The Year of Pandemic

2020 has been a year like no other. At the end of 2019, there were news from China about an outbreak of a new deadly virus.  Most of us didn't think too much of it. It was all the way on the other side of the Pacific Ocean. As the months went by, it had reached Europe.  Italy was hit particularly hard with the highest death toll then it came to the States.  At the end of March, while I was working in the office, the Shelter in Place order came from the County Official and the State Governor. We were told that we needed to "flatten the curve" of the virus infection rate. Within a few hours, we were all making arrangements to work from home. 

The following week, all the retail stores and restaurants were closed.  Only essential businesses were open such as grocery stories and hospitals. Suddenly, it felt like we were in a war as the city streets, mass transit and freeways were empty.  Everyone's weekend outing plans were cancelled. Schools were closed. All non-essential air travel was cancelled.  My home became the safest and only place I could be. 

With all the time staying at home, I started working on the garden and other home projects every weekend and sometimes after work. My old garage door was in need of a fresh coat of paint. I thought instead of just painting it with one color, why not paint something interesting on it.  Although I have done much drawing in recent years, I made a pencil sketch on paper.  Within a week, I repainted my garage door with lilac color hibiscus flowers on a bright golden yellow background. Many people in the neighborhood stopped to compliment the painting.  Most of my neighbors were surprised that I can draw and paint a mural.  I often see people stopping on the sidewalk taking photos of the painting.

There were tentative plans to lift the shelter in place order on June 1st.  Unfortunately, people couldn't stay home during Memorial weekend.  The infection rate shoot up again after the holiday weekend. 

During July 4th weekend, I picked as many plums as I could to give away to people in the neighborhood.  For some reason, every plum tree in El Cerrito were covered with super juicy sweet plums.  Many people were giving away plums on NextDoor.

After all the plums were gone, I decided it was time to get rid of the grass and plant some bee flowers. I started with the small patch on the sidewalk.  It took me about a week, one hour a day, to dig up all that tough grass.

By now, some businesses were allowed to open as long as certain guidelines are followed. I made a trip to Annie's Annuals and Perennials and got a bunch of bee and butterfly friendly and drought tolerant plants. I am particularly excited about the hollyhock.  After all the plants were planted, someone in the neighborhood was giving away extra mulch since they ordered too much for their yard.  I was able to get enough to cover the area. 

It's been exciting to see many people taking advantage of this time to redo their gardens.  Last weekend, I have finally removed all the grass in the front yard.  Now I am just waiting for the HomeDepot gift card to arrive in the mail so I can go get the soil and compost for the new front garden.

Kelsey's Favorite Spots

Before

We have a few steps outside of the backdoor, which is one of Kelsey's hangout spots. However, those wooden stairs had started to fall apart after 2 decades. One of the steps would sink in as you step on it. I was wondering if it would just crumble apart as Kelsey walking up and down the stairs. A few weeks ago, I decided it was time for some home improvement. Luckily, one of my neighbors knows a carpenter who lives just a few blocks away.

Work in progress

He came over on a Sunday with one of his helpers to rebuild the stairs for me. Originally, there were 4 big steps. He changed them to 6 smaller steps including a cement step at the bottom of the stairs. It took some time for the cement to set, and Kelsey had step in it as you can see in the right corner. The carpenters came back on a second Sunday to finish up the stairs and put on a layer of primer. Of course, Kelsey got some of the white primer on her hair, too, as she's been eager to go up to one of her favorite spots.

After

Kelsey also likes to rest in one of the flower beds. By now, she has torn out most of the calla lilies in there so she could just lie in the dirt. As any dog owner may know, she has to scratch the dirt several times to "make her bed" before lying down. The result is the dirt and mulch would be all over the walkway. As I was wondering how I could fix that problem, Kelsey and I passed by a crib mattress a few days ago as we were doing our morning walk. Someone had left it on the street to give it away, and it had been there for several days. It is in perfect good condition, and I thought it would be great for Kelsey. It took some time for her to get used to the smooth surface of the mattress, and I have seen her sliding off from it, but she seems to like it.

Kelsey's other favorite spot

Help Wanted

There comes a time when one must seek for help, and that time has come for me. For the last 6 months, I have been nursing some passion fruit cuttings. It took months for them to root, and now I have 3 glossy green passion fruit plants in green house #2. Before I plant them outside, I need to rebuild the beat up trellis.

Instead of rebuilding it with wood, I would like to use bamboo. I want a more Asian appeal and environmental friendly material. The trickiest part of the project is the big crack on the cement base. You can't really see the crack from the pictures but the crack causes the structure to be slanted which you can see in the next 2 pictures.

My friend Joseph, who just started his own gardening business, came by today to check out the trellis. The project is a little bigger than he anticipated. He said this structure is an arbor not a trellis. Okay. I really wasn't sure what the appropriate name is. Joseph will take on another project instead of Bamboo Trellis project.

On Sunday, Neal, who I met at Permaculture Solstice Convergence, is coming to take a look. I expect more inquiries from Merritt College students once the classes start again next week.

Inspiration and Transformation

A year later

When I redesigned the front garden over a year ago, I carefully selected each plant. The plants needed to be deer and drought tolerant and preferably native California. I also wanted some flowering plants for hamming birds and bees. I wanted to remove all the juniper bushes badly. They were over grown, hard to trim, full of spiders inside and covered in spider webs. To me, they served no purpose and were an eyesore.

A year ago when the flowers were first planted

This project was bigger than we could handle by ourselves, so I hired some people to remove most of the plants. I wanted a low maintenance front garden, but we didn’t know a whole lot about weed suppression back then. The only thing I knew was weed blocker or landscape fabric. More than a year later, I now know that weeds will find a way to penetrate just about anything including concrete since there are several cracks in the drive way made by weeds.

During my research, I found that most herbs are deer tolerant. I planted 2 varieties of rosemary and 2 varieties of lavender in addition to some sage, wallflowers, red monkey flowers, lilac, and a few others.

I wish it could stay this way. Unfortunately, it's now filled with weeds again.

After the initial transformation was completed, I decided to sign up for horticulture classes. Now over a year later, most of the plants have thrived. I have witnessed many hamming birds, butterflies, and bees visiting the flowerbed. I have learned various weed control methods through my class and that weed blocker doesn’t really work in the long run. It might block weeds for a year if you are lucky.