Just Dreaming

Oh, the things I've been dreaming of for the yard!

Chickens. Clucking and scratching and eating bugs and weeds and table scraps. And with all that, egg production, too. And I'm not afraid of the prospect of eating chickens after they are done laying. I could go for some home-raised chicken broth.

Composting. Putting yard waste and shredded junk mail and other scraps to good use? Yes, I think I will.

More vegetable garden space. I'd like to grow a lot more food than we currently are able to. That means more raised beds, and maybe some container gardening too.

Rabbits. And/or other small meat animals. Yes, I am thinking about the possibilities of raising our own meat.

Just some ideas I've had floating around...

Potential Yard Plan

Bad picture...still gets the point across

I've spent the last little while working on this: the plan for the front and back yards. I finally got it to a point where I'm pretty happy with it now.

There are different elements that will be part of the yard. Here are the different parts, along with the supplies that I expect we'll need:

-Bark. This will make up a fair amount of the yard. It will line the edges of the fence on the north and west sides. There will be patches of it in other places as well, potentially with shrubs and stuff planted. Needed supplies: weed barrier, bark.
-Rock. This will cover a lot of the front yard. Needed supplies: weed barrier, rocks.
-Grass. Trying to keep this to a minimum so we don't go crazy trying to maintain it, but we do want a little in some strategic spots. Needed supplies: topsoil, grass seed OR sod, sprinkler system.
-Dirt/soil beds. For areas with flowers/plants/garden/etc. Needed supplies: topsoil, organic matter, rocks for border, plants.
-Gravel. For areas where nothing needs to grow and should be kept very low-maintenance. Needed supplies: gravel, weed barrier (possibly).
-Dirt/gravel path. We'll probably just leave it as dirt for now, then add gravel to it later on. Needed supplies: gravel.

Next project is to estimate how much each project will cost...

Organizing Jewelry

Looking for a cheap but visually-appealing way to organize your jewelry? Years ago I discovered that a simple mug rack:

could be easily transformed into this:

with just a few nails or tacks in the wall.

I love it!

Idea: Gravel Path and Garden Area

We have a big-ass yard. It's a huge task to even make a final decision about what to do with it. So imagine how fun it will be to actually start the process!

The north-east section of our yard is especially a puzzle for me. There's nothing out there besides a dinky little tree. What else should be do out there?

Well, at this moment I'm thinking of doing something that's a mix between an English garden and a desert landscape. Yeah, I know, those two things really go hand-in-hand, right? But I just mean I want a nice gravel path that winds through some lovely bunches of native plants. Kind of, although not exactly, like this:

Oh yeah. Maybe a little of this:

...and this:

aaaand this:

You get the idea.

Ideas: Patio

This project here pretty much exemplifies how I want to do our future backyard patio. This particular one is for a garden path, but I'm sure it would work as a patio with just a few changes.

Obviously we'd need to make it wider, which would be no problem. Also, I'm thinking that, although flagstone is lovely, we might use stepping-stone tile things, like this:

The process is pretty simple. Lay down weed-block fabric:

Then dump some sand on there, get it wet, and press it down:

Place the stepping downs down in the sand where you want them:

Then, fill in the gaps with some fine gravel:

Shouldn't be too complicated, right?

I'm really excited at the idea of finishing this over the summer...maybe even sooner. It's all of matter of how much funding we can dedicate to the yard, you know? Anyway, just some thoughts.

Idea: Patio Dreams

One of our next projects will inevitably be working on our yard's landscape.

Pretty much it's a wasteland at this point, nothing but dirt and rocks and weeds. And because we don't have a ton of money to spend and because we don't want to waste a lot of water, we are leaning toward a lot of rocks and xeriscaping concepts to decorate our bland yard. See, we live in a climate with fairly hot summers and snowy winters, so keeping certain kinds of landscaping alive can be a bit of a challenge (and not to mention a waste of water...I'm lookin' at YOU, lush, stretching, green lawn!).

There is a lot of potential in this here yard. It may seem desolate now, but hopefully we can work on it to the point that it looks decent AND doesn't cost much to maintain. Like, for example, the pictures below:

Flt rocks and gravel make a flat-ish area that's great for relaxing. This would be great for a backyard patio!

I love this look! It is a lot like the above picture, but more polished.

Decorating with lots of rocks, shrubs, and other plants. No grass in sight, and it still looks lush and beautiful.

They just used a nice gravel as a patio area for their table set-up. Seems simple and easy to execute.

Bark, rocks, and stepping stones make up this garden area. And I love the decorative grasses too--these plants do well in our area.

(all images found using google...I do not own them, etc)