GARDEN • Trees help shield succulents from excess sun
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height behind a wealth of succulent varieties of varying colors and textures like coast buckwheat (Eriogonum latifolium), tree aeonium (Aeonium arboreum), Haworth aeonium (Aeonium haworthii) and pride of Madeira (Echium candicans). Years ago, he got help from a gardener who has come in monthly to create brick paths throughout the garden and leading into his backyard. The gardener also helps him prune the plants and trees.
Voinov is especially fond of the trees. Because his yard has an inland western exposure, summer rays could cook the succulents. But the trees, along with those across the street, provide shade at different times of the day to lessen the sun’s impact on the plants. On particularly hot days or when he and his family are traveling during school breaks, he uses a sprinkler system he and his dad installed back in 1994 that he or neighbors can turn on. Otherwise, he waters by hand.
“I find hand watering therapeutic and refreshing,” he said. “But if I don’t have time and when those 105-degree days come, every once in a while I will just do a deep watering with the sprinklers.”
The garden, as all gardens do, remains a work in progress. Voinov still has a small area near the house that he has yet to tackle. He’s always moving plants around, both to help them thrive and to satisfy the aesthetic his painter neighbor passed on to him. Weeding, he said, is minimal now.
Voinov’s not really sure about how his neighbors feel about his garden.
“My neighbors have some pretty amazing gardens that inspire me and teach me,” he acknowledged. “My garden is not as ‘pristine’ as the majority of gardens you may see in San Diego. I like a wilder and lusher look, so it may appeal to some and not to others.”
While Voinov enjoys making aspects of his life as efficient as possible — and planting a low-water succulent garden is his way of creating efficiency — he is also deeply moved by what he has created.
“I like the diversity and I like how the colors pop out,” he said. “I really wanted something that was lush, and sort of like what Bob did. I was trying to go for magical and just beautiful. So, I like looking at how the colors mesh together.”
COSTS
Voinov took on the project mostly on his own. He dug out the grass and, realizing the soil needed amending, has been going to local horse ranches to pick up dried horse manure. Or he finds cheap cow manure to spread over the soil.
“I also get free mulch from tree trimmers and spread it over the garden to keep the water in the soil,” he explained. “It’s free. It is a win-win situation. The horse ranchers need to get rid of the manure and the tree trimmers need to pay to dump the mulch. What can be a better solution for both parties?”
Voinov enjoys shopping at Walter Andersen Nursery in Point Loma, spending what he estimated is between $75 and $100 a year on new plants. His biggest investments may have been the trees. These days, his many succulents are self-generated.
“Ninety percent of them are just clippings from my garden that I propagate from stems and leaves,” Voinov said. “Ten percent are from other sources, including my mom and Bob.”
He keeps a little propagation nursery on his front porch to start the cuttings he takes.
“Once you have a few succulents going, you don’t even really need to go anywhere else to buy them,” he said with a smile.
WATER SAVED
Given how much time has passed since Voinov first started his garden project, it’s hard to say how much the family has saved over the years. When he bought the house from his mom, he and Joanna didn’t have kids, either. However, he learned from Helix Water District that people with a 4,500-foot property like theirs generally use between 45 and 50 units of water a month.
“The most we use is 24 to 25 in peak summer,” he said with a smile.