The seed catalogs and garden catalogs are starting to show up in my mailbox and it’s making me excited about the coming year and some of the things we have planned to do around the property!
Last year was our “discovery” year, so most of our projects were of the “clean up and prep” variety. We took out some dead trees, put in a couple of raised beds, and added some edging and trim to define planting areas, but mostly we wanted to know what was already there before making any major changes. It was interesting to see what showed up in the various flower beds (mostly weeds), to learn where the sunlight fell over the course of the year (not where I planted the tomatoes), and find any other surprises (the giant fig tree on the edge of the property). We also built our garden shed from the ground up last summer and took down the ugly chain link fence/dog run in the back.
This year we have plans to tackle the following items:
Eventually we’ll be building a proper front entrance with a covered patio, but it needs to look nice until we do. I tried planting a few herbs here last year since it gets the brunt of the afternoon sun with no shade. They did really well, so this year I’m expanding the herb garden and will also include more flowering herbs and wildflowers to draw pollinators.
On the left side of the house next to the garage is a little concrete bump out for the trash and recycle bin. Someone planted hydrangea, presumably to hide the bins, but there are two issues with that: 1) As mentioned above, the front of the house gets the direct afternoon sun, so these poor hydrangea are never able to get very big before they simply scorch and burn and 2) In the winter the hydrangea go dormant and lose all their leaves and there are the trashcans in all their glory! I want to put up a simple fence that will block the view of the bins and I’m strongly leaning towards something like this from House Homemade: How to Hide A Trash Can.
I also want to move the hydrangea around to the back of the house (see next item) where they’ll be in open shade and will hopefully be able to live up to their full potential! I’m not sure what I’ll replace them with, but I’m leaning towards gardenias that will stay evergreen through the winter and smell really good in the summer and fall.
Moving around to the back of the house, I want to do SOMETHING with this poor, bare, ugly wall. Eventually I’d like to put up a trellis here but we’re going to be painting the back of the house sometime in the next 12-18 months, so that’s a future plan. For now I’ll be moving the hydrangea from above back here – one near the corner and one over by the downspout. I’ll run the same edging that’s on all the other beds around here to keep it consistent.
Fix this eyesore! Oh my goodness! We built these raised beds last year and at the time they were inside the chain link fence so they had some definition (as well as some protection from the deer). When we took down the fence, they kind of lost their sense of “place” in the yard. We need to clean up the fallen leaves, add more of the 4×4 borders, and eventually add some fencing to keep out the deer (and other critters). I really like this fence design from Sunny Side Design: A Deer Fence for Your Garden, but it may be too ambitious for this year. Nevertheless we’re going to need something at least temporarily to keep the garden protected, so we’ll see what that turns out to be. We’re also going to add two more beds between these two and once the fencing is up, a few larger pots and possibly a potato box or two – because I really want to try growing potatoes.
Finally we’re going to finish the garden shed! As you can see, painting and trim-up stopped abruptly about half-way through, due to a personal emergency at the time. I’d also like to fix the crooked doors. I need to finish the caulking on this end, even out the paneling at the bottom, add the bottom trim, paint everything, and add the steps (and a short front “porch”. Additionally, I want to put in a planter bed on the side under the window and add a bit of a path (mulch or gravel, I’m not sure which) leading outwards. Finally, I’m looking for a pretty garden bench to put where the two ugly plastic chairs are currently.
Along with these major items, there are a bunch of minor things that we’ll be working on, like adding more flowers to the front beds, continuing to clean up the deadfall and garbage around the property left by the previous owners, and working on the hammock area as we have time.
Or maybe just sleeping in the hammock between projects.
Either way, I’ll be updating as we go along!