HIP#2: Landscaping/ホーム改善計画：第２弾 前庭

About two weeks after we moved in we said good bye to these trees/monsters circled in red... Let's make a list to make sure you understand how big the whole project was...:-)
新居に引っ越して２週間後に沢山あった変な木/お化け植物にさようならしました...下にある写真を参考にして数えてみましょう...：）

Tree1: On the very right was a half chopped pine tree that was taking up space and hideous.
変な木１:一番右にあるのは上半分が切られて無くなっていた松の木でした。

Tree2: Right in the middle was an over grown cypress tree, we did not care for it.
変な木２:真ん中にあるのが変な形のサイプレスの木。

Monster1: Right in front of the middle cypress was a monstrous birds of paradise on steroids... The craziest thing was that those monsters have crazy long meaty roots.
お化け植物１:変な木２の前にあるステロイドを取りすぎた楽園の鳥と呼ばれる植物...この根っこが特に問題。

Tree3: A huge pine tree that cut through our nice bay window.
変な木３:台所にある大きな出窓の前を通り過ぎて見た目がとっても目障りな松の木。

Monster2: Of course the previous owner planted another birds of paradise on the left side of the bay window. Their roots were all over the front lawn as we tried to turn up the dirt pre-lawn seeding, really, really pain in the butt!
お化け植物２:もちろん前に住んでいた人達が楽園の鳥お化けをもう一つ植えてくれていました...一番小さい赤丸がそれを示しています...

Tree4: Right behind the monster2 was another over grown cypress tree.
変な木４:お化け植物２の真後ろにあるのがまた変な形のサイプラスの木...

How many do we have so far... 4 trees and 2 monsters... Let's keep counting!
ひと休憩をして途中合計を出しましょう...変な木が４本とお化け植物が２匹...
さあ、どんどんいきますよ〜！

Monster3: On the right was another over grown plant with giant leaves that could be used as umbrellas...

お化け植物３:一番右側に居るのがまたとっても大きな植物...となりのトトロで使えそうな葉っぱの傘のような一枚一枚とっても大きな葉っぱです。邪魔。

Monster4: On the left was a combination of over grown birds of paradise like plant and aloe forest.

お化け植物４:左側にあるのが楽園の鳥お化けとアロエが合体した物...

Looks like we are tied at 4 - 4 at this point...

何と今４対４で同点です...

Tree5: Where the small circle is against the house was a huge stump and that had to go...
変な木５:真ん中に見える小さい赤丸は腐りかけていたとっても大きな切り株...　とっても目障りでした...

 Definitely a better picture of monster4...
この写真だとお化け植物４がもう少しよく見えるはずです...

 Oh no it's not over yet... We were so disappointed to not have taken pictures of our side yard but there was a really tall poplar tree that the previous owner had in a pot but somehow the roots have busted out of the pot and secured themselves into the ground but since it was never properly planted it stuck out of the ground in pot shape... Very hard to explain, that's why I wish I had taken a picture...

So A Grand Total of 5 Trees and 4 Monsters were removed from our property that day... and we stayed under $1000 which was a great deal! Our Tree guys we found on Yelp were very professional and did such a great job so if you are in need of a tree guy and live in Southern California let us know!
これで終わりだと思ったら大間違いです...残念ながら横庭の写真を撮るのをすっかり忘れていたんだけど、そこにあったのはポプラの木...
と言う事で合計は変な木５本とお化け植物４匹のでした。そして、１０万以下でこのたくさんの邪魔者削除が出来たので私達はとても満足です：）

Right away we got busy trying to make our front lawn nice and edible:-)

In front of our beautiful bay window are a Raspberry bush, Blueberry bushes and a Blackberry bush...

On the left of them we planted a palm tree which was what we really wanted in our home... Also, you may noticed some green patches of our new lawn... Since I'm composting I can use all the lawn clippings for it...:-)
そして、木とお化けが無くなって見た目すっきりした後、食用植物庭園計画の開始です：）出窓の前に植えたのは木いちご、ブルーベリー、そしてブラックベリーの木...そして、その左側にはいつも夢だったカリフォルニアに住んでいる証拠のパームツリー...
２、３週間前に植えた芝生もだんだん出てきました...：）

 

 Depending on the amount of Sun this palm tree will grow very tall over time...
日当りにもよると思うけど、ゆっくりと大きくなる予定のパームツリー...

On the very left is our Fuji Apple... Last few days we've noticed that some flowers are starting to bloom... Then to the right of it is our Washington Navel Orange tree... This tree is covered with tiny green future oranges to be harvested early next year...:-) We will keep you posted on these fruit trees I'm sure!
一番左側にあるのがフジリンゴの木...ここ２、３日かわいい花が開いています...そしてその右側にはネーブルオレンジの木...今小さい緑の赤ちゃんオレンジでいっぱいです...来年収穫予定...：）

  

Meet our Avocado Tree... Someone told us it takes 8 years for avocado trees to fruit but when I checked with the nursery where we got the tree from, he said it should fruit this year... Small crop but should fruit some so we'll wait and see:-)
これはアボカドの木...誰かがアボカドは実がなるまで８年くらいかかると言っていたけど、この木を買った植物園によると同じ年に少しだけど実がなるはずだと言われたので、それを祈って待っています：）

This Lemon Tree was here when we moved in and didn't have much fruits but I can see now it has tons of baby lemons so that's exciting:-) We discovered how delicious fresh lemonade is!
家を買った時にあったレモンの木は、そんなにレモンがなっていなかったけど、今はたくさんの赤ちゃんレモンが付いているので今年の秋の収穫がとっても楽しみです。家で摘みたてのレモンを使って作るレモネードは絶品です！

Another fruit tree we forgot to take a picture of is a Cherry Tree... Apparently Cherry trees need about 500 chill hours and they don't get that here so we have a low hope of actual delicious cherries but we are expecting very pretty cherry blossoms in the spring to remind me of back home...:-)
もう一本写真を撮り忘れていたのがサクランボの木です...買った後に知った事実は、サクランボは５００時間のすごい寒い気候が無いと実がならないそうで、この暖かい地域では綺麗な花が咲くだけ...でも日本を思い出せる花が咲いてくれるだけで私は満足なのです：）

From another angle of our front yard...
少し離れている所からの風景...

 

 Our next to do for our yard was to build a raised garden so we can start growing our own veggies, fruits and herbs...
私達の次の計画は野菜とハーブを育てる用の箱を作る事でした...

I am soooo proud of Dave for putting this beautiful raised garden together!! Since Lowe's circular saw was broken when we went to buy materials we asked our very friendly handy neighbor to chop them up for us... After Dave finished the frame I applied stain/weather proof coating and let it dry... Then went back to Lowe's to get some soil... Wow that was some soil alright! My raised garden recipe called for soil that had top soil, compost and one other thing I can't remember right now so when I asked Dean, an associate at Lowes, (who is like the agriculture wizard and has been super helpful) told me that they don't sell soil that has all of them so I would have to buy them separately and mix them ourselves... and what we like about him is that he will try to get what we need without breaking our bank! So he got us what we need for around $100 which was great but wow that was a lot of materials we needed to fill 32 cubic ft... Anyways we made it home with all the bags and we got busy... Dave emptied one of each(as per Dean's suggestion) so I can evenly mix them and spread them out...
すごいでしょ？デイブが作ってくれた箱!!デイブをよく知っている人にはこの箱を作ると言う事がどれほどの達成感なのか分かると思います：）この箱はとっても大きいので、そこに入れる為の土を買って持ち帰って来るのがとっても大変でした！そして肥料、土、そしてもう一つの３種類の材料を一生懸命混ぜてやっと、マディソンスクエアガーデンの完成です...：）

 

 The Madison's Square Garden is ready for planting!!
野菜を植える準備完了!!

 

There is still tons of room after planting ones I bought... which is great!
沢山野菜の苗を買ったと思ったら、ぜんぜん場所が余っていました！

 On the right: Green Beans
右:さやいんげん

On the left: Japanese Cucumber
左:日本のキュウリ

Front: Cherry Tomatoes which I thought was Heirloom Tomatoes
手前:間違えて買ったプチトマト

On the left: Japanese Eggplant
左:日本のなす

Front: Green Pepper
手前:ピーマン

 Two different kinds of Strawberries... We are actually harvesting first 3 or 4 tomorrow:-) Madison has been checking on her garden and really excited to see them turn from green to red this week...
２種類のいちご...もう早速最初の３、４個の収穫が明日の予定です：）マディソンも毎日楽しそうに緑色から赤色になるのを観察しています...

We gotta have watermelon!!
スイカにも挑戦!!

 

 It's been about two weeks and we have more new additions to Madison's Square Garden and huge progress in those veggies and fruits you just saw but I will update you in another post... Stay tuned!
この日から２週間経ちました。そして、新しい区仲間に加わった野菜も沢山あります。そして、この野菜達の成長の早さにビックリ！でもその報告はまたちがうポストで...：）