Utah Yard Projects

[RyManUtah]

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[RyManUtah]

4 minutes ago, RyManUtah said:

Turf be gone ! 
- always been more into plants that benefit wildlife pollinators over just greenery, so here’s my start. Water will be fully installed at some point... before July .

cheers 
 

 

 

2019 :

[teddytn]

3 hours ago, RyManUtah said:

 

2019 :

Looking real good! Professional. I love ornamentals as much as the next guy, but for every palm I’ve planted this year I planted either a milkweed or a mountain mint for the pollinators. Got to at least try to support the bees and butterflies if we can.

[Chester B]

I'm not a big fan of grass.  I keep some in the front for the Halloween graveyard, and some in the back for the dogs.

Are you putting stone or river rock down as mulch?  Or do you leave it bare?

[RyManUtah]

1 hour ago, Chester B said:

I'm not a big fan of grass.  I keep some in the front for the Halloween graveyard, and some in the back for the dogs.

Are you putting stone or river rock down as mulch?  Or do you leave it bare?

I agree. Most grass makes me itch like Crazy unless wearing long sleeved clothing if I use it anyway - which isn’t ideal in my climate. I am putting down stone. I haven’t placed all my dirt yet, so it is bare for now. It will have washes that double as walkways 

[RyManUtah]

2 hours ago, teddytn said:

Looking real good! Professional. I love ornamentals as much as the next guy, but for every palm I’ve planted this year I planted either a milkweed or a mountain mint for the pollinators. Got to at least try to support the bees and butterflies if we can.

Thank you for the compliment! Completely agree. I’ve put a lot of things for hummingbirds as well. We have some that overwinter in our area, so winter bloomers are important. We have a few wildflowers that will stay bloomed year round of watered monthly. 

[RyManUtah]

Now, rocks.. 

[jwitt]

On 5/15/2021 at 3:16 PM, RyManUtah said:

Now, rocks.. 

A thing about rocks in the SW. In NM There is a town called Algodones(Spanish for cotton) . It sits in the world's largest contigious cottonwood Forest.  Many believe this is where the name comes from.

 

Until you discover Coronado(conquistador) wintered here in the 1500's and the local natives were growing cotton in a climate of about 160 day growing season in a zone 6b. They accomplished this using rocks!

Choose your rocks wisely!

[teddytn]

56 minutes ago, jwitt said:

A thing about rocks in the SW. In NM There is a town called Algodones(Spanish for cotton) . It sits in the world's largest contigious cottonwood Forest.  Many believe this is where the name comes from.

 

Until you discover Coronado(conquistador) wintered here in the 1500's and the local natives were growing cotton in a climate of about 160 day growing season in a zone 6b. They accomplished this using rocks!

Choose your rocks wisely!

I’ve heard grape vineyards will line the rows of vines with rocks to help regulate the soil temperature. Enough rocks in the landscape may hold enough heat to keep sensitive plants from freezing. Kinda what you’re referring to? Always interested in anything to extend growing seasons...

[PalmatierMeg]

Beautiful landscaping! Grass is highly overrated and wasteful. We have a few patches in front to keep Cape Coral Code Enforcement away from the door.

[jwitt]

9 hours ago, teddytn said:

I’ve heard grape vineyards will line the rows of vines with rocks to help regulate the soil temperature. Enough rocks in the landscape may hold enough heat to keep sensitive plants from freezing. Kinda what you’re referring to? Always interested in anything to extend growing seasons...

Here in Corrales, NM, they buried the vines under 5' of dirt in earlier times. 

Same locale has some filifera that survived back to back nights of -11f. No rocks involved tho.

[RyManUtah]

March 2020

August 2021

 

Slowly getting my desert scape back after removing the grass planted by others. 

[RyManUtah]

Because Mule 

March 2020

this morning

spruge is on its way out, but makes a decent moisture retention 

[Allen]

Mule is looking kinda fat!

[RyManUtah]

2 hours ago, Allen said:

Mule is looking kinda fat!

You can’t tell from the photo, but I removed the plastic ring around it because they were basically the same size under the mulch  

[GregVirginia7]

5 hours ago, RyManUtah said:

Because Mule 

March 2020

this morning

spruge is on its way out, but makes a decent moisture retention 

In a desert landscape, do you have to put down a seed inhibitor to keep the weeds at bay? I’d imagine stone “mulch” would help a lot but weed seeds, of course, dominate any landscape, from pavement, to concrete cracks...they always find a way...would like to do away with grass altogether but understand that weeds anyway, could care less.

[RyManUtah]

49 minutes ago, GregVirginia7 said:

In a desert landscape, do you have to put down a seed inhibitor to keep the weeds at bay? I’d imagine stone “mulch” would help a lot but weed seeds, of course, dominate any landscape, from pavement, to concrete cracks...they always find a way...would like to do away with grass altogether but understand that weeds anyway, could care less.

I don’t use any. Many people put down fabric, but that’s not my thing. Rocks collect dust, and things can grow - roots tear up the fabric and basically render it useless. 

I haven’t weeded in several months, and I don’t have any rocks down in this area. 

Spurge is my only weed that is terrible, because it seeds so young. They are thornless and don’t bother me much. The doves spread them around a bit - however they tend to mostly hangout dust bathing in sandy areas, where I have all the spurge. 
 

[GregVirginia7]

2 hours ago, RyManUtah said:

I don’t use any. Many people put down fabric, but that’s not my thing. Rocks collect dust, and things can grow - roots tear up the fabric and basically render it useless. 

I haven’t weeded in several months, and I don’t have any rocks down in this area. 

Spurge is my only weed that is terrible, because it seeds so young. They are thornless and don’t bother me much. The doves spread them around a bit - however they tend to mostly hangout dust bathing in sandy areas, where I have all the spurge. 
 

Got it...I have a type of spurge here that remains a ground hugging weed and would not be that big of a deal alone, but here, anyway, we have dozens of different types of weeds that grow at various heights...in any event, the palms you have growing in your yard certainly transform any grass free plot into a beautiful landscape...spurge or not, though I agree, the coverage of the spurge has to conserve moisture in the soil, at least while it lasts...anyway, your palms look great!

[SailorBold]

That mule is going to do well there... really going to stand out! Beautiful..   perfect choice..

I just noticed you shaved a trachy..  how'd that go??

[RyManUtah]

7 hours ago, SailorBold said:

That mule is going to do well there... really going to stand out! Beautiful..   perfect choice..

I just noticed you shaved a trachy..  how'd that go??

I went fairly smoothly. Took me maybe an hour at most with a box cutter. 
I used to not like them like that. Initially I did it to visually eliminate a pests - but it’s grown on me. 

[SailorBold]

I'm assuming you left the sprinklers in place?  Do you plan on still using the valve?  I think I saw a neat product that you just screw on to the top of a sprinkler head that converts it to Drip emitters...and I've seen some caps too..   might be easier to run water instead of trenching..  if you add a main tube.  

[RyManUtah]

22 hours ago, SailorBold said:

I'm assuming you left the sprinklers in place?  Do you plan on still using the valve?  I think I saw a neat product that you just screw on to the top of a sprinkler head that converts it to Drip emitters...and I've seen some caps too..   might be easier to run water instead of trenching..  if you add a main tube.  

Sorry I missed this.. 

I left the size sprinkler zones. Two lines were removed or capped off. I am using emitter heads close to where water is needed. I reduced pressure with a regulator from 65 psi to 40 - a feat not entirely necessary but helpful. Many are simply capped off for the time being. 
the control box that was in place for the sprinklers has some very handy setting for drip. Currently on rain delay - but waters 3x a week on the palms every 21 days on the cacti. 

I just have that black micro tubing going from the emitters to drip plugs. I use a variety depending on plant , from 1/2gph up to 2gph - with as many as needed to wet the entire root zone 

[RyManUtah]

Some autumn plantings… 

First up, Punica granatum ‘utahsweet’:

 

 

Vitis vinifera 'RedFlame’:

 

 

Agave montana: 

 

 

Trachycarpus fortunei: 

 

 

Some rose Bush something or other: 

 

 

Pink penstemon & Hymenoxys acaulis (wildflowers):

 

[RyManUtah]

November: 

[DAVEinMB]

13 hours ago, RyManUtah said:

November: 

Your landscaping is top notch and that view is incredible 

[RyManUtah]

3 hours ago, DAVEinMB said:

Your landscaping is top notch and that view is incredible 

Thank you sir - can’t wait for the “taking off” phase  

[RyManUtah]

Some honorable mentions, that aren’t much to look at in photos at the moment: 

Crepe Myrtle 

 

Texas Mountain Laurel 

 

Sabal miamiensis on its 5th strap:

[RyManUtah]

Sabal palmetto  

[RyManUtah]

[D Palm]

Beautiful desert landscape! 

[RyManUtah]

[RyManUtah]

Rock mulch & sneak peak of hardscape 

 

[Xerarch]

31 minutes ago, RyManUtah said:

Rock mulch & sneak peak of hardscape 

 

Looking nice, how do those golden barrels do for you in St. George? I thought they were on the tender side?

[RyManUtah]

2 minutes ago, Xerarch said:

Looking nice, how do those golden barrels do for you in St. George? I thought they were on the tender side?

They do great in full winter sun 

[Meangreen94z]

16 hours ago, Xerarch said:

Looking nice, how do those golden barrels do for you in St. George? I thought they were on the tender side?

They will take mid teens. A few actually survived single digits randomly in central Texas. I saw a few survivors at John Fairey Garden as well. They must have gotten the right amount of initial snowpack to insulate them. That garden did no protecting at all from an ultimate low of 6°F

[RyManUtah]

Winter days are great for projects. 

[teddytn]

On 11/21/2021 at 7:49 PM, RyManUtah said:

Some honorable mentions, that aren’t much to look at in photos at the moment: 

Crepe Myrtle 

 

Texas Mountain Laurel 

 

Sabal miamiensis on its 5th strap:

Have to keep us updated on that miamiensis, I’m super interested to see how that looks in a few years. 

[RyManUtah]

37 minutes ago, teddytn said:

Have to keep us updated on that miamiensis, I’m super interested to see how that looks in a few years. 

For sure. I have three strap leafers planted out in different sun strengths. 

[teddytn]

39 minutes ago, RyManUtah said:

For sure. I have three strap leafers planted out in different sun strengths. 

I had the same thought with palmetto here, planted against the foundation one on the east side, 2 on the south side, and one on the west side. Experiments lol

[RyManUtah]

Defined a bit of porch space, and have been getting this section near completion.