A Yard Makeover

Some blooms on the lilac bush in my back yard.

Suburban Garden:

Spring is here! After a long winter break from our blog we are ready to come back and write about our garden happenings as well as other projects! We are excited about this gardening season and the new hope it brings!

A view of our new raised bed garden.

My (Trista's) yard project started out with a big attitude change and a different outlook on the work. I decided to think about how I could get the yard looking nice little by little instead of being overwhelmed by the project. In years past I have just put flowers in pots and tended just a little to the flower beds and rest of the yard. However, this year I wanted to work hard on all aspects of the yard to make it be the best it could be. I realized I already had so many nice plants, trees and shrubs and with those assets I could build such a nice garden over time. This "baby step" approach to doing a little bit every day has really helped!

After consulting with my Mom we came up with a much better raised garden design for our backyard. Then, my sweet husband Paul built it for me! Last year we had three separate cinder block raised beds. One contained rhubarb and strawberries, another blueberry bushes and another held a pumpkin plant and the sweet potatoes that never amounted to anything.

One of the raspberry bushes that I planted.

My Mom came up with a nice plan that went along the lines of our deck and integrated the rhubarb/strawberry bed with the blueberry bed farther away. Now we have one integrated fruit and vegetable garden. It looks great! And, best of all we were able to reuse all of our existing cinder blocks. We just added concrete blocks on top to stop weeds and grass from growing through. Also, we are in the process of putting in a pea gravel "moat" around the garden so it is easier to mow along the side and we avoid having to weed or use a string trimmer in those areas. It looks so wonderful and a part of our landscape! Also, for the extra space in the garden I decided to add herbs and raspberry plants. The herbs I planted include lavender, rosemary, boxwood basil, oregano, thyme, tarragon and parsley. I also want to plant some sage. Later on in the season I'll plant tomatoes, large leaf basil and various lettuces. I'm very excited about my suburban garden this year!

Adam in the garden near a boxwood basil plant.

Along with the raised bed garden makeover I decided to re-edge the lawn. This involved a week or two of heavy labor. I hand dug the edge again creating a nice border and much neater flower beds. Thanks to the wonderful edging tool that our neighbor Betty let me borrow along with a new square shovel that we bought I was able to dig out the edge and it turned out very nicely. It is amazing what a difference it makes! Adam had fun filling up his wagon with the extra sod, dirt and weeds and hauling them off! Every day I would do a bit of edging or weeding as Adam played in the yard. This sure paid off!

Another view of our raised bed garden.

We had a large pile of topsoil delivered as well as a large pile of mulch. We used the topsoil to fill in the garden. My husband Paul helped with this project too. He took many, many loads of dirt back in a wheelbarrow to the garden. Unfortunately one evening while he was shoveling up some dirt to put in the wheelbarrow he got a nail stuck in his shoe and foot! It must have been in the dirt pile somewhere! It was a very scary moment when he asked me to get some vice grips to try to get the nail out of his shoe! I was so scared that the nail went far into his foot! Luckily he was able to get the nail out and it had only gone in about 1/4 inch or so. Even so, he had a lot of pain and swelling for quite a while in that foot! Quite a gardening accident!! He is doing much better now and I am so thankful!!

The side yard that I finally landscaped with annuals and perennials.

Thanks to my Aunt Janet who has a lovely, large perennial flower garden at her house I was able to get a lot of new plants for my flower beds and also finally landscape our side yard which I had attempted to do halfheartedly in the past. My Aunt Janet gave me many lovely plants including a hydrangea bush, lilies of the valley, black eyed susan daisies, solomon's seal, water irises and many more! They look lovely in the side yard and in the main yard in my flowering borders mixed with trees and shrubs.

A view of our back yard.

So, with help from many others and lots of hard work our yard is really looking pretty this year and I hope it will produce a lot of fruit, veggies and herbs to enjoy in salads throughout the summer!

Country Garden:

The country garden ready to be tilled.

My Mom and Dad have been working really hard in their garden as well. We'll be heading out there later this week to take a look at all of their work and see how things are progressing. In the meantime I'll let you know what I've seen so far and what is coming next.

The chickens are enjoying their new area.

The chickens have been moved to a different fenced off area with lots of grass and a nice tree to stand under for shade. They sure seem to like to congregate there. Earlier this spring they also spent a long time in the garden cleaning out the weeds and "fertilizing" the soil! What a great job- thanks ladies!!

A patch of rhubarb.

My parents have completely and thoroughly weeded the garden including removing a lot of blackberry vines from around the rose bushes and blueberry bushes which will help a great deal! Then, my Dad was finally able to do a nice job of tilling the garden this year. It was ready to plant potatoes a few days ago and they were able to plant 3 large rows! Also, their peas have been planted. Their boysenberries and raspberries look very healthy as well.

They have planted many new fruit tress in their orchard including apples, plums and cherries. The trees are coming along quite nicely.

Adam near some blackberries that will be full of berries this summer.

I will have a more detailed report coming later on in the week when we visit "the farm" as my 2 1/2 year old son Adam likes to call it!

Weather:

A quick note on our weather:

Although it is sunny right now as I write this on May 10, 2011 it has been a pretty cold and wet spring and this was confirmed by the report sent to me by my Mom- Serena in the NOAA report. It says:

"The Northwest was much cooler than normal during April. Washington State (second coolest, five degrees F below their long-term average), Oregon (fifth coolest) and Idaho (10th coolest) were all much cooler than normal."

And later on in the report it states:

"Temperatures during the February-April period, when averaged across the nation, were near the 20th century average. However, the Northwest was cooler than normal, while the South and East coasts were above- to much-above normal."

So, our weather here in Oregon was quite cold this spring!

Hopefully it will warm up soon and we will be able to plant our warmer weather plants such as tomatoes and basil on time for them to grow to maturity by harvest time.

Here's to hope and hard work!