Holy Smokes I Never Posted MY DRAWINGS!!!!

Here I was working on a better picture for the header since the other one was too big and took up the whole screen. I wanted more of a banner. I added a picture from the Architectural Rendering class and realized I never posted those pictures! So here's the drawings of the backyard I did for week 4 of Architectural Rendering for Landscape and Garden Designers with Jo Chance. I really learned a lot from the class and enjoyed doing the drawings. In fact, both this class and the previous class with John Brookes really sparked my interest in drawing again so I've gone on and done more and tried out different styles and such.

Jo Chance declared this one as well done. Which made my day!

One student complained that we didn't do any drawings that were from the top or bird's eye views or as he called it outline plans. So she  gave us some tips on those as well and I took the plan I've been working on using John Brookes instruction and books and used her coloring suggestions.

I would color in less of the driveway and sidewalk on the next try as well as adding shadows. BUT I changed my mind about some of the basic design so I'm redrawing at that stage first before coloring again. Wow this is a lot of work but I love it!

Missouri Botanical Gardens

Escaped from my meeting for about 4 hours to see the Missouri Botanical Gardens. I was in desperate need of fresh air and sunshine. It was 51 degrees and the air had a perfect little crispness like Fall but the sunshine was all Spring.

Here's some of the plants that I thought belonged in my garden and yard!

I put some more and made a separate page just for the Missouri Botanical Gardens on the pane to your right.

www.growveg.com new tools (no pun intended)

GrowVeg.com added some cool new features! It now has layers for irrigation, structures, layout, plants and text so you can work on just irrigation. VERY COOL!!! I put all these things in before by making them from lines and squares so this is really handy.

The first 2 pictures show the view looking at all the layers and obviously it get's kind of crazy.

And here is just selecting plant layer:

The other structures are there but faded. So I'm thinking about putting the peas in along the edge of the bean fencing! How come I never thought of that before! But right now I'm going back to sleep as I have had headache all night.

Soil Temperatures

I meaasured the soil temperatures and pH's in the garden beds and sadly still too cold for peas (43) in the spot where I planned to put them on Monday. So I'm hoping this am it'll be warmer.  Overall the beds varied more than I expected in the pH department.

Bed by # starting

7: 43 deg                        8: 43 deg
   pH 6.5                            pH 6.5

5: 45 deg                        6: under hoop
    pH 7.0

3: 46 deg                        4: 50 degrees!
   pH 6.5                            pH 6.5

1: 46 deg                        2: 50 deg
    pH 6.5                           pH 5.5

Front of gate
L side:                            R side:
46 deg                           46 deg
pH 6.0                           pH 6.5

So I wasn't settled on where everything was going anyway so I revamped it this week and now putting this crop of peas in bed 1. Going to collect the wood ash from parent's fireplace to supplement them.
Per Botanical Interests see below soil temp of 40 is enough. I was going on 45 from the Almanac?

Pea Shelling Green Arrow HEIRLOOM Seeds

Pisum sativum

Item #0037

65 days. Remember as a kid the fun of popping open a pod and eating the sweet green peas found inside? Bring back the memories and enjoy the ease of growing peas on productive, disease-resistant plants that reach only two feet tall. Pods set in pairs atop the plant make harvesting easy. Great for fresh eating and freezing.

This packet plants two 8-foot rows.

Days to Emerge:5-10 days

Seed Depth:1"

Seed Spacing: 2"

Row Spacing: 18"

Thinning: Do not thin

When to sow outside: RECOMMENDED. 4 to 6 weeks before average last frost or as soon as soil can be worked. soil temperatures must be above 40° F. in USDA zones 8 or warmer, sow in fall or winter for winter harvest

When to start inside: Not recommended.

Special germination instructions: Soak seed in water for 12 - 24 hours before sowing.

Harvesting: Shelling peas should be harvested when the pods are plump, about 3 weeks after flowering. Peas that are too mature are tough, and will cause the plant to stop producing; therefore, harvest regularly when pods are at their peak. Use scissors to harvest or hold vine with one hand and pick pod with the other to avoid breaking the brittle vines.

Artist: Eve Reshetnik

Winter won't end!

Why my garaden is so late this year!

Architectural Rendering Class week 3

here's this week's sketches

 Tried out new marker paper but it doesn't absorb ink at all. Wish I could find a happy medium (no pun intended) between the card stock that absorbs so fast and this paper where the ink sits and won't dry.

 Recognize the yard?

Serenity in the Garden: Simple, Elegant Garden Design Secrets

Serenity in the Garden: Simple, Elegant Garden Design Secrets: Simplicity and repose are the qualities that measure the true value of any work of art."   - Frank Lloyd Wright Simplic...


Love that quote.

Shady Side Yard New Collage

I'm trying to make my collages closer to the real thing now as we  get closer to the possibility of installing  some  (stress SOME) of this landscaping.

This is the current side yard sorry state.

This is sort of in perspective.

It's just impossible to  represent the landscape using this method and maintain correct perspective. For instance the back fence in the collage below is shorter than in the photograph. However, I see now that the house doesn't even look the same so I distorted it or didn't use that picture?

The weeping willow, sigh... I've gone back and forth trying to decide if that's a good or bad idea. If I was to put one anywhere that's the most logical spot. It's the lowest point of our yard and the neighbor has had trouble with water in his basement.  I suspect the water drains from our yard or did before. We have re-graded it and before the entire backyard sloped toward him. Good for our water level bad for his. Now I notice we have standing water where the pool was last year. It doesn't help that the grading was done for the ground but we haven't added back the gravel, patio, pool, etc. that will bring that back up. However, I think there is still going to be some water heading toward that corner so what better than a willow to soak it up. But I'll have to prune it every year to keep it fairly manageable. My understanding is they grow fast.

So there's the meandering dry stream bed. I would rather have more uniform sets of plants in groups so it'll be neater still not so random. Since repetition would be soothing. Hopefully I can start to put this in after we get the pool back in. If I get too carried away it'll be trampled by the frontloader.  

Introduction to Garden Design Over

Well the class was only 4 weeks and wow did that go quick. So our week 3 and 4 assignments actually were working on a yard he gave us not out own.

I used POWERPOINT to add shapes and patterns to the picture but week 3 I must admit I wasn't getting it. Plus he really wanted them redone with pencil and tracing paper. So I read, re-read, and read again his explanation of what he wanted and hopefully got a lot closer.

This is actually the re-do I did beginning of fourth week.I missed the part about the shapes needing to overlap especially at the house.  I also didn't get that the shapes represented hardscaping and/or lawn til second try. Ooops. 

So clearly these sucked since they didn't overlap.

Actually later I found a design of his that I thought this looked a lot alike .But again I didn't overlap enough.

 I made this using floorplanner.com screenshot images put into a collage of sorts.

OK this is what he wanted. If at first you don't succeed try, try, try again.