Pitiful looking yard

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by Meg on February 08, 2005 05:15 PM

Sorry, had camera on wrong setting, so a bit blurry here..
This is from my deck, just the one corner of my back yard-

This is the rest of the backyard, inside the chain link fence is mine..

I know, it's kinda messy right now, and some of those bikes are going bye bye.. my kids are way too big for some of them! LOL. Anyways, I don't know what I can do inside of this yard. I have a tiny maple growing in the first photo, and in the 2nd photo, you likely can't see it, there's a tiny peach tree growing about the middle of the yard, close to the fence, and then I have 4 forsythias along the back side of the house, also tiny. We want to put in a patio, way in the back, by the basement door entrance, and stepping stones to the gate from the patio. Then, I want a nice view of things.. I plan to put in a small veggie garden.. but where? And I have lots of flower seeds too. I just don't know what to do with this sad looking yard. We also wanted to rid the chain link fence & get a nice wooden one, like a privacy fence. But not sure when this will happen.

Meg

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I reject your reality, and substitue my own!
My favorite digital camera photos that I took.
My family, garden, and a bunch of misc. photos!

by tamara on February 08, 2005 09:08 PM

Meg, do you know the exact size of the yard. Also which way is north or south?

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Tamara's Photos
Thinking Spring, Thinking Spring...Nope, doesn't work.lol

by Meg on February 09, 2005 12:05 AM

Tamara, I just went out and measured it.. it's about 22' wide, and about 75' long. Of course, there's obstructions of a couple tiny trees, and my basement doors, and my a/c unit.. plus scattered toys & bikes..lol. But mostly, it's open. As far as North or South, I'm not entirely sure. I know, the sun rises on the front side of the house, and the back gets the late afternoon sun. The end of the yard where there is no house, gets midday sun. That would be the 1st photo, the end with no house parts hiding it.. the rest is in the 2nd photo, behind my house.

I need serious help in planning this out. [Frown]

Meg

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I reject your reality, and substitue my own!
My favorite digital camera photos that I took.
My family, garden, and a bunch of misc. photos!

by loz on February 10, 2005 01:36 AM

Hey Meg!

How many different veggies are you going to have? That will help decide how big of a bed you'll need for them.....

I have the dreaded chain link fence too [Frown]

.....one way to help make it look a little better is to get some of that bamboo that rolls out.....it specifically says that it's good for covering chain link fence......I forget what gardening magazine I saw it in, but I was thinking of getting some for our fence......

Another great way to help hide it a little is to grow some hyacinth vines across it.....I did that last year to a section of our chain link and it made it seem a lot softer and prettier....chain link is so harsh looking....if you want to try that ever, let me know--I have seeds here. It was really pretty.

Do you want to keep mostly annuals, or will you be doing perennials too? I guess the most important thing to do would be to figure out what plants you really love and want to buy....and then see what requirements they have.....I'm partial to perennials because that way I don't have to keep buying 8 million plants every spring.....I'll be buying some perennial seeds to start here soon....

Which end did you say the patio will be going? On the side furthest from the street?

by Meg on February 10, 2005 05:00 AM

Hey Loz,
Let's see.. planning on 2 kinds of sweet corn, 2 kinds of green beans (1 bush, 1 pole) broccoli, carrots, about 4 kinds of peppers, & tomatoes. That's the veggies I want to try. I also bought for fun lavender, but that's just for the looks/smell, and not part of the veggie garden. I also have lots of flower type seeds now too.. from swapping/collecting.. I have hollyhock (think they'll go by the fence to hide it!), mexican hats, 4 o'clocks, gloriosa daisies, coneflower, and some babies breath & poppies. There may be some I'm forgetting.

Here's some old photos I snapped, and had put text on them before, but yahoo resized them, and made it so hard to read, I wrote in black over it again. So, you can get an idea of the size of my yard..

And this last one, is where our driveway is in front of our house.. and we want to add on to the house.. a small dining room, then a garage, taking it out to the end of the fence, but leaving the backyard out of it. Just in line with the house..

Meg

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I reject your reality, and substitue my own!
My favorite digital camera photos that I took.
My family, garden, and a bunch of misc. photos!

by Meg on February 16, 2005 01:36 AM

Well, I was outside this evening, enjoying how nice it was. Picking up some junk in the backyard, etc. Smoothed a little more of the dirt back over the hole we made in the fall for the busted water pipe. It's almost leveled out again. Then, I picked up the shovel, and on a whim, started digging. I dug up the grass from about an 8x8' section of yard by my fence, furthest from the house. I want a little bigger maybe, but that was a nice start. I think that will be 1 of 2 veggie beds, if I can manage. I really don't think I can fit all these veggies into one bed. I was trying for a 10x10' section, but maybe I'll get that, once I actually haul away the top dirt w/grass, and get it out of my way. Then, I'm gonna put compost over the whole top, and mix it in. I'll be ready when the time is right!! [Big Grin]

I'll take photos of what I've dug when there is daylight.
Meg

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I reject your reality, and substitue my own!
My favorite digital camera photos that I took.
My family, garden, and a bunch of misc. photos!

by mike57 on February 16, 2005 11:48 AM

hi meg i found a site that might help you in your gardening.its a site for small space gardeing. since you are limited to a small area.hope this helps you get you yard and flower beds and some privacy in your yard.god luck to you.your friend in gardening.mike57

http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/smallspacegarden

heres the site

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No One Can Make You Feel Inferior Without Your Consent.

by Meg on February 16, 2005 02:01 PM

Cool, thanks Mike! I need information like that.. small space gardening! Neat! Hope it has info that can help this dense gardener. [Embarrassed]

Meg

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I reject your reality, and substitue my own!
My favorite digital camera photos that I took.
My family, garden, and a bunch of misc. photos!

by suzydaze on February 16, 2005 08:40 PM

meg,
I see you have 4 o'clocks on your list of seeds. They will grow in a shady spot. I have some in a shady spot. Last spring I had over 200 -4 o'clock seedlings come up and I moved these all over my yard. I found out then that they will grow in the shade.

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I try to take one day at a time -- but sometimes several days attack me at once.
-Jennifer Unlimited-

by LaurieAnn on March 06, 2005 08:09 AM

Chain link fences make great support for climbing plants. Since you haven't decided on the privacy issue, why not allow annual vines to create some privacy for now? You could build 2' deep raised beds along the inside of the fence. Plant vines toward the back of the beds, and shorter plants in front. You could use one of these areas to plant your veggie garden.

Scarlet runner bean is not edible, but very pretty for covering a fence. Last year, I used my chain link fence to support sugar peas and snap beans.

Clematis, although perennial, would be very pretty grown on your fence, and would look great interplanted with climbing roses.

I am also considering painting our chain link fence and posts a dark green or black epoxy paint, so to make the chain link less noticeable.

by Meg on March 07, 2005 01:22 PM

Well, eventually, we want to put up the 8' tall privacy fencing. And hopefully, that won't put tooooo much more shade in the back. It already doesn't get as much sun as the front.. the sun is blasting the front of the house, and the back is pretty shaded from the house. I've wanted to plant many things along my icky fence, but hubby warned me not to, because he wasn't going to be responsible for ruining anything gardenwise, just because I planted on the fence we eventually want to rip up. *sigh* I was thinking the fence would be great for my tomatoes. I've seen others do that.

Meg

* * * *

I reject your reality, and substitue my own!
My favorite digital camera photos that I took.
My family, garden, and a bunch of misc. photos!

by BoothX3 on March 08, 2005 11:45 PM

Sweet peas love chain link fences and smell really pretty too! [Smile]

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He who laughs last, thinks slowest.

by tkhooper on March 10, 2005 10:17 PM

With all the love in my heart and the utmost respect for the men in my life, I never plan according to their "to do" list. This puts alot less strain on my relationships. My tomato plants are new each year I can't seem to keep them from year to year so use the fence as a support. If by some chance the fence is done this year it's not really that hard to stake tomato plants. And Morning Glories are an annual and very fast growers and start well from seed so even if you lost them it wouldn't be an expensive loss. what do you think?

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by Jennnay on March 15, 2005 05:35 PM

quote:
Originally posted by LaurieAnn:

Scarlet runner bean is not edible, but very pretty for covering a fence. Last year, I used my chain link fence to support sugar peas and snap beans.

Hey LaurieAnn: What do you mean Not Edible? I've grown them and known them to be edible since I was a young'un! Don't let that harvest go to waste!

Scarlet Runner Bean: Colorful ornamental vine with attractive scarlet flowers in showy clusters. Beans are edible. Use as a snap bean when young or shell and cook as a lima bean when more mature.

Source of seeds - Ed Hume Seeds

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Always remember you're unique, just like everyone else.

by Longy on March 16, 2005 09:43 PM

Meg, the best way to plan out your yard is to draw it on a plan, like an overview looking down on the block. Mark North on the plan and where the existing features like the house, fence, trees, A/C etc are. Do it to scale if possible. If you're familiar with ms powerpoint it's great for doing this, otherwise a sheet of graph paper is good. You can cutout pieces of scrap paper to depict different features like where you'll plant trees and what their final spread will be and move them about till you get everything just right. Then, later, if you lose sight of exactly where you're headed, you can refer back to the drawing. It's also a great way to show other family members or contractors exactly what you're thinking and you'll get less frustrated trying to explain your ideas and receive more useful input from others.

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