More Front Yard Fix-Ups and Edible Gardens!

March 25, 2013

Once again, spring has sprung and we are starting on a new project. We’re going to skip re-siding the back of the house this year because we decided it would be a great idea to grow all of our own vegetables. We also have 3 citrus trees that we purchased 2 years ago and put in large pots. Well they’re starting to outgrow their pots and we need to get them in the ground, but everything at our house tends to slope so first we have to build a retaining wall.

Last Saturday, super early in the morning, a big truck arrived and dropped off some very heavy things for us to haul down the hill in front of our yard. –Keystone for the retaining wall, some gravel for the base of the wall, and some wood for our raised garden beds. This ought to be a good workout.

As you can see, the citrus trees desperately need to be freed from their containers.

Why did we choose Keystone when there are so many different, cool types of stone work to choose from? Simple. -We have existing keystone on the driveway side of the house and cohesion is extremely important to me and you’ll see why when you scroll down.

Using like materials and repeating it throughout the exterior is the best formula for a successful landscape/home improvement. Now that I’m looking at the pictures, this side could use some good weeding and some more flowers too.

Here we are working our way up the yard with the keystone.

It’s hard to tell but the yard really slopes downhill and we have to raise the wall as it slopes upward.

My fine looking and hard working husband, Randy!

That dead patch of grass behind him is where the raised beds will go.

The hill needs more digging then we first thought. Good thing we have this handy tool or we’d be digging for days!

A close up of why we need this handy tool.

Little by little…

Now you can see the curves. John Gidding of “Curb Appeal the Block” recommends curvy pathways and walls to add interest. He’s right!

Randy is building 6 raised garden beds altogether.

When the last Keystone was laid and the last garden bed built, a dump truck came and dumped 14 yards of garden soil for behind the wall and the garden boxes!!!

We have some hard work ahead of us. It took us 2 days to move that dirt.

A friend said that this pic makes it look like grave plots!

Now onto transplanting many, many plants and seeds. This took quite some time.

I transplanted 202 strawberry plants!

The Citrus Trees are much happier as well as the other transplanted plants.

We had to remove an old bush and root ball to make room for another citrus here.

Patience paid off as new plants began to sprout.

And sprout...

And sprout...

We are overwhelmed and blessed!

Some tips for you if you’re thinking of growing your own food.

~Don’t forget to lay down some Mole Wire to keep those pests out.

~Make sure you have a handle on ants before you plant. Ants herd Aphids and Aphids will suck the flavor right out of your food. You can YouTube “Ants herding Aphids” if you’re curious as to how they do it.

~Auto drip lines are best for your garden so you can enjoy a get-away without worrying about your garden.

~Good Soil is key!

~Research Companion Planting. Some plants don’t play well with others in the garden.