The 700 Club
Krsti's Staycation Destination
By Shannon Woodland
The 700 Club
CBN.com - Kristi: “I’ve always wanted to make my backyard that special oasis, but problem number one, I don’t know what to do or where to even start.”
I thought, wouldn’t it be cool to get someone from HGTV to help me out! Well guess what? I got him and his name is Justin Cave. He’s the host of HGTV’s ‘Ground Breakers’.
Justin says it all starts with a game plan. So he created an amazing landscape design for us to work with – which included a pergola.
But before we could start digging, we had to get down to the basics.
Cutting down the swing was fun, but we had to address some safety issues too, like marking the utility and irrigation lines.
Justin: “It’s been marked so everything is good to go. I have some marking paint here which is a good landscaping tool so I want to spray out some of the proposed bed space that we’ve got. That’s part of the prep work. And then we’ll start digging it. So we have a lot of work to do.”
Kristi: “C’mon, are you ready?”
When you’re single, finding an extra pair of helping hands is always an issue. But I was blessed with a great team of friends, neighbors and co-workers who helped. I needed it because we literally dug for hours and hours.
Justin: “I just wanted to see Kristi get in there a do a little shoveling. This machine (a mini track loader) is going to save us a lot of time and energy. Just wanted to see her work.”
Kristi: “Even though we had a game plan, it seemed like every hour we faced a new challenge that slowed down the process. But we just had to learn to adjust.”
Justin: “But it’s one of those things.”
Kristi: “I mean it’s grass, it will grow back.”
Justin: “It is grass. It can grow back.”
Finally the plants arrived! Yeah! Weeks before a shovel even hit the ground I did a lot of prep work. I met with Eddie Baldree of Enchanted Forest Nursery in Chesapeake, Virginia. He gave me a quick lesson on plants; like the difference between annuals and perennials or what kind of plants worked best in shade and in the sun.
Eddie: “It’s not rocket science. It’s your yard. If it looks good to you, that’s the main thing.”
Even though I’m on a budget I got a lot of what I wanted – just with a couple of adjustments here and there.
Justin: “We went down on the container sizes to save on money, but we still have a good height on these trees. We have about a foot to two foot a year growth on these trees.”
It’s the end of day one, and we are all exhausted. We did a lot of hard work.
Justin: “We got the beds prepped. The pavers are going in. The guys got the pergola in and it looks great. All the prep work is done for the patio. We got the plants back here. We’ve got most of the boulders set. We’ve got a lot of people here. We have a good crew. We’re getting this thing in.
Kristi: “Whew! Alright!”
Okay, it’s day two, and I’m a little sore, a little sun burned, but I’m excited because this is where the fun begins.
Kristi: “Alright Justin, teach me. Show me. How do I plant?”
Justin: “You want to follow proper planting techniques. You stick the container in there. You want the hole to be about twice the width of the container itself.”
Kristi: “What about the depth of it?”
Justin: “That’s really important and that’s where a lot of people mess up is they bury the plant too deep. So, I like to leave about an inch of the crown exposed.”
“Now a lot of these plants will be root bound. You want to take it and kind of ‘scratch it up’ a little. If any dirt is left in the container, get that in there. (at the base of the plant) You want to make sure it is nice and straight. The last thing we are going to do is water it in.”
“If you don’t have any plant knowledge, all you have to do is pull out the tag and read the tag. It will tell you everything you need to know about the plant.”
“This is ice plant. It blooms all summer. Plant it in full sun. It requires good drainage. It grows about 5” tall, and you want to space it 18” – 24” apart. It’s that simple.”
Alright, let’s get going. We still have a lot of work to do.
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