Classic Hanging Lamp

The lamp located at a restaurant that offers Indonesian traditional food. Last Monday we had a nice lunch at this place.

 The Weekend in Black and White

Water Wise Landscaping: Using Less, Getting More

We can learn a lot from the persistent droughts in the state of California. California water shortages have led Governor Jerry Brown to impose watering restrictions including a 25% reduction in water consumption. He also asked for local governments to help to replace residential lawns with drought tolerant landscaping. Many California residents have used this as a time to save money and remove their grassy lawns completely in order to replace them with drought-tolerant landscaping.

While the water situation may not be the same where you live, there is a lot of wisdom to using less water to care for your existing landscaping. In addition, there are a number of changes that you can make to reduce your water usage even further. In this article, we’ll look at some suggestions for using less water in landscaping. 

Planning

Working with a landscape professional to evaluate your yard may open your eyes to options you may never have considered before. Raised beds, mulching around plantings, mixing plantings to create pockets of shade, and native plants added to your landscape design are simple ways to reduce the amount of water you use in your yard. 

Water Smart

Watering plants and lawns in the morning or in the evening is one very simple way to make the most of the water that you use. This makes sure that less water is lost to evaporation during the day. When you water your plants, water them by hand rather than by using a sprinkler. It also helps if you water deeply instead of shallowly. Deep watering encourages roots to grow deeper, while shallow watering forces roots to grow closer to the surface; making them more susceptible to dry conditions. 

Little or No Grass

We love our lawns, but they use up a lot of our time and water. Another good option to save money is to use little or no grass. While you might not want to get rid of your lawn entirely, you can certainly reduce the amount of grass on it. By choosing low-maintenance plants to cover your lawn area instead of grass, you will use less water and spend less time on maintaining your lawn. 

Drought Tolerant Plants

When people hear a plant is ‘drought tolerant,’ they typically think of cactuses. However, there are many lush and beautiful shrubs, bushes, and even flowering plants that also need much less water to thrive. In American southwest it is not uncommon to see cactuses in people’s yards. However, if you don’t live in that region you might not want to start digging up your old lawn in order to plant cactuses everywhere. Different types of ‘drought tolerant’ plants might be a better option for you.

Native Plants

Plants and grasses that are native to your region are naturally acclimated to the conditions where you live. When cultivated in your yard, native plants can help you to reduce the total amount of water that you use. Check with a local garden center or landscaper to learn more about the types of native plants in your area.

Hardscaping

When driving through the suburbs of Phoenix, Arizona you will see many hardscaped areas. Hardscaping is when grass is replaced with stone, brick, and gravel. Patios or walkways made from brick or stone can be attractive and require no watering. Hardscaping can create a look of variety, while reducing water usage in some areas of your yard.

A Lovely Yard with Less Water

There are a number of ways to reduce your water usage and save money and time on lawn care. While you might not be able to completely re-do your lawn, you could choose one or two things on this list and make it your goal to use less water to care for your landscaping.

Written by Clark Jones, owner of Tree Frog Complete Grounds Maintenance. Tree Frog is the best company for landscaping Columbia MO has to offer.

Bright Sunflower

 We ever planted some sun flowers in the front yard. This one was taken at an agro park. Bright and cheerful yellow! Happy Monday Mellow Yellows

to you all. 

How to Build a Garden Wall

Gardens are very pretty, but sometimes you need to just give the overall landscape a little depth by added a structure here and there to make the place really stand out. Building a garden wall is a great way to do that and make your property not look quite as flat as it is. In addition to that, this can also be a great way to keep those predators out of your produce or at least make it harder for them to get to. While it is easy to hire someone to get the job done it is also possible to just take care of it yourself, as you will find that it is not that complicated of a process.

1.   The first step you will need to do is to make sure you have plenty of time. This will not likely be able to get done in a day or a week, so plan it out accordingly in order to prevent yourself from getting frustrated during the building process.

2.   Next, you are going to want to dig a trench about at least a foot deep and as long as you will want your garden wall to be. Use a shovel to remove the soil and then take a few stakes and drive them into the ground about 3 to 6 feet apart from each other, depending on what length you picked. This will help the area stay solid as a base for when you add the concrete.

3.   After you make sure your trench and stakes are level, pour in the concrete to fill up the trench and smooth it out with an edger. You could also use a metal floater to smooth out the wet concrete, but just make sure you do that before you leave it to dry. It will have to sit still for a few days to ensure that it is dry before you can start building your wall.

4.   Then, take the bricks you will be using for the wall and do a dry-lay of them to see how it will work. If needed you may have to cut a couple of them in half to ensure that they will fit properly. Once you have the first set of bricks figured out, mix up some mortar and lay it on top of your concrete base. You will want it to be at least a ½ inch deep so your bricks will have some room to get really snug. As you place the brick on the mortar, use some force to lay them down and check that it is even with a level tool.

5.   Once you have the first layer of bricks down, repeat the process for the following layers. If you want to do an alternating pattern or a rising pattern, you will have to keep a ruler on hand to make sure it is all in the right place. In addition to that, you will have to keep that mortar handy to fill in the sides. Be sure to leave enough room between the bricks to apply a layer of filler so that the whole thing is held together very solidly.

6.   Now you should have a very nice, neat looking garden wall. To finish it off take a small filling tool and add extra mortar to where it looks like it is lacking. You can also add other finishing touches like a paint layer or glaze, but many people just prefer to have the natural brick looking wall. Either way it will be a beautiful addition to any garden, and it is amazing what you can do simply with some concrete and bricks.

Written by Robert Thompson, owner of TLC Lawncare & Landscaping, where they are one of the preferred concrete contractors in Columbia, MO has to offer.

Ruins

I don’t know the current condition but when we visited the Mutun Beach (Lampung, Indonesia) last year, there’s a part of this place that still abandoned. I captured two different ruins for The Weekend in Black and White

A flush toilet inside the ruin - was it a public toilet before?

Rusted ruin. I'm clueless.

  Can you guess what the ruin was before?