Advice for adding green to a nothing but gravel landscape.

[newrenterCA]

Good Morning,

I am new to this forum and new to the CA area. My husband and I just agreed to rent a house in the Alameda area. We have a small back yard which is hardly a yard. It has a wooden porch and is surrounded by nothing but gravel. I am originally from Maine and used to being surrounded by green and my mom's beautiful gardens. I would like to get greenery, flowers, and herbs/veggies into the back yard. It is such a sad sight right now. Being that we are renting the house we are somewhat limited. Meaning we cannot remove the gravel and put in grass and I do not want just tons of pots everywhere. If anyone has suggestions that would be great! Thank you so much!

PS I tried uploading pictures on my page or profile so if you want to see what I am working with it should be on there I think.

Thank you again.

-katie

 

[Stubbornhillfarm]

I bet you will get some great ideas from the fine folks on here. Very generous with sharing and knowledgable.

 

[curly_kate]

I have a similar situation. DH and I bought a farm, and are temporarily living in a trailer while we save to build a house. The trailer was already on the property, and surrounded by gravel, too. I didn't want to put a lot of time & effort into removing gravel & hauling in dirt if we are (hopefully) going to be in a new house next year. Anyway, DH built me a really large wooden box, and I rounded up some giant tubs that my neighbor had. They are probably 3 feet across. I cut off the bottoms to maximize the drainage and planted them full of flowers. Once everything leafs out, you can barely see the tubs.

I thought I had some photos of it, but I can't find them. I'll take some later for you.

 

[joz]

If you can't remove the gravel, I'm guessing container gardening may be your best bet.

Containers needn't be pots, however. Boxes, baskets, pallets.... Tho pots may be the simplest to obtain, fill, and move.

You could, feasibly, build boxes on top of the gravel for raised beds. But then you'd have to empty them and move/dispose of them at the end of your lease.

How large is your yard? I've always found groupings of different sized pots quite charming, and you can reorganize/redecorate anytime you like. Adding vertical interest can be as simple as putting a pot on a milk crate to raise it up.

There's a book called "Bountiful Container" by Stuckey and McGee that is pretty detailed re container gardening of fruits/veggies/herbs/edible flowers.

Searching "container gardens" on images.google.com presented several ideas using gutters, kiddie pools, and stock tanks. I rather like the stock tank idea. I have two concrete shop sinks that I will be using at some point to keep the mint contained. People have been making DIY self-watering containers (earthboxes) from rubbermaid bins. My neighbor grows scallions in old toilets.

 

[The Mama Chicken]

I grew up in (southern) California and I would think that the gravel is there in order to save on water usage. Since drought is usually the rule in Cali (most of the lower half of the state is a desert after all, just a well irrigated desert) rather than the exception, saving water is a big deal, and lawns are a huge waste of water.
As for greening it up without removing the gravel, containers would be the easiest way. Other than that, maybe you can rake the gravel out of some areas and build some raised beds, then when you move you would just shovel out the dirt, take the beds apart and rake the gravel back into place.

 

[ducks4you]

You can NEVER go wrong with native plants and flowers. They will be easy to grow bc they already like the soil/average rainfall. Just FYI, I have trouble growing lavender bc MY soil stays too wet!

 

[Carol Dee]

newrenter, you will have to make several posts before you can download any pics. soon
I was going to suggest pots until you said, NO to lots of pots. Hanging baskets.

 

[April Manier]

Alemeda is HOT in the summer, and pots are going to be a challenge. If you are going to do containers, and it sounds like that is your option, be sure to have a drip system om a timer to avoid tragedy. I have never been very good at pots because they dry out so much!

Bigger containers will stay wetter with let surface area than tons of pots. If your hubby is handy, then building planters will allow you to get out of the round pot syndrome, create varied height and size to accommodate bigger plants.

My advice is to go online and peruse planters and planter building ideas. That should get you going and thinking outside the pot....

 

[newrenterCA]

These are all super great ideas! Keep 'em coming! Thank you all so much! I'm not totally against pots I just don't want to walk into the back yard and see nothing but pots. I am thinking a rustic large water foundtain would be nice too. The side coming around the house is like an alley. It has a brick walkway with gravel all around the brick. It is about 6 or 7 feet wide from fence to wall of house. Then the backyard is decent size and along the back fence there is some soil that runs that perimeter section. There is a large wooden deck that takes up the majority of the space though. There are no trees really though I would like to plant some fruit trees like lemons and such, so the whole yard even the alley is in direct sun all day long. I do have a handy man so rasied beds would be very easy for him to make. I'll have to look at those plans mentioned. Its all very exciting! It's difficult but nothing is really there so it is like an empty canvas. thank you all!

 

[ninnymary]

newrenter welcome to TEG! :rainbow-sun I live in Alameda and believe me it is not HOT here in the summer! Hope we are talking about the same Alameda, in the east bay. If you are interested, I would be willing to get together and give you ideas/help. You are also welcomed to come look at my garden to get ideas. Just pm me.

Mary