He recycled all of the large rocks from various locations around the yard, digging them out and repositioning them to build a large raised garden bed. We are planting clumping Bamboo along the back whole length of the fence to give us some privacy from the neighbors along that side. They're not bad neighbors, we just don't want to look at them all of the time. The bamboo will take a few years to grow to the max height of 15 ft., and we have been told this particular type of bamboo will not spread (which is the problem with most bamboo) and will build a very nice privacy screen for us. Next spring we will plant potatoes and carrots and whatever else will fit into this garden.
Aidan also built these steps leading down into the backyard. Such an improvement over the muddy slope that used to be there! To the right of these stairs is another raised bed that runs the length of the yard. Aidan is planning to replace the soil in it and we will grow more vegetables and strawberries in it. He has hopes of building a greenhouse before spring, in which we will grow tomatoes and red/green peppers, as well as some habanero or jalapeno peppers for salsa!
These are all great plans, but let it be known, for all intents and purposes, I have a black thumb. I crave growing my own veggies, and canning my own tomato sauces and salsa's, and growing our own pumpkins for Halloween, but the likelihood of anything actually growing, let along fruiting, is pretty slim. We will give it our best effort, I will be frequently consulting "Gardening for Dummies" as well as searching the internet, and we will keep our fingers crossed until the first crop comes in!
In the meantime, we will have to deal with these leaves. They are ginormous. Each leaf is the size of my head. This is the part where we get the kids rakes for presents and enslave them into a life of eternal raking.
I think we are going to need another "Yard Trimmings" bin.
Isn't it great to own your own home and do whatever you like with the yard? Aidan has some good plans; I enjoyed the "fantasy" tour when I was over. Your black thumb can turn into a green thumb...it just takes time and practice. Gardens are always a work in progress...sometimes things grow where you want them to and sometimes they don't. I still keep trying to grow different things in my garden; if it doesn't turn out the way I had planned, it gets yanked out and I try something else next time. It's always fun to see what happens...especially in the spring when everything starts to grow. Good luck and have fun!
ReplyDeleteThat sounds great. I would like to garden also but can't say I can grow much myself. I am working on keeping a couple of cacti I bought alive. So far they are doing well so I may plant them.
ReplyDeleteLooks great, nice job Aidan!
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