Garden and Backyard Space
So, I bought my house around a year and a half ago. After moving around a lot and not having my own place while in the Marine Corps, I was glad I finally had a backyard I could do something with. I always wanted to grow my own veggies, fruit, and have lots of beautiful plants to enjoy.
When I purchased the home, the backyard was basically a field of neglected grass, weeds, and some poorly executed decorative projects. There is a lot of stuff I would like to do, but it will of course take time and money. That being said, I was able to get the yard where it is today by re-purposing things the previous owner had in the backyard and by searching for discounted items.
Unfortunately, the garden is bare right now because I didn't plant many winter crops because of some back issues, but picture several types of tomato plants in the raised beds along with cucumber, zucchini, yellow squash, pole beans, and a few others and that's what it looked like last spring and summer. It's been great because I've been able to share what I've harvested with many of my neighbors!
When I purchased the home, the backyard was basically a field of neglected grass, weeds, and some poorly executed decorative projects. There is a lot of stuff I would like to do, but it will of course take time and money. That being said, I was able to get the yard where it is today by re-purposing things the previous owner had in the backyard and by searching for discounted items.
Unfortunately, the garden is bare right now because I didn't plant many winter crops because of some back issues, but picture several types of tomato plants in the raised beds along with cucumber, zucchini, yellow squash, pole beans, and a few others and that's what it looked like last spring and summer. It's been great because I've been able to share what I've harvested with many of my neighbors!
Before
This is what it looked like when I bought the house. The "grass" seems to look okay in this pic because it had just rained, but believe me, it was 50% weeds and wasn't usually that green. A $75 rental of a sod cutter took care of that.
It's a little hard to see, but the previous owner put in a planting bed and a little pond toward the back by bordering those areas with retaining wall stone. The pond looked terrible and wasn't functioning, so everything got taken out.
It's a little hard to see, but the previous owner put in a planting bed and a little pond toward the back by bordering those areas with retaining wall stone. The pond looked terrible and wasn't functioning, so everything got taken out.
After
After removing all the grass, stones, pond, and other junk, I used weed fabric on the right half of the yard which was then covered with 2 cubic yards of the cheapest gravel I could find (I think it cost me $60 for all of it. If you haven't moved 2 cubic yards of gravel before, I can tell you that it's A LOT).
I re-purposed the retaining wall stone and used them to make raised garden beds. I also used some flagstone that was on the property to create some pathways in the gravel and to border the fire pit that I constructed.
I was able to get the plants extremely cheap. I originally thought it would take years to buy the plants I would need/want, but I found deeply discounted plants at some local home improvement stores. One day, I bought $400 worth of plants that were discounted to $60.
I was also lucky to find paver stones that were 50% off, so I have a pathway going from the steps all the way back to the shed, a pathway from that one that goes toward the shade structure and then the rest of the pavers were used to build a small patio under the structured).
I also put in a drip irrigation system so it would be easy to maintain. Every plant is on the system, so I don't have to worry about someone else watering them when I go camping, etc.
Anyway, it's a work in progress and I'm looking forward to planting some new crops in the next few months.
I re-purposed the retaining wall stone and used them to make raised garden beds. I also used some flagstone that was on the property to create some pathways in the gravel and to border the fire pit that I constructed.
I was able to get the plants extremely cheap. I originally thought it would take years to buy the plants I would need/want, but I found deeply discounted plants at some local home improvement stores. One day, I bought $400 worth of plants that were discounted to $60.
I was also lucky to find paver stones that were 50% off, so I have a pathway going from the steps all the way back to the shed, a pathway from that one that goes toward the shade structure and then the rest of the pavers were used to build a small patio under the structured).
I also put in a drip irrigation system so it would be easy to maintain. Every plant is on the system, so I don't have to worry about someone else watering them when I go camping, etc.
Anyway, it's a work in progress and I'm looking forward to planting some new crops in the next few months.