Yard to garden... where to start?

14 years ago

Hi there! I'm a first time home owner and have been container gardening in the past. I finally have a YARD to work with! And a pretty good sized one at that. There is TONS of work to be done to turn the lawn into a good sized garden out back! It's a bit of a daunting task, help me figure out if I'm totally blanking on anything!

http://bekajoi.livejournal.com/?s2id=29394404 has pics of the "before" and a few progressive ones from pulling out our pond system and moving decorative pieces.

Anyway, so this fall my plan is to... pull as many weeds as possible (planning to in-ground garden, my soil is quite nice!), move the rocks from the backyard to the area out front I'm making under the blue spruce bush/tree. This should pretty well till the ground as much as it needs this fall... I may see if I can find clover seed to spread out there to "cover crop" it once I move the rocks. Didn't find any at Lowes today though.

Other than that... maybe sowing clover seed out front to take over the grassy areas, and planting a fruit tree or two, what do I need to do this fall? Should I be planting berry bushes in the fall or spring? I want blueberry for sure, black and raspberries would be good as well. Strawberry plants need to be planted in the spring I think?

Anyway! Am I on the right track? Totally blanking on anything important? Trying to level the ground and pull out any unnecessary trees... if it's not fruit bearing and not well established, I DON'T WANT IT! I'm not quite in the permaculture way of thinking, but I'm pretty close I guess.

Anyway! Any tips for an in-ground noobie?

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Comments (5)

Skybird - z5, Denver, Colorado
14 years ago
Hi Bekajoi,

I believe the plant in your "smells like a mild onion" picture is garlic chives, and they do reseed some, so it theyÂre here and there, that would make sense.

I donÂt know if this will be a disappointment or not, but your lavender plants look like Russian sage to me!

Watering effectively on a slope can be very difficult. Since you seem to be ready for some big projects, IÂd highly recommend you put a 2 or 3 high railroad tie "wall" across the yard somewhere and level the soil out above and below it. Level ground will make your gardening SO much easier in the long run.

If your Italian plum it whatÂs usually called a prune plum, they should be very soft and sweet when theyÂre ripeÂit the birds and squirrels donÂt get them first! I love prune plums!

Your grape is most likely a seeded Concord, but you wonÂt know for sure till it produces grapes. Concord is good for juice, jelly, and wine if youÂre into that kind of wine, but theyÂre not that great for eating fresh.

The bush that has small red berries could possibly be a honeysuckle, but I really canÂt tell for sure from the pic. If it is, birds will eat the berries, but youÂre not gonna want to. They donÂt taste goodÂto humans!

If the pond liners donÂt have any holes in themÂand you do decide to level the yard with railroad ties, you could make a great little waterfall over the drop in the yard at the ties!

With all the weed seeds you have in there, be prepared to be pulling weed seedlings for YEARS! Do as much as you can to pull the weeds that now have seeds on them, before the seeds ripen and fall off!

If you have any bindweed (I donÂt see any in the pics), and you till, breaking the roots into little pieces, youÂll have as many new bindweed plants as there are pieces of roots! Do everything you can to get out the bindweed and all the roots BEFORE you till!

With the rock mulch that seems to be all over the placeÂrake/clean as much of it off of the surface as you possibly can. If you just till or work it into the soil itÂll cause problems every time you try to dig anywhereÂand keep hitting the rocks!

A lot of work, but a yard with great potential!

Welcome to RMG,
Skybird
bekajoi
Original Author
14 years ago
The tiered boxes thing actually sounds really great! I'd have to enlist help to stake them but that seems like the hardest part. It's not a super sloped yard but that would help a lot. I do have small children and we want to build them an area at the bottom of the yard for a play area, make them a little hideaway under the boughs of the tree that comes over the fence, etc. Staggering like that and keeping a path down the middle of the yard would be really helpful.

The pond system is being freecycled away, I'm not really sure about having a 2' deep pond with crazy interested children around LOL. I guess I'd rather use the space for something productive instead, or something.

The rock will be transplanted to the front yard. I'm making a decorative area around one of the tree-bushes (not sure which it's supposed to be, it's being kept smallish) and plan to dump the rock out there. It's in the hottest part of the yard during the hottest months of the year, and the grass goes dormant under the stress, so I figure this will help less of the yard need to recover.

Debating taking that blue spruce out of the front and giving it to the next door neighbors (who want one, go figure!) and replacing it with something productive. Nut tree or something maybe. I dunno. Hmm...
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autodidact
14 years ago
I consider myself a newbie but have been slowly working on turning my front yard into garden so will go ahead and share some thoughts.

I no longer believe in digging at all. I do "lasagna method" in the fall for any bed I intend to plant in spring, meaning the more xeric perennials I'm gradually moving toward. This has been extremely successful for me and I will never dig anything again. It kills all the weeds, requires little labor, and rewards you with excellent perennial beds.

We started our first vegetable garden this year and are having wonderful success. Again, no digging. Why drive yourself crazy trying to resuscitate Colorado clay? Just start from scratch and make your own dirt. It takes tons of organic matter, but it's free if you're resourceful: your neighbor's leaves, which they kindly bag up for you, free manure from the stables, grass clippings, our own compost, coffee grounds from the coffee shop, produce refuse from Vitamin Cottage, and some fill dirt from Craigs list. Just dump it all in there, come back in Spring and voila! Happy veggies!

The only thing I would do different next time is to use cinderblocks to make the raised beds. I think they'd be perfect in many ways.
bekajoi
Original Author
14 years ago
Updates and pics here: http://bekajoi.livejournal.com/

Planted a few bushes and an apple tree, and have been clearing clearing clearing! And I did a soil comp test and I've got 50% sand, 50% loam so I just need to bring in some compost to add in and we can call it good! :)

Thinking above ground, with some beds built up on the areas where the yard is less than optimal, grade-wise.

Here is a link that might be useful: my blog ;)
greenbean08_gw
14 years ago
Watch the little purple aster-like flowers - they may produce a pretty pokey seed IIRC (and if they're what I think they are). A neighbor warned me about them last year. I left them for a while and I don't actually remember what they did but I did end up pulling them up b/c the signs of trouble were beginning to show... I try to leave the pretty things to grow in my weedy back yard (at least for now) but I try to get rid of the plants that produce stickers to end up in my dogs' ears, nose & paws.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tales of a Transplanted Gardener

Yard to garden... where to start?

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Skybird - z5, Denver, Colorado

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Yard to garden... where to start?

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Skybird - z5, Denver, Colorado

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