Cooking and cooking-related posts took a backseat this long weekend as I had a brand new front yard garden installed. DH thinks I’m crazy, and I haven’t been this sore since I wed onions as a child, but I am loving the new conversations with neighbors.
I wish I’d taken “before” photos. We have three bed areas in the front yard, two of which were overgrown beyond saving. So I dug out the perennials I wanted to keep and sod cut and deep tilled and expanded them. A rough guesstimate of my new space is about 862 square feet, not taking into account walkways. Of course, I will be adding perennials in among the vegetables so I am going for form as well as function.
Since learning all about the wonders of mulch, we added some to the perennial bed that WASN’T dug up after I gave it a good weeding.
Of course, this all looks way better than it did when the sod cutter/rototiller guy left. Here’s what the front garden looked like before adding the top layer of compost and the birdbath:
I continued the front border around to the side yard and was excited to discover that we have awesome soil. Even though some of this is shady from the large trees, it should get enough sun in the shady parts to grow leafy greens.
Now comes the difficult task of planning where to put everything! I started some seedlings, but have a bunch of seeds from the Baker Creek medium sized bucket. What makes some of this more difficult is that I have no idea how much the plants will yield. I also need to look more into companion planting; although it seems I am finding contradictory information. However, since this IS a front yard, I will be taking looks into account as well. Wish me luck!
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WONDERFUL! I had an overgrown perennial garden on the side of my house that I cleared out for my greens.beans this year. I put in atipi of six straight poles for my purple and green pole beans. Hopefully it looks good also! I am looking forward to hearing more on your results!
Luck! Remember, the joy is in the journey…
hello, fellow MI gardener! I love that you’re digging up perennial beds in the front yard to grow some veggies. I’m doing that too this year =)
yay! All the cool kids are doing it.
Enjoy! You have a huge new space to fill. You are really lucky. I am running out of room to add new plants!
Blessings, Beth
ah, there is always more room for more plants 🙂
Wow–how cool to have so much new, freshly dug, and empty space to play in out in your garden! Can’t wait to see what it looks like as the seasons progress.
It’s like a blank canvas. I’m so excited. It will be hard to decide what to put in.
That a really wonderful use of space! Looking forward to seeing your progress photos!
Thank you, I’m looking forward to it too 🙂
I always think planning is the hardest part of starting a garden 🙂 Wishing you lots of enjoyment and good eating from your gardening efforts!
Some of best things about gardening are the twin joys of patience and anticipation. A good gardener learns patience – all good things take time, and nothing comes quickly. Anticipation is perhaps just another facet of that, but also expresses the excitement of seeing those first precious glimpses of green above ground, then buds, then flowers, then fruit. A garden also teaches that nothing is permanent – an unhappy plant can always be moved, and there is always next year to try again. So much about gardening brings satisfaction, too – the chance to nurture green life, the peace one feels in the garden or spending contemplative time tending it. May your garden bring all these joys and more!
Thanks Sue – I love your writing, you have such a lovely way of expressing yourself. Love your take on gardening.