While we were working on remodeling the house, I was desperate to create a garden. However, there were a few challenges to overcome. First, most of the house is surrounded by walkways and patios leaving very little gardening space near the house. Second, there was no irrigation system and no faucets behind the house. Third was how to garden on a steep hill.
On the west side yard, there was a very uplifted, steep and uneven walkway along the side of the house. Below this area were some crumbling brick planters and stairways with a unique handrail made from PVC irrigation pipe. Inside the pool area were several cracked concrete planters. The strangest of these was an 8 foot tall planter that the stairway to the pool wrapped around. It was planted with a very large and tall Washingtonia palm. Improper construction and the palm had created a large 2 inch wide crack from the top of the planter to bottom. Around the pool was a stucco wall with a noticeable lean that someone had added buttresses to on the backside to prevent it from falling over. The only access from the pool area to the canyon was a side gate with a strange support at the top that was about 5 feet high and required ducking under to get through the gate. This may have been created to keep the pool fall from toppling, but it had pulled away from the concrete block wall above it and was now just something to hit your head on. Once you exited the gate, there was steep drop off into the canyon. Behind the pool wall was a chain link fence for a very narrow dog run. Below that was a weed and eucalyptus forest. One of the previous owners had planted row after row of eucalyptus trees every 10 feet from the top to bottom of the canyon. There were a few overgrown trails, but no easy way to access them.
Since any work behind the house required access from the street the first project we tackled was replacing the walkway on the side of the house. A large volunteer Phoenix canariensis (Canary Island Date Palm) had taken root at the base of one of the Italian cypresses just inside the gate to the street and blocked access to the pathway. We set out dig it out unaware of the large spines at the base of the leaves. I watched in horror as one of the spines pierced through the skin between Scott’s fingers and came out the other side. Luckily, he was able to free himself without further physical injury. The Italian cypress was not so lucky and we ended up digging it out entirely to remove the palm. We transplanted both plants further down the hill where they both soon died. Next we removed all of the old concrete and blocks along the side of the house and cleaned the mortar off the bricks from the crumbling planters and re-laid them into a nice curving walkway that led to the back of the house. We were very proud of our first functional and aesthetic addition to the garden.
Next we needed to figure out how to get irrigation into the canyon. We had noticed that there were several faucet outlets in the canyon and one just behind the pool wall. However, they did not work and we could not find where they tied into the house piping. I figured we could pressurize the line by connecting a hose to the top and eventually water would come out somewhere. So we did just that and noticed we could hear the water freely running and went about other chores in the garden. Several hours later, we heard a lot of people frantically yelling at us from the top floor of the parking garage behind our house. Once we were able to understand them, we realized that we had flooded the bottom floor of the parking garage. We quickly turned off the water and went down the hill to investigate. There was a PVC line that went from our property and into the bottom of the parking garage where it had been cut, but not capped. After talking to neighbors and hotel employees, we found out that one of the previous owners that they referred to as the “bounty hunter” had owned both the hotel and our property. He had intended to put hotel suites on the canyon behind our house, but was unable to get city approval. He also had planted the eucalyptus grove and installed the PVC lines on the hill and connected it to the hotel. A few neighbors also told us that there was once a trailer on the flat area at the very bottom of the hill. We had noticed that there were a few old pine trees and some ice plant there and wondered what had been there. Several neighbors informed us that the trailer was used by prostitutes that were waiting for calls from clients in the nearby hotels. We’ve never been able to officially confirm the story…but we are grateful for the irrigation lines in the canyon. We were able to tie into them with an irrigation system that waters part of the canyon. We are less grateful for the eucalyptus.
As we gradually progressed down the hill, it became clear to me that, in order to create a garden on a steep slope that would attract visitors, we would need to incorporate landings, seating areas, and a looping pathway back up the hill.
The most logical location for a new set of stairs was the slope behind the pool wall. However, the steepness of the slope made it challenging to figure out an approach. Fortunately, when we renovated the house, we excavated the area beneath the upstairs kitchen and dining room to create a new master bathroom. This area had doors leading from outside and the closet. The dirt reached about 5 feet high, with some flimsy footings on top supporting the house. The plan was to remove the dirt and conceal a large footing within a wall to support the house’s weight. Since this would result in a room partially underground, a new French drain was necessary to manage any water seeping from the uphill side. Scott began using a rented electric jackhammer to excavate the dirt. Although we were unaware of any decomposed granite on our property, we discovered that the dirt was undisturbed DG mixed with numerous round cobblestones of varying sizes. We piled the rocks outside the backdoor and tossed the dirt over the large 15-foot-high wall at the east end of the pool.
When it was time to connect the new sinks, shower, toilet, and laundry room to the sewer line, the contractor told us that the sewer line was on the opposite side of the house. This meant we would need a pump behind the master bedroom to reach it. We disliked this idea because it would likely be noisy in the bedroom. However, behind the bedroom was a room housing the heater and water heater for the house. I noticed a relatively new-looking drain under the water heater, which I believed connected to a matching pipe two stories below the house. The plumber tested it by running water through it and pressurizing it for several days to check for leaks. It turned out to be in excellent condition and suitable for connecting the sewer, except for one issue: it was on the wrong side of the property. To connect to the sewer line, he dug a diagonal trench across the hill and linked it to the very old cast-iron sewer line. Once the trench was covered, we had our first walkable pathway cutting across the hill. Within days, we were busy buying more blocks and constructing a new stairway next to the new sewer line. To stabilize the steep slope, large retaining walls were built above the new pathway. Halfway down the pathway, I was able to create a large circular landing.
Someone had earlier replaced the roof of the house and discarded the broken roof tiles down the hill. I utilized these tiles and other debris from the hill to form a star-shaped mosaic pattern on the landing. While excavating the hill, we uncovered bricks, concrete blocks, and large pieces of broken concrete, which seemed to have been part of a patio. It appears that the damaged decking around the pool had been replaced at least once before. We also discovered several broken concrete fruit baskets, which I used to build rubble retaining walls. Most of these are now concealed by plants.
I utilized some of the dirt excavated from beneath the house to reinforce the narrow path behind the pool wall, establishing a route from the new steps back to the pool area gate. Additionally, I used part of the dirt to construct a small patio just outside the pool area, which acts as a landing for several walkways and steps leading up and down the hill. On the west side, I dug a 2-foot trench, lined it with chicken wire and landscape cloth, and used rocks from under the house to form a dry creek bed down the hill. I was thrilled because this project tripled the garden’s available planting space.
I used some of the dirt that came from under the house to shore up the small pathway that ran behind the pool wall. This created a way to get from the new steps and back to the gate into the pool area. I also used some of the dirt to create a small patio just outside the pool area that serves as landing for several of the walkways and steps going up and down the hill. To the west side of it, I dug a 2 foot trench and lined it with chicken wire and landscape cloth and used the rocks from under the house to create a dry creekbed down the hill. I was so excited, this project tripled the available planting area of the garden.
