this particular fruit tree garden has a drip irrigation system.

For more Wednesday Vignettes, visit Anna at Flutter & Hum.


All material © 2012-2019 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

Terracing a steep slope

Regrettably, this isn't a post on my own back slope, which following the hard hit it took in early July when our temperature reached 110F, is looking uglier than ever.  I took the following photos in my former neighborhood, on a street I pass through each week when I meet friends for lunch.   The retaining walls went in a year or more ago but the area wasn't planted up until this year.  I'd been meaning to stop and snap photos for some time but finally took 15 minutes to do that earlier this week.

This is on a relatively busy residential street, one of main corridors for traffic passing through this neighborhood

The terraced wall has 3 levels, backed by a tall fence behind what I assume is the owner's backyard

I was initially confused as to why the builder omitted grout between the bricks at the base of each tier of the retaining wall before realizing that's probably a strategy to facilitate drainage

I couldn't get close-ups of the trees and plants on the upper tiers of the terraced wall and I was unable to identify most of them, although I believe all are fruit trees.  The 3 trees with wood frames each had wire supports behind them, presumably to espalier the branches as they grow.

I'm assuming this is a fig tree and I'm guessing the other 2 framed trees are also figs of some kind.  The trunks of all 3 were painted white to prevent the cracking and splitting that can allow insects and disease to infect fruit trees.

In addition to this tomato plant, the second tier appeared to have peach and/or apricot trees, as well as another tree I couldn't even make a guess at identifying

The only area I could examine closely was the lowest one.  It featured a wide variety of citrus trees, all neatly labeled.  Herbs, including thyme, rosemary and lavender, were planted between the trees.  A discrete drip system was in place too.

Top row: Meyer and Eureka lemons and a Bearrs lime
Middle row: Key, Finger and Kaffir limes
Bottom row: Cara Cara orange and Yuzu, a hybrid Japanese citrus tree

It's my dream to have something like this in place on my back slope but, as access to that area is very limited, I can't imagine being able to bring in the equipment or materials necessary to create a wall like this, at least one that I could afford.  Still, it's nice to dream!

In other news, rain has returned to Southern California.  It came down in buckets for awhile this morning.  I can only hope that the burn areas received gentler treatment.

I filled these plastic buckets using what poured down the rain chain in about 30 minutes, after first dumping the contents of 2 of them on the plants under the roof's overhang.  I'm planning to move the contents of these to my 265-gallon tank, which is slower to fill than my other 2 tanks, both of which are already full.

More rain is expected this afternoon and, according to one forecast, still more is possible next week.  I'd be ecstatic except that I can't help worrying about how this will affect the burn areas.  Slow and gentle rain is what we need.


All material © 2012-2018 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party