Posts Tagged ‘Christie Barry’

Planting for Easily Getting the Greens in Your Body

Friday, January 4th, 2013

My new theory on vegetable gardens is to grow what is easy and what you will use, that will not interfere with pretty parts of a landscaped and yard.

  • Use a manageable pot or build a raised bed easy to get to, preferable near your kitchen door (This picture is a large veggie garden we made this fall.)

  • Use a blend of 70% topsoil and 30% compost and slow release organic osmocote for a soil mix.
  • Plant kale, spinach, lettuces and chard (now is fine if you can find them).
  • Put under a porch or carport where it gets sun.

  • Cover with a sheet (not plastic) on cold nights.

Pick these greens for your smoothie in the morning!

Get the Greens Into Your Body- Keep It Simple

Friday, January 4th, 2013

In my ever-continuing quest for improved health, this is what works for my family and me.

I have created converts with my 21-year-old son, who usually heads out the door in the morning with nothing in his stomach, and my husband, who knows he has to eat more greens.

I hope to influence anyone to create this green smoothie for parents in their twilight years, all the way down to the the meticulous 2 year old.  Just get organic greens into their body at some point in the day and you are good for the day!

Here is the layering

… all you taste it the fruit!

  • A handful of organic greens- spinach, kale, chard, Zen blend greens
  • ¾ cup of frozen organic fruit (and some unfrozen organic fruit if you want)
  • ½ cup or so of coconut water or almond milk or water.
  • A handful of almonds, sunflower seed or some other nut (optional)
  • 1 tbsp. of flax or chia seeds (optional)

Put it in the vitamix, blender, or food processor and mix well.

That is it!

Feature of the Month: Staircases and Terraces Out of Thin Air- River Road West in Crozier, Virginia.

Wednesday, November 7th, 2012

It is not often that we are given the luxury of developing a garden from the ground up.  This client from Hartford Connecticut was “all in” for a relaxed Virginia farmhouse look.  We started with the hardscaping.

In the front, grading left us with a very steep hill to the front porch.  We created a dry lay walkway in stone dust on this steep hill to promote a farmhouse look.  We had to lay a block base at each landing and fill it with crusher run to support the base of the walkway.  Erosion and heavy rains would dissolve the structure otherwise.  These 5 feet wide, 7-inch high stone steps took 4 strong men to move, especially after the hurricane where the mud became a slip and slide.  The Van Tassel stone stacked wall at the base of the stairs is a stunning first feature that you see as you enter the property from a hilly, winding driveway.

Here is a “Before and After Picture” of a raised brick paver terrace we designed and built in the back of the house.  Lots of layering and tamping of crusher run gravel goes into the cinder block base of the brick faced terrace to match the grade of the fireplace.  The pavers here are a 6-pattern design.  The steps are bluestone treads which add another dimension into the color scape.

 Notice the pathway edged in steel for a cheap but neat and tidy alternative.  We will add a thin layer of tan crusher run on top after the lawn is seeded and the construction workers finally leave.

 

 

Being Clever with Masonry Work: Southside Richmond off Forest Hill Rd.

Friday, September 14th, 2012

This client had a terrible problem with water running off her steep yard and driveway onto her front walk.  The grade of the walkway was actually below the asphalt driveway.

Her budget was tight, so after a lot of discussion and visiting the site in a heavy rain, my crew and I decided to create a landing on level with the driveway.  The diamond shaped brick medallion was a nice touch, I thought.

The stop down off the landing got us back to the original grade of the old walkway.  We cut the cement to install a long drain that spanned the 36”.  Any water coming down the sidewalk, off the driveway and across the new landing went into a drain.  We mortared an extra course of brick on the hillside of the landing so the water hit the brick and traveled to either side of the landing toward the drain or asphalt.

After all this, we edged the original cement walkway with bricks to hold the mulch, tie in the brick accent of the landing, and make the sidewalk look wider.

The plantings came in last, as usual.  We planted the hillside with long blooming abelia and hydrangeas, then lay landscape fabric on the steepest slope with ajuga as a ground cover to hold the hill.

Voila!  Pretty and functional!

 

The Artist’s Garden near University of Richmond – Bostwick Lane

Friday, August 3rd, 2012

I took it as quite a compliment when this renowned artist (go to fionaross.net) asked me to design and install a seating space in her tiny back yard.  She had been inspired recently to drawing circular shapes in her artwork, and wanted to incorporate that motif.

Courtesy of Travis Fullerton

She and I went to the stone yard and tagged boulders and flagstone that would brighten and draw you into her shady yard.  When I suggested a millstone for a water feature, her husband was especially excited.

What we came up with was this circular seating area made of Tennessee variegated stone, bordered with a warm colored brick.  The walkway flairs to the side gate and back stairwell.  A new drain was installed to help the overflow of water in downpours, and a dry well dug to handle great the great amounts of run off.

The boulder fountain is a one of a kind.  We have own recipe for the catch basin (which otherwise starts at $250.00 each).  The fountain has plenty of water in hot weather and does not have to be refilled very often.  The millstone itself comes from the Yang-zee river valley.  This is one of hundreds of artifacts, which was salvaged before the new dam flooded the area.  What amazing energy this small stone holds.

This fall we will plant the beds surrounding the new outdoor room.

This project was a great example of working from space, and inspiration.  The only plan was scratches on a yellow pad, white spray paint, and flags.  Luckily, she and I “saw the same thing” so it turned out great!

How to Avoid the Next Heat Wave? Ohana Family Camp on Lake Fairlee, Vermont

Saturday, July 14th, 2012

When 60+ of my Danforth cousins (children to 7 siblings) were trying to find a place to meet, we decided to have a long weekend on Lake Fairlee, Vermont with the Ohana Family Camp as our playground.

That’s where we were lucky to be over the 4th of July during our most recent heat wave.

Our parents had all instilled in us a love of the outdoors, athletics, summer camps, Outward bound and singing as part of our childhood, so we slipped easily into the camp scene.  We immersed ourselves in swimming and boating at the waterfront, tennis and archery, art and crafts, Ultimate Frisbee, and table games.  Smaller kids had T-ball, story time, puppet shows, and bug and amphibian identification.  All of us were wiped out by the end of the day.

Some of us slept in platform tents, others in cabins.  Each bed outfitted was with yummy sheets and light wool blankets.  Two nights that we were there, it rained hard.  Rain was sheeting off the tent fly about 10 feet from my bed with not a drop coming in.  I felt so young!

Food was locally grown and delicious, served on a lovely porch overlooking the view below.

Our last night there were campfires, marshmellows, guitars and all of us trying to remember the songs our parents used to sing in the 40’s, so that those would at least not be lost with that generation.

Best of all there was certain hilarity in remembering our youth and realizing we really had not grown up at all.

See this link for more on Ohana Family Camp.

Preventing Slug Damage to Hostas

Friday, July 13th, 2012

One of the joys of my job is when I am taught something by my clients.  That happens quite often!

This client gave me a tip on how to prevent slug damage to tender perennials particularly her hostas.

Beer I asked?

No, she uses a much cleaner technique by cutting off a small-needled branch of her old Christmas tree and placing around the base of the plant.  Slugs do not like the scratchiness of the pine needle on their tender bellies.

Tips on Plant Care in Prolonged 100 degree heat

Thursday, June 28th, 2012

We all worry about our plants when it is this hot.  Here are some suggestions to help them and you deal with prolonged heat.

  • Cut any pretty flowers now you may want to take inside.
  • Deadhead other perennials if the bloom is gone.
  • Try to have a layer of mulch or leaves, pine straw or grass on root system of smaller plants (you do not need new mulch).
  • Water directly on root system with hand held hose.  Sprinklers for a long time waste water and just do not do the job.
  • If your foliage is perky in the morning but droopy at night, that is OK.  You would droop too.
  • Plants take in water through their leaves, so you can give them a shower of water in the a.m. or at night.  Do not do this at midday or it could burn the leaves.
  • Water pots every day.
  • Do not fertilize right now.  It pushes the plant to bloom when all it wants is to rest.
  • Remember, wet warm conditions promote fungus so take it easy with night watering where water sits a long time.

Feature of the Month – A Mortared Walkway with Country Elegance in Goochland, Va.

Saturday, June 16th, 2012

This front walk is mortared because the slope of the land creates heavy erosion during a rain. Any dry lay walkway would wash away.

We lay a cement pad, then carefully measured out and lay a brick border.  We matched the house brick by using the Shade and Wise Brick Company specialist to help us choose by showing us several brick samples at the site.

This brick edge pulls in the red from the brick house, and serves as the perfect boundary and edge to hold the bluestone.  A cement footprint goes down first, then mortar under each individual stone and then the stone itself.  Lastly, the mortar is mixed and the same batch is used so the color matches.  Our artisans actually use a bag resembling a pastry-frosting sac.  Mortar goes on slow and exact.

Instead of one large step to the doorway, we created 2 rectangle tiers.  The Palladium style arcs above the front door entrance, rectangle landings, and bluestone squares laid on the diagonal create a geometric blend that compliments the modern architecture.

What Martha doesn’t tell you…

Saturday, June 16th, 2012

Martha Stewart magazines are great in showing you stunning perennial gardens.  Christie’s create those magazine cover gardens too.  What Martha doesn’t tell you is what the quintessential perennial garden looks right after it goes in and what it will need until it is “magazine worthy.”

Here is the reality check.

  • Plants will not cover all the beds space immediately.
  • Weeds will pop up until the desirable plants fill up the empty spaces.
  • Some of the perennials will not like where they are placed.
  • Some will be moved.
  • Some will die.
  • Some will be ugly.
  • The majority of plant clumps that do thrive will one day be split.
  • There will be the whacking back in midsummer for a rebloom,
  • And a cut back and clean up after the first freeze.

So why does this enthusiastic client, who asked me to put only blooming plants in her front beds, do it?

Ask Martha. Or better yet check out the June 2013 issue of her magazine and  guess who you’ll see!