Day One

My husband and I live in central San Diego, not too far from the ocean.  I have lived in San Diego all my life and have seen first-hand the changing weather patterns.  It’s not too hard to figure out that it’s getting drier and drier (this is a desert, afterall).  And, of course water is getting more and more expensive.

We have already created a low-water garden out back in our patio.  We’ve had so much fun discovering the amazing world of succulents and other drought tolerant plants.  Last year, we put in a vegetable garden on one of our lower terraces and plan to have an even better one this year.  We are considering putting in a grey water system to supply water to our lowest terrace so we can grow some fruit trees (more about that, composting, and backyard chickens later).

                                          Succulents in our patio garden

Now, our focus has turned to our front yard. A small patch of grass, a couple of pigmy date palms, some agapanthus, and an assortment of other plants make up our pleasant but unimaginative front yard.  We want to remove all of this and replace it with landscape that won’t require a lot of water or a lot of maintenance.  We are looking for ways to live lighter, simplify, and create more time to have fun by getting rid of the baggage.

The intent of my new blog (thanks for visiting!) is to document this journey and, I hope, to provide a forum to exchange knowledge, opinions, and ideas along the way.