and to the Party in the Back, Mullet garden cont'd

 When we moved in 14 years ago, the backyard was large and devoid of any garden - full of clover, weeds & horrendous clay.  I was used to gardening in the Portland area and this was quite a change, and added to that was the very dry heat.  I remember trying to dig into the sloped area and it was like cement.  I would just chip chip chip away at it, amend the soil, plunk a plant in and hope for the best.  I was so desperate to get some green going, looking back it's all like a fever dream.   I really should have had a plan, lol.  Whatever, it was a great learning experience, and I likely improved the soil with all the fevered planting and amending.

Unfortunately I don't think I have a photo of just the bareness of it all.   I know somewhere I have a picture of when the pool was dug.  Here is one version of the slope that looks decent.

And now, above the pool is filled with aloes, agave, golden barrel cactus, river acacia, a large arbutus unedo tree& various succulents.  Plus a sweet ponytail palm that I picked up for free from a neighbor.  It was neglected and headed for the certain death in a "too small" cracked pot.

We had ducks for a few years, oh were they darling as ducklings.  Raised them from just a day old.  Unfortunately there was an attack, either fox or raccoons when they were about 3 years old.  Chewed threw the enclosure enough to make a hole.  Quack.  The chickens were easier, Henny Penny just passed in 2022 at 13 years old!  

After & before, lol the making of the path.  I removed all the grass after the ducks moved in (surrounding area, they took care of the grass inside their large enclosure).  Below, added perennials in.  All of these areas are now cactus/succulents including the slope in the back.  The paths are in the same location, but I am going to revamp the shape of this one in the spring when I redo the middle bed.

The same bed as above, but now with Aloe Hercules, and various blue Pilocereus.  

Flooding in the back half, this area still floods when we get a lot of rain.  The pathways are helping to keep the cactus beds draining.  

The ducks would splash and quack with pure unadulterated delight when there was flooding.  Hilarious!

The ducks in one of their many swimming pools.  They were very inpatient and wouldn't wait for it to fill.

Dr. Feelgood doing what he does best.  💕.