Corner Troon/Patricia, Cheviot Hills, West LA

Description

Flowering trees, bushes, ground covers and permeable patios have replaced 4,000 sf of grass, front, back and on the parkways.

DIY project.
Husband and wife team of amateur gardeners did the research, plant selections (Sunset’s Western Gardens), layout, and with the help of day laborers from West LA Job Center on Exposition Blvd, in the spring/summer 2008, commenced a roughly one year long weekends beautification and water saving project. Plants, many hundreds, came mostly from Marina del Rey Garden Ctr. and Theodore Payne.

Water.
We did not know of the classes at Surfrider Foundation, so we:
- Rainwater: In the back, we removed 1-2 feet of dirt in a V-shaped trough and replaced with rocks. What does not seep down, exits on slope with flowering plants. In the front, downspouts are extended a few feet and empties out over dirt, where a concrete patio once were.
- Irrigation: installed drip irrigation with the 1/4” hose and flag emitters, that is not recommended. However, each time we water, about every other week when not raining, we walk the garden to spot anything out of order and it works fine for us. Water usage has fallen to amazingly less than 20% of the usage when we had programmed sprinklers and lawns. Or, to less than 1/3 of our allotted tier 1 HCF (7 of 24 last month), a bit higher, or up to 1/2 of tier 1 allotment during hot summers.

Living soil sponge.
We also have used the not recommended (too “dead”) bark mulch. However, since our plants have an abundance of leaves and flowers that fall on top of the mulch, the soil has become alive with micro organisms, worms and the yard is teeming with insects, bees and humming birds, and at least one large alligator lizard that leaves his old skin each year. The soil, heavy clay and hard as cement after letting the lawn dry up, is now highly porous and soaking up rain.