satori | Satori Garden Design

satori | Satori Garden Design - Part 4

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August 17, 2012 In Design

From Salvage to Chic

What do you do with an old, blue and cracked concrete slab, some random pavers and a free load of scrap from the local stone yard? First you scratch your head and hope that you and your client’s vision of a beautiful hardscape made of repurposed pieces will be realized (in an artful way!). As a designer, I’ve had lots of practice in re-purposing broken concrete, wood and even plant material but this was a little new to me. My concern was in our ability to get the slab up in enough neat rectilinear pieces to work with the other mish-mash material we had. My other concern was the huge disparity in the thickness of the different materials. Some were 6″ and some were barely an inch. As my client worked her magic at the stone yard getting them to donate a whole palette of free scrap I held my breath as we worked to slice and dice the concret slab. To

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my amazement we salvaged 90% of it and you can see from the results we found a beautiful new home for it. To this we added a few 18″ square recycled glass and concrete pavers, scrap limestone, slate and bluestone along with concrete pavers we stained with a soy-based product.

June 26, 2012 In Design, Kids in the Garden

A Future Garden for Frankin? Your Vote Can Help!

I’ve been a parent at Franklin Elementary in Santa Monica so long I can barely remember life before it. Since I’m not planning on any more kids, I can safely say I’ll be there for three more years with my youngest. This is meaningful because I’d like to accomplish something I’ve been wanting to do for so long for the school…..make a beautiful garden the kids can BE IN. Despite the plantings I’ve done around campus, I’ve yet to give the kids a place to sit in and be surrounded by edible, California natives, beneficial plants, etc…. Things they can tend to, study, brush past and observe.
Well, as life often works, as soon as I put that dream on the way back burner I heard about the Treepeople Goodmaker Challenge to green up LA. I felt like a little door (or rather a garden gate) had been opened to the possibility of putting the garden in at last. The winner of the challenge gets cash, materials and volunteers to realize their green space. I’m hoping your vote can get me and the kids all the way through that little garden gate and into a garden of our own….please click here to VOTE

January 19, 2012 In Habitat, Permaculture

That amazing Comfrey

Symphtum uplandicum

As I learn more about food forestry I’m constantly in awe of the usefulness of some plants. Comfrey is one that really amazes me because it can do so much for the garden and for us. Comfrey (Symphytum officinale) is highly medicinal aiding in wound healing and anti-inflammation. For the food forest is provides much soil building mulch. Comfrey is considered a bio-accumulator because it pulls potassium, calcium and magnesium up through its tap root into its leaves. These leaves later decompose in the soil and give back those nutrients that would’ve been hard for other plants to access. Comfrey also fights compaction with it fat taproot. Comfrey provides excellent shelter for beneficial insects and spiders. I’m sure there’s even more Comfrey can do, clearly no garden should be without this workhorse of a plant.

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January 19, 2012 In Habitat, Horticultural Musings, Permaculture

Great book on the future of our gardens

read this book and you'll want to make some changes

I love borrowing books from my local library so I’m always searching their catalog for things I’m interested in. My “food forest” search lead me to The New American Landscape – Leading Voices on the Future of Sustainable Gardening. What I most love about this book is it’s format. Because it is a gathering of experts in the fields of ecology, horticulture, soil biology, landscape design, permaculture, bio-instensive farming, etc… it really hits home for me on so many levels. This multi-angle attach synthesizes from the soil (managing soil health) to the roof (green roofs) and everywhere in between what can be done to shape our own yards into ecologically contributing spaces. I highly recommend this book for sustainable landscape beginners and experienced gardeners alike.

January 19, 2012 In Design, Lowering Water Usage

It’s freakin’ fecund!

My client and friend actually blurted “it’s freakin’ fecund!” when I was at her house taking photos of her garden. I think her description is very spot on given the fact that when these photos were taken the garden was in for just 5 months! I used mainly 1 gallon plants or flats with a sprinkling of 5 gallon plants. It’s astonishing how happy her plants are and how quickly they’ve taken hold. In fact, I offered her a few vegetable plants to stick in the ground right after I planted mine. Wouldn’t you know it….hers are twice the size of mine and insect free. I think this is due to the fact that there’s a good amount of diversity in this garden and we added a really nice organic soil conditioner called Tri-C Humate Plus. The garden is largely native and all the new plantings are low water (except the vegetables which actually don’t get any supplemental water). This is another Santa Monica Sustainable Landscape Grant garden of mine so this client received $5,000 towards the installation. Not bad considering this was just a lawn and basketball court. I’m really proud of this garden for many reasons. First of all, it’s a total transformation of a backyard that was definitely not picturesque, inviting or sustainable. This backyard will support some native insects and birds, offer gorgeous views from inside the house and lure the homeowners out to enjoy the beauty. It’s also a low maintenance garden since the natives only need occasional attention usually in the form of pruning back. In addition to the plantings we removed an old patio and replaced it with a beautiful permeable patio of Belgard pavers. We also added an outdoor kitchen and a metal fire bowl by John T. Unger.