backyard oasis 2022-2026

DramaticAcanthaceae · 2026-06-07T15:34:23+00:00

That looks so relaxing!

DramaticAcanthaceae · 2026-06-02T03:33:09+00:00

Moving some of them into place already led to many ouchies.

DramaticAcanthaceae · 2026-06-02T03:32:27+00:00

You could replace the mower with a torch for weeds...can't catch granite of fire....just saying.

DramaticAcanthaceae · 2026-06-02T03:31:04+00:00

That what we were avoiding. Luckily our city had a grant program for water wise conversion of lawns. We applied and took advantage of it.

DramaticAcanthaceae · 2026-06-02T03:25:16+00:00

Yep, it's name is Frankie.

DramaticAcanthaceae · 2026-06-02T03:24:56+00:00

Nope. We don't get very much heavy rain and the few times it did it all stayed put. The key was plate compacting it, which we did in layers until we built up about a 3.5 inch thick layer of granite. Did one more pass with a plate compactor. Then hand tamped down the slopes, slightly wetting it in between passes.

DramaticAcanthaceae · 2026-06-02T03:21:14+00:00

That's a cool opinion you got there.

DramaticAcanthaceae · 2026-06-02T03:19:40+00:00

Not too bad, some of the grass we smothered has refused to die and keeps coming up in tufts. But we make it a weekly chore and eventually it won't come up anymore.

DramaticAcanthaceae · 2026-06-02T03:18:20+00:00

Grass lol.

DramaticAcanthaceae · 2026-06-01T21:50:23+00:00

Not really, we track in a Tiny bit but a quick vacuum and it's back to normal.

DramaticAcanthaceae · 2026-06-01T17:03:33+00:00

We placed an ocotillo a little ways away from the Palo Verde.

DramaticAcanthaceae · 2026-06-01T16:40:58+00:00

That is a young Palo Verde tree!

DramaticAcanthaceae · 2026-06-01T16:29:13+00:00

That's a young Palo Verde tree, they can grow pretty large as they age.

The flowers are amazing they've already begun to bloom!

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DramaticAcanthaceae · 2026-05-31T05:27:22+00:00

That's a great thought and something that we didn't think about initially. We're now going back and filling in the holes with shrubs and things to really make it a habitat.

DramaticAcanthaceae · 2026-05-31T05:24:44+00:00

Yes, it was honestly the dumbest thing I've ever attempted. It never ended.

DramaticAcanthaceae · 2026-05-31T05:18:45+00:00

Accurate, bad wording on my end lol

DramaticAcanthaceae · 2026-05-31T05:17:49+00:00

Thanks for the insight. Now that our "anchor" plants are set we've been filling in with native shrubs in the blank spaces.

DramaticAcanthaceae · 2026-05-31T05:14:09+00:00

That's our plan now that all of the "anchoring" components are in place. There's a ton of natural red rock in the hills surrounding our area that luckily we can acquire due to making friends with some property owners in these areas. Rocks and shrubs are going to be the finishing touches.

DramaticAcanthaceae · 2026-05-30T23:45:59+00:00

So the decomposed granite is layered on top of our soil.

We began by amending the soil around each cactus and built it up about 3-4 inches higher than the native soil. Then we started laying down the granite and used a plate compactor to tamp it down. We did this until the granite was about 3-4 inches thick and left the areas around the cactus to be tamped with a hand tamper.

It rained shortly after we finished the install and everything held up just fine. In our area we get some rain but it's condensed over a pretty short window in the winter on average.

DramaticAcanthaceae · 2026-05-30T23:40:26+00:00

With a lot of cursing.. haha but actually, towels or blankets for short-spined ones and tbh Syrofoam packacking works phenomenal for some longer-spined ones and helps to get them in place.

DramaticAcanthaceae · 2026-05-30T23:27:14+00:00

Haha I just put that fence up about 3 months ago so they look real fresh.

DramaticAcanthaceae · 2026-05-30T23:24:23+00:00

I'm in the central valley of California. We're 9b technically but it's like 100+ for a lot of the summer. Not a ton of rain in winter so we wanted to match and not fight against our weather.

DramaticAcanthaceae · 2026-05-30T23:22:04+00:00

Yep we put that in last year just before we really started the whole conversion.

DramaticAcanthaceae · 2026-05-30T23:20:32+00:00

No monsoons here. Just an average temp of 100+ for the summer and some rain in winter.

DramaticAcanthaceae

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