| Author |
Message |
    
Oldiebutgoodie
| | Posted on Sunday, January 06, 2008 - 08:49 pm EST : |   
 |
Later this year, we will be moving from our large house in a small village about ten miles to our farm. (I know most people our age move from their farms to more urban locations, but we're doing it backwards.) We rent our land to a nearby farmer, retaining about five acres for our own purposes. We will be building a 1500 sq. ft. bungalow with a front walk-out basement.
Because of the proximity of the two locations, climatic conditions are very similar - Zone 5a with lots of wind. The soil, however, is very different - clay here, sandy loam at the farm.
Most of my beds here are shady. The few trees at the farm are very young and don't provide much shade.
I doubt I'll be able to start any beds in 2008, but I've created a holding bed in our vegetable garden and have been dividing some of my own plants and acquiring others from family and friends as they thin out their beds.
I really love my shade beds and have created one fairly small shade bed area at the farm. Whatever I plant there will likely remain there unless/until I can create other shady areas.
The thought of planning new beds is more than a little daunting. Our front yard occupies about an acre on a fairly steep slope and is surrounded by a circular driveway. We currently maintain that area as a fairly well-manicured lawn. Of course, portions of the lawn will be messed up when the septic system is installed and the foundation poured.
The vegetable garden falls outside this area, to the rear of a large driving shed. There is also a large old bank barn immediately outside the area surrounded by the driveway. We use both structures.
I want to begin to plan my beds. I know I'll need to acquire more trees and lots of shrubbery. (My first attempt at propagating shrubs met with failure, but I'm going to try again in the spring.) I'm no good at all with landscape software, but I'm comfortable with a pencil and graph paper.
One of my biggest problems is where to start. I'm approaching seventy and know I can't plant all the beds I'd like to in one season. I think perhaps I should start with the foundation plantings and move outward from there. I will, however, need to locate and plant trees in the first season.
Help!! Any and all suggestions will be truly appreciated.}}
Oldiebutgoodie
- Ontario,
Zone "5b"
|
Heirloomgardens
 Supporting Member
My Garden Journal
My Garden
| | Posted on Thursday, January 10, 2008 - 03:40 pm EST : |
|
  WELCOME TO GB, MYRNA!
Wow, I envy you starting over, but I also don't. LOL! I am sorry to say that I am of no use on this topic because I am working in reverse, clearing trees and going from shade to sun.
Your dirt sounds like it will be easy to plant in. Do you have a tractor or rototiller to help you? If not, laying down clear plastic to solarize and kill the grass will be a big help in getting your new beds started. Or if you want to make it even easier, build raised beds. (Obviously that's more expensive, but I wish that's the way I had gone from the beginning.)
Do you have good books that describe the trees and shrubbery that grow well in your area? Or have access to some at a library? I'd spend a lot of time studying those (and how quickly they grow) and put a lot of consideration into planting things that provide interest for the most number of seasons. I should have done that from the beginning, too. LOL. If you find things that you like, there are some people on this site (I'm one) who can sometimes combine pictures of what people like with photos of a person's house or property so that they can get a better idea of how things would look.
I hope you have a camera and can post lots of pics for us to see and help you with. Hopefully someone will come along soon and post some helpful ideas for you.
Heirloomgardens
- Massachusetts,
Zone "5b"
|
Heirloomgardens
Supporting Member
My Garden Journal
My Garden
| | Posted on Thursday, January 10, 2008 - 03:42 pm EST : |
|
Oh, and if you introduce yourself in the Social Gallery and point them back to this thread, that should generate some traffic for you. 
Heirloomgardens
- Massachusetts,
Zone "5b"
|
Sandylee
| | Posted on Friday, January 11, 2008 - 10:28 am EST : |
|
Hi! (I'm pretty new here)... It sounds like your new living arrangement is almost IDENTICAL to mine! We also live on a sandy hill with a large area surrounding. One of the big problems when we moved here about six years ago was Geez...where do I start? Well, I started EVERYWHERE...which was probably not the best idea in the world! One of my biggest errors was not understanding that sand on a hill gives entirely new meaning to "well-drained"!
In retrospect, I should have focused on the foundation along with maybe one other special area and of course, the veggie garden first. I am finding myself "undoing" some of my original concepts....but then....come to think of it....aren't all gardeners ALWAYS doing that!?
I am using primarily drought resistant perennials. Prior to planting your foundation, you may want to look into one of those little micro-sprinkler systems. That has helped tremendously here.
Good luck! Sounds like a fun move. Enjoy!
Sandylee
- Michigan,
Zone "5"
|
Growit
Supporting Member
My Favorite Photo
My Weather
My Time
| | Posted on Friday, January 11, 2008 - 04:08 pm EST : |
|
Hi Myrna and welcome  I too am on sandy soil. The best thing you can do for sandy soil is add mulch to the soil twice a year. It loses bulk very quickly. Do you have a compost area? If not that would be the first thing I would do, making sure you use a lot of leaf mulch either in the compost or dug directly into the borders. This is very beneficial if you are planning on growing vegetables as sandy soil loses nutrients through leaching quite quickly. Steer clear of any plants that are heavy feeders as you will not be able to sustain them. For trees and shrubs do as DJ suggested as far as what will grow well in your area/zone but also research soil preferences. Going from clay to sand is one extreme to another!
Growit
- Hampshire,
Zone "8/9"
|
Oldiebutgoodie
| | Posted on Friday, January 11, 2008 - 05:07 pm EST : |
|
Thanks, everyone, for your advice and support. The soil at our farm is }sandy loam. I think I may be more fortunate than both Sandylee and Growit! We have owned the farm for ten years and have maintained a huge and very successful vegetable garden each year. We amend the soil with pony and goat manure and compost on a regular basis. The biggest problem recently has been keeping the garden moist enough during hot, dry spells.
I expect I may have to put some "hardscape" near the house in order to keep the soil in place. Fortunately my husband is a cement contractor who will be able to erect short walls to assist with that. I don't like the appearance of bare concrete, but I think I could face the walls up with stone.
I'm going to try to attach a photo of our vegetable garden. I hope I'm successful. In the foreground there is a "teepee" made from cedar with scarlet runner beans growing on it.
I'll definitely be taking lots of photos as I go along so I can share them with family, friends and garden buddies.
Oldiebutgoodie
- Ontario,
Zone "5b"
|
Greth
| | Posted on Saturday, January 12, 2008 - 04:39 pm EST : |
|
Lovely shot.
Best to use your graph paper to work out a basic layout so you know where your major trees are going to be. I'm on a large block too, been working on the garden 4 years now. With hot dry summers and drought, its slow going getting anything established. I don't plant more trees each year than I am prepared to handwater! Mulch helps a lot to keep things going in summer.
In a large garden, you can give yourself the luxury of wide paths, enough for two or three people to walk abreast. My paths mostly follow the contour of the hill, so its easier to walk around without contending with the slope. Shorter paths connect the different levels.
I collect plants/trees when I can, if I'm not ready to plant them out they get put into larger pots and grown on as much as possible until planting time. This way I can buy cheaper smaller trees, and the root systems end up larger and deeper by planting time, helping them cope better with dry conditions. Not joking about dry, last rain was the 22nd December, and there is none on the 7 day forecast.
Keeping a photographic record is a great idea, not just for us!
Greth
- South Australia,
Zone "?"
|
Bluewillow
My Favorite Photo
| | Posted on Saturday, January 12, 2008 - 04:53 pm EST : |
|
Love the runner beans, bet that is a magnet for the Hummers?
Bluewillow
- Canada,
Zone "Zone 5"
|
Oldiebutgoodie
| | Posted on Saturday, January 12, 2008 - 07:58 pm EST : |
|
Thanks for the tips, Greth. I was actually thinking of putting a lot of stuff into containers for the first year, in order to move them around in an attempt to determine what should go where. I'm a rabid environmentalist so the downspouts from the barn and shed are directed into water barrels fitted out with faucets. I attach hoses to the faucets. It's not ideal for watering, but it saves well water.
What are your paths made of? I'm thinking of keeping mine simply swaths of grass initially because of the cost and labour involved with flagstone, etc. I've also considered pea gravel, but I wonder if that might get messy after a while.
I enjoy the Scarlet Runners, Bluewillow, but have never seen a hummingbird in the area. I'm grateful we have lots of barn swallows to keep the mosquito population down, but I think they're very territorial. We see lots of bluejays in the fall, along with a flock of wild turkeys and the odd hawk. There are also lots of deer (who seem to square dance in my vegetable garden in the spring, fortunately before I put my seed in the ground) and a few coyotes. We raise beagles, so the deer don't come too close to the barn.
I leave a small opening in the "teepee". My grandchildren like to help me weed for about ten minutes. When they get bored, they go into the teepee and play where I can keep an eye on them.
Last year I tried planting the Scarlet Runners around some of my giant sunflowers, without success. I think I may have put them in too late. The sunflowers are heavy feeders, and I didn't put any compost around them. I'll give it another shot this spring and see what develops.
Oldiebutgoodie
- Ontario,
Zone "5b"
|
Heirloomgardens
Supporting Member
My Garden Journal
My Garden
| | Posted on Sunday, January 13, 2008 - 02:44 pm EST : |
|
I have a few walkways filled with small stones, and yes, they get messy -- and a lot sooner than you'd think. Fall leaves are a nightmare, and if you have a dog or children that like to dig (speaking from experience), forget it. I have grass paths between my flower beds and I love the natural look, but it's a bit of a pain to keep the grass from growing into the beds (mine are just edged with rocks that I dig up during planting time). I'd like to edge mine with cement to keep the grass out and then push the rocks into the top of the cement to make it more attractive.
I grew Scarlet Runners not too far from my hummingbird feeders this year and the hummers checked them out every once in a while. I think that if I had grown a lot of them, they would have been more popular.
If you have any spare used or moldy straw, that'd be good for mulching your beds and keeping the moisture in. Hay would work, too, but straw is less apt to have seeds in it. I use drip tape to keep my veggies and crops watered. It puts the water right where I need it and uses very little, which is important with my very limited well capacity. You can use it for low-flow systems, too, like you'd have with your water barrels.
Heirloomgardens
- Massachusetts,
Zone "5b"
|
Oldiebutgoodie
| | Posted on Sunday, January 13, 2008 - 03:46 pm EST : |
|
I'm so happy I found this site. Everyone's been so helpful. I've gotten lots of ideas to incorporate into my new beds, and I look forward to lots more.
Oldiebutgoodie
- Ontario,
Zone "5b"
|
Greth
| | Posted on Sunday, January 13, 2008 - 04:15 pm EST : |
|
For the moment I'm just encouraging a native perennial grass to grow on the paths. It stays vaguely green in summer, and doesn't run. In reality, apart from the few patches where it is doing well, the paths are a combination of dust and dry grass/weeds left over from winter! We rely on rainwater for all our household needs, there is very little to spare for the garden. Only a few beloved shrubs and young trees get the occasional watering canful. Gravel does keep the weeds down, for the first year or so, after that I reckon it is just a pain.
Flagstone would be good, but consider what a huge amount you are going to need! You can see my retaining wall in my picture (also my summer ground cover) We have collected trailer load after trailer load of rock from our acres, at least we get it for free, but I don't recommend rock collecting as a hobby. It is a bit strenuous. Any suitable flagstone rocks go close to the front door, where the previous inhabitants left gravel. At least we can take a few steps outside without shoes.
We use the septic system overflow to grow veggies and some of my more precious plants, so they need little or no extra water over summer. Have a look at the pictures in my journal for an overview of what we have been doing.
Greth
- South Australia,
Zone "?"
|
|
