Back in Business

Well, almost.

All the topsoil is in now. We've been given the go-ahead to put the veggie garden back together, and that's just what we started to do tonight! We've got it level, and tomorrow we'll put the dirt back in. After that? Plants!

During the whole waiting period, I finished a kind of fun/creative project for the garden: these plant markers.

 Thrift store spoons + hand-drawn labels on paper + mod podge = these heavy duty garden markers that happen to be quite cute. Maybe a little TOO cute for me.

Side Yard Plan

I've been really, really lacking any kind of motivation to think about or work on the yard. And, since the whole project is kind of floating in limbo at the moment what with landlords and landscapers still working out what will be done with the property, it's no wonder I have no desire to commit to any ideas right this second. Yeah, I'm feeling beaten down. BUT...I have still been daydreaming, and lately it's been about the side yard.

This is the only area that it seems we'll get to have much control over what happens, so I've developed a plan for how I want to do it. Yes, I know that at any moment plans could change and it could be covered in grass or something, but I really have high hopes for what it can become...through OUR hard work and planning.

So here is a basic plan I've drawn up for the side yard area:

I will give more details about the different areas I've drawn:

A: Flower beds, most likely full of wildflowers, some ornamental rocks/pavers, and perhaps some nice ground cover or moss:

B: A dirt or gravel path, possibly including stepping stones:

C: A "lookout" or relaxation area with a bench and possible firepit:

D: Bark, with intermittent shrubs/bushes:

E: Vegetable garden area. Will have a raised garden bed, planters, a gravel path, and some kind of fence (picket?)

F: Rocks, to make the bark borders a little less boring...maybe with some decorative grasses?:

Even the best-laid plans...

...can turn into a pile of meaningless trash in an instant.

What we started.

Over the weekend, we learned that we won't be able to landscape the yard the way we had wanted to. The city has a nice list of rules regarding how yard landscaping must look, and even though not all homes in our neighborhood adhere to these rules exactly, we have been targeted by the city because we've lived here a year and by law must have a landscaped front yard by the end of the month. And they are telling us how to do it.

The front yard must be mostly vegetation...what they really mean is they want grass. Oh, grass...just what I was hoping to avoid. I'd dreamed of xeriscaping most of the front yard--perhaps even all. A landscaper came to look at the yard, and he said that the easiest way to quickly satiate the city is to put in a bunch of grass. And so, the front yard that I wanted to be mostly rock and bark will now be about 80% grass.

The landscaper claimed that grass was the best choice as far as saving time on yardwork goes. He may be right, in some ways. But I was completely willing to work a little harder to have what I had dreamed of.

I guess that part of the back yard will still be left for us to create as we wish, but not until after the landscapers scrape away about 6 inches of dirt and rock and replace it with topsoil, effectively erasing all the plans and outlining we'd started. Our garden will be uprooted. I'm not even sure when I'll get to plant my seed starts at this point.

So our plans aren't totally worthless, but right now it feels that way. Like all the stuff we were willing to do doesn't matter. And I guess we'd better get used to the idea of mowing a lawn Every. Damn. Week. All. Summer.

So a lot of stuff is on hold right now, and gardening might not be a reality until June. I'm hoping that I can still make a lot of my projects work out despite the setback.

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...

State of the Garden Address

Ok, so as of today here's how things are progressing.

Seeds I've Started Indoors (and how they are doing):
Tomato, Gourmet Heirloom Blend: 3/4 sprouted. They seem to be doing quite well :)
Tomato, Bonny Best: 1/2 sprouted. Doing okay :/
Pepper, Golden Treasure: 0/2 sprouted :(
Pepper, Sweet Golden Cal Wonder: 0/2 sprouted :(
Eggplant, Black Beauty: 2/3 sprouted. Only 1 seems to be thriving, however. ;/
Lettuce, Salad Bowl Red: 7/12 sprouted/thriving...originally more sprouted, but they dried out. Still, the majority are doing well :)
Pumpkin, Orange Smoothie: 2/2 sprouted and thriving...I think starting this indoors was a mistake since they are already big-ass sons of guns. Doing great :)
Winter Squash, Delicata: 0/2 sprouted...they may need more time? :(
Melon, Casaba Golden Beauty: 4/4 sprouted, 2 of which are already thriving :)

Seeds I've Started Outdoors (and how they are doing):
Pea, Dark Seeded Perfection: Planted 16. These have finally, just BARELY, started showing their lovely little faces! About three little sprouts are now visible, so I'm quite joyful :) I'm going to try to keep them pretty wet and hope they keep on growing like a boss. :/
Carrot, Danvers Half Long: Can't remember how many I planted...but regardless, nothing yet :(

So far, not too bad, right? If nothing else, I've got tomatoes, eggplant, lettuce, pumpkins, melons, and peas to look forward to! Next step is, I think, to move the thriving/larger plants to bigger containers, and soon I'll start hardening them off.

When life hands you rocks...

...use them to landscape your yard!

 We lined the bottom of our rock wall with some weed blocking material with the idea of covering it with rocks we already had in the yard.

 

   To help prevent too much dirt from ending up on the weed block fabric, we used a few things from around the yard to allow us to filter the rocks from the dirt. This worked pretty well, although slow-going. We just shoveled areas that were especially rocky and dumped the load on top of the grate, letting the smaller rocks and dirt fall through into the black bin.

 

 We started creating a boarder of larger rocks along the edge of the area to help contain the smaller rocks and look spiffy.

After a few loads of rocks, here is the result! This is only a small section, but we'll definitely be spending more time getting this just right.

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)

What's up, Doc?

It's been one of those kinda crap-tastic days.
So...what better to do than plant carrots?

Sprouts are doing okay inside so far. Not much from the eggplants or peppers yet, but tomatoes and lettuce seem to be doing quite well!

Catch-up for this week...

Seeds are sprouting!
Tomatoes are doing the best so far. There are a few peppers and lettuce seeds just starting to show their little green selves, too.

This little guy? That's a freakin' Canby thornless raspberry. For sers. This is going in my yard! FTW! Did I ever mention how much I love raspberries? Well, it's a LOT.

Aaand...here is the totally finished raised garden bed, complete with the soil mix, square foot gardening sections laid out, and PEAS planted! Awesome.

I still don't really know what I'm doing, but I could probably fool a few people at this point. Let's see what actually happens...

We did it!

A few hours on a nice warm spring day, and the garden bed project is done!

 D. was oh so willing to help a TON with this project. Don't get the wrong idea, though, because I worked my ass off too! D. is just more photogenic than I am. Plus, he knows how to use a drill, so there you go.

Thanks, D., for the pose.

We drove out to Lowe's once we'd built and moved the wooden bed. We stuffed 12 bags of topsoil, 10 bags of manure, and some peat moss into two small-ish cars. Believe it or not, it smelled worse outside the cars than inside on the ride home (thanks to the mink farms we passed on the road).

Haul. Dump. Mix. And...we misjudged how much we would need, but we got the bed 3/4 full anyway.

We'll have to hurry and get the rest in there so I can plant the peas!

Little Project: Umbrella Stand

So what do you do when you need access to shade for garden work during the middle of the day? And you just happen to have a couple of PVC pipe pieces leftover from a previous project? And you have extra containers, and plenty of rocks?

It' not a pretty sight, but then again, neither is the rest of the yard. This will be great for shade while working in the garden!

Materials: Check!

Another trip to Lowe's, and we now have the supplies for the garden bed.

The materials we ended up getting cost about $60. This includes screws, some drill bits, the wood, and some stakes.

We were planning to use cedar or pine as suggested in the guide we're following for this project, but the store did not have those kinds in the wood size we needed. We found Douglas Fir to be a less expensive solution, and it came in the right size. I understand that this kind of wood will rot faster, but since we are only planning to stay in this house for a few years it should be okay in the long run. Hopefully it will hold up as long as we're here, but I don't really know what to expect. This is all one big adventure, isn't it?

We've estimated that the cost of soil to fill the bed will probably be another $60, since we can literally use none of the native soil and will need to bring everything in. This little project is getting somewhat expensive, but I knew going in that starting up would require an initial cost.

Now to put the thing together.