My current garden is:

Zone 9
Elevation:250ft
Area: East Bay, lower hills

Well honestly, I can’t really call it a “garden” at this point. It’s got some great no- and low-maintenance plants in the front and back yards that were left by a previous owner, and some plants that I couldn’t replace if I pulled them out because THEY’RE CEMENTED IN, so instead I try to maintain them. *facepalm* Luckily, they’re plants I might purchase myself, roses and lilies, but still. Who cements in roses and lilies?

The actual “yard” part of it is hardpan dirt and clay mixed with random chunks of broken concrete, which nothing but these incessant vines (which apparently seem to be a species of wild morning glories, though the leaves are completely unlike any morning glories I’m familiar with) will grow in. I had originally thought to segregate part of the yard for vegetables and have a bit of lawn for the toddler to play on, but the soil is not suitable for either at the moment.

I have a couple gardening “experiments” running, but it’s mainly about trying to make the lawn area capable of sustaining, well, any plant life at all. I’ve been adding organic material to it and every time I pull vines up I leave them in the yard and try to turn them under to contribute more organic material. At this point I’m more concerned with trying to condition the soil (if you can call it “soil”) than with the possibility that they’ll regrow from the cuttings. It’s in bad enough shape that I’m either going to have to spend several hundred dollars outright replacing the soil, or take two or three years of continuously turning under what organic material I have.