nesting with style by sondra parker We started looking for a house almost two years ago. It needed to be not too far from Denver, Boulder or the Ski areas. We zeroed in on a large area Longmont to WinterPark. After almost a year of searching we zoned in on Lafayette and Louisville. Our decision was definite that Erie was out of the running. However a particular house in Vista Ridge kept me curious. Last September we made an appointment to see two houses in the neighborhood. And the minute we walked in the door of the house I had my eye on we knew this was the one. The next day we made an offer and closing was 40 days later. We love it! And know that we made the right choice. The things we wanted: a community, caring neighbors,activities for the kids and house that worked for our family, we found here. Now, the challenge has been making our house our home; on a budget. And creating a garden and a beautiful yard in clay! In Nesting with Style I will share stories of how we have made this work and how I have helped others have upscale style on a budget. I will also answer readers questions on design challenges. If you have a question about the best color,furniture layout or even creative design solutions simply submit pictures along with your question to the editor and I will respond to10 readers a quarter and publish some of the solutions in my article. A big dilemma for us the first year was how to design our vegetable garden. I started by thinking big. What was my dream vegetable garden. I drew plans for a partir garden with stone walls, sculpture, irrigation, fruits and vegetables. I had landscape companies come and bid the job and after the $10,000 average bids came in, I began thinking of alternate solutions. By then I realized that the clay soil was not going to be our only obstacle in the path the the perfect tomato. We discovered the rabbits! However an affordable solution quickly came to mind and it did not even require HOA approval because it 48
was container gardening. Only the largest containers would work to allow a strong root system for our squash and swiss chard so we used horse troughs. And four months later, I can say they have worked almost perfectly. This is how we did it: We started by finding a level area in our yard that would provide full sun most of the day. Then contacted the HOA to confirm we were not violating any rules. We searched locally and online for the right size containers(which were ultimately purchased from Murdoch's). When the troughs arrived we used a metal drill bit to drill holes in the bottom to allow for proper drainage. Then ran the drip line hose through the existing large drainage hole on the side, filled the first 8” with gravel for more drainage and to ensure when the soil freezes in the winter the entire trough will not expand and break,then a layer of landscape tarp so the soil does not drain into the gravel, then soil, compost and drip line. The result has been a harvest from 12 varieties of heirloom tomatoes, four batches of rainbow swiss chard each planted from seed a week apart, pattypan squash, zucchini, red beet spinach, strawberries and a full herb garden. As you can see from the pictures, some plants did better than others. But for the first season this experiment proved highly successful. We have some changes to make for next year and many things we will do the same. However I would highly recommend this solution to anyone dealing with rabbits and bad soil. We have not had one item with a nibble in it. And the garden is still accessible for the kids to eat a pear tomato while playing in the yard. While many might think the galvanized containers are very modern, I feel they look perfect with our traditional stucco home. And our neighbors are happy to see our thriving vegetable garden.