We are redoing our backyard
By sweetdesign
@sweetdesign (5142)
United States
August 4, 2008 5:46pm CST
So we have decided to revamp our backyard. We have a vinyl privacy fence around the backyard so this helps keep unwanted visitors in our backyard but the place is looking not so good. So we are putting in 3 raised beds 6 feet in length and 3 feet wide. this will be for our garden (well the backyard garden). We will have climbing plants in one bed like beans and squashes and the like, in another bed we will have tomatoes and peppers and in the last bed we will have things like lettuces and cabbages and radishes and the like.
We will have atleast two tire "beds" one for potatoes and the other for carrots. Inbetween the beds we are laying down black weed killer and then white rocks. From the gate to the garden willbe concrete walkway where we will keep the garbage cans,garden wagon and composters. On the other side of the garden will be a concrete slab for my grilling station and then white rock every where else.
What do you think of our plans?
The garden is a big deal for us here in FL cause we can grow most of the year. So it is getting the lion's share of the yard.
2 people like this
8 responses
@lilaclady (28207)
• Australia
4 Aug 08
Sounds like you have a good productive garden, I think with the high prices of food these days more people are going to be revamping their back yards so they can cut their food bills down and you don't have to use petrol to drive to the supermarket, I hope your garden brings you lots of vegies and a lot of happiness...
@Adoniah (7513)
• United States
4 Aug 08
Where are the flowers and why are you doing raised beds? What part of Fl. are you in? I have lived in Fl. all of my life and I have never done raised beds and have had wonderful gardens. Tomatoes and peppers can grow all year if they are on the east side of the house. but if they get full sun they will not make it in the summer. The same with squash. Beans do well in fall and early spring as do carrots. Potatoes have to go in late winter for early spring growth. Radishes do well on the east side all year. Brocolli grow well all winter as does colliflower and sugar snap peas. Lettuce and cabbage do well in northern Fl. or as a winter crop in central and southern Fl.
Good luck!
Shalom~Adoniah
1 person likes this
@Adoniah (7513)
• United States
5 Aug 08
Then my suggestion is tons of cow manure and deep mulching of oak leaves. Keep the leaves at least 6" deep year round!!! In two years, you will have such rich soil that you will have earthworms. I am not kidding. In your area, you should be able to find neighbors glad to get rid of their Oak leaves.
I lived on a sandy pine ridge on the outskirts of a place called Orange City. In the City, it was Hammock like and you could grow anything because it was on the downhill slope to a spring, but where I was it was pure sand. However, in a couple of years I had a killer garden!! I have lived all ove Fl. and am from here. I do know what works. Please try it.
Shalom
1 person likes this
@sweetdesign (5142)
• United States
5 Aug 08
I have two oak trees around me but the don't shed there leaves. the only trees that shed here are the pines tons of them cause we are so close to GA and this wierd little tree in our front yard oh and the neighbors oleander trees lose their leaves but the two big trees (I am assuming they are oak since there are acorns everywhere) don't go bare at all.
@lingli_78 (12822)
• Australia
5 Aug 08
it sounds like a great idea... unfortunately, i don't have a green hand and not good at all in gardening... so i can't do anything to my garden... so i just have to leave my backyard like that for the moment until i have some extra money to hire people to do it... take care and have a nice day...
1 person likes this
@sweetdesign (5142)
• United States
5 Aug 08
We are getting ready to fire our yard people as they do a crapp& job and don't do what we hired them to do just like the 3 companies before them. They all talk a good game and the first couple of times they come out they are great thn they go downhill in the service and the yard (especially the backyard) starts to look like a jungle again and we live in a subdivision with an HOA and we can't let our yard look like that. Mom's trust pays for the yard service but since we won't have much left in the backyard and since most of the front yard is now beds we are going to fire them and just do the yard ourselves. There are a ton of yard companies here but of the four we have seen and looking at other people's yards done by other companies none of them do quality work. Atleast not up to my standards, I require too much I guess when I ask that the hedges and bushes be kept trimmed.
@eaforeman6 (8979)
• United States
4 Aug 08
It sounds like a great garden. Have you had any luck with the upside down hanging tomatoes.? My father tried that and it did not go very well. Are you going to have a compost box? What will your winter Plants be? Are you going organic with your garden or not?
@sweetdesign (5142)
• United States
4 Aug 08
The only pesticides we use is the old standby 7 dust. I like ladybugs in my garden too. We do have composts boxes two of them. We really don't have a winter per say here in FL. During the two colder months (55-65 degrees) I will be starting seeds indoors. I haven't tried the upside down tomatoes but we have a similar thing for strawberry plants and it does ok nothing to really scream about.
@snowy22315 (170420)
• United States
4 Aug 08
It sounds cool. Why dont you submit a picture when it's done. I'd like to see it. We did a partial redo of our backyard last year. Nothing like that, but we had a fifty dollar off card for Lowe;s so we added landscaping around the bird bath. We alos had some idiot rip trees out of the area just beyond our backyard so we planted 4 trees total. They are leland spruce so they are getting big already.
I also had some leftover aquarium gravel I put around the birdbath and it looks nice.
1 person likes this
@sweetdesign (5142)
• United States
4 Aug 08
I will add pictures as it progresses. Right now we are in the planning stage next we will be in the buying stage then building and so forth.
@Opal26 (17679)
• United States
4 Aug 08
Wow, I'm impressed sweet! I think I'll have to stop by
when I go to visit my mom in a month or two and shop in
your garden!It sounds amazing! Really,
you guys have it planned out so well. You know where you
want everything right down to the last stone and carrott.
I wish I could have a garden. Produce is so expensive and
the stuff is rotten here in NY. But where I live so is the
soil and property. The landlord doesn't do much here to
fix up the grass and the soil. I live in a "garden apartment"
with no garden! I hope it works out well for you. I'm sure it
will. You really sound like you know what you're doing.
1 person likes this
@sweetdesign (5142)
• United States
4 Aug 08
When I was growing up my grandparents had a huge garden (as big as our house which is a four bedroom) and my parents had a huge garden just slightly smaller than thiers but that was in AR and growing in FL is a little different. I hope it all turns out like we plan for it too.
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
5 Aug 08
I think that sounds wonderful. We need to do do some landscaping in our front and back yard but we never seem to have the time to do it. When we have the time, we don't have the money.
1 person likes this
