It's easy to see that after two years you're anxious to get going and "do" something. The house appears to be in a somewhat rural setting. You don't indicate what part of the US you live in. A brick walkway suggests to me a more formal setting, though perhaps you envision working toward a "Williamsburg" look. I would put the digging on hold until you have worked out a more comprehensive plan for the whole property. Not that you have to have every last detail figured out. Make a list of some of the issues. Here, in no particular order, are some that come to mind: 1. Need dry footing from car to house entrance. 2. Actual house entrance (porch) and "visual" entrance (front door) are not the same. 3. House and barn are not related, either architecturally, or spatially. 4. Need to hide childrens' play equipment. 5. Safe place for children to play. 6. Would like some flower beds. And so on. If you have a survey of the property that shows the location of the buildings relative to each other you might find it easiest to work through these things on paper, as a professional would. It could be worthwhile for you to engage the help of a qualified landscape professional, even on an hourly basis, just to help you get started in the right direction.

Hi Carol, I can understand how the idea of building permits ever got started--protection of the public!--and the real needs for that in housing and other buildings. But if it gets applied to pergolas, it seems unrelated to public safety. How much do they charge someone for building a pergola? Perhaps the charge is so low that it's a mere nuisance? The main argument for a pergola is that it's very inviting and attractive the year around. I have seen pictures of posts with chain swags in a famous Paris public garden and the roses look fantastic there. As best I can recall, the posts were large pillars and fairly tall, though I cannot find a picture now. The rub would be what it would look like in the winter and early spring if you're not building large (wide) pillars, but are using wooden posts. If you are headed toward a circle of posts, a circle of tepees might look better when uncovered in the winter and early spring. Our first fence was professionally installed and the fence-builder's suggestion was that posts set into a gravel footing hole would work fine. Anything set up as our do-it-yourself building books suggested, with the posts in concrete, would have been noticeably more money so we went for what we could afford at the time, and that was already plenty expensive. That method did work reasonably well, although not quite totally solidly if you pushed against a post. After about 20-25 years the posts had rotted in the ground, though, and my husband had to do the fence posts over again. At one time, our fencing on two sides held thin "farm" wire mesh fencing (6 feet high) and I loved the looks of it, because beyond the fence were beautiful woodsy areas I liked to be able to see and the fencing didn't detract or distract from that view. I think the sections were about 8' each, as you are considering for yours. I'm no expert at all on rabbits, but I wonder whether a fence that is only 3' high would be tall enough. I think, though I'm not positive as to the exact route the rabbit took, that a rabbit here has jumped up to some landscape timbers that were 3' or higher off the ground (to trim way back our Julia Child roses for us). Rabbits love roses. The best way to make sure you have no deer problems is to prevent deer from finding your roses and vegetables in the first place. I'd suggest that you not wait to see what happens, because once hungry deer have a memory of getting food at a certain place, it's much, much more difficult to ever keep them out. There's a book that discusses keeping out deer that's well worth reading now (right now, to help you plan). Your local library ought to have it, but if not, it's relatively inexpensive to buy from Amazon: "Deerproofing Your Yard & Garden" by Rhonda Massingham Hart. Deer aren't kept out by rose hedges, not if jumping them is to a spot they are already familiar with, such as would be the case for them while the roses were growing up. They don't jump into areas they can't see or are unfamiliar with, though. Deer will eat roses, all roses, even very thorny ones, if they are hungry enough. That tends to occur in winter and early spring during some years, but not all. (After a famine, generally caused by more breeding than the land's vegetation can support, the deer don't reproduce well, so the deer population pressure on the land lowers for a few years then; that cycle can mislead you into thinking that you've solved the deer access problem when you haven't.) Your gorgeous front gate with an arch will be wonderful, and so inviting. I've seen many pictures of that being done, and don't think I've ever seen one that looked less than wonderful! Best of luck! Mary Here is a link that might be useful: Phillip Oliver's pictures offer lots of landscaping ideas

Hey, Lavender! You are so right, a fence won't keep out the deer. I've watched them stand stock still and LEVITATE over a 5 foot tall fence. They are equipped with springs in their legs. For my book, a pretty little picket fence would be nice. They look pretty when they are low. And there are vinyl ones available now. Being up north now, we are mostly cutting down our plants here, but I've managed to bring in some of the dried money plants which look so pretty. I have thousands of seeds should anyone want some. Just email me at the address given in my GardenWeb profile. I think it takes about 2 years for them to make any money. They look like coins, not dollars. Of course, lattice would look nice too, but not if solid. I think it would be great for infill between sections of the pickets. 1x2 strips of lathing mounted to 2x2 horizontal boards could yield a nice wooden picket style and might be less expensive than buying readymade picket sections. Just how big is your potager going to be? Do you already have any old gates you could use? Or have you considered NO gate for the present time? Excuse me if I am all disorganized. I have a bad case of strept throat and feel lousy. Both DH and I are sick. No fun when nobody is well enough to baby the other person.

Oh dear, I don't know why my post went through 3 times, and repeated my iphone autocorrect error on olychick's screen name just to make sure no one missed it, LOL! I spent most of the afternoon at Home Depot and the local nursery, and bought a lot of plants I love, with the pictures above saved on my iphone for inspiration. I got 2 large green urns for by the front door - they actually match the stucco so they don't bring any color but the plants will bring in lots of color. They look very mediterranean they are resin but look like stone, very pretty. I definitely agree a contrasting (dark green) door would look better, too - some contrast is needed there and although we have to stick to the HOA color scheme for the exterior I think they will allow green that matches the trim. Ripping out the concrete and replacing with pavers is not an option - that concrete is 4" thick - I know because I had to fix a corner that cracked off in the back, and the small piece weighed about 100lbs. It would take a jackhammer and a backhoe and a lot of effort and money to remove all that. I hope that once the plants are in, the pavement won't be as noticeable. I think I'll actually put a fountain on our back patio where we sit, so instead perhaps a little bistro set out front here, for decoration. the patio I want to surround with lots of plants and use a few pots to make it feel lush and like a real garden. I got 2 Nitida fig trees, about 5-6' tall I am trying to decide whether to put them in bog pots like the inspiration pics or plant in the ground. In the ground they will grow better and be easier to maintain, plus pots that large are very expensive and heavy - but I do love that look. I saw a beautiful 8' tall fruitless olive I really wanted but it's $100 and would require delivery - it would have taken up half my budget on its own. I also would probably have to pay for installation - not sure if I can dig a big enough hole to plant that one. The clay soil is like cement after years of neglect and baking in the sun. I think that in the end my garden probably won't really look like any of those pics (especially given that my budget is small), but they really gave me some good ideas so thank you for posting them.