Backyard Re-Design: Rain, Cold, and Catchup

Between spring break, the rain, and the off again/on again cold weather early spring wasn't very productive for our backyard makeover.  We were able to get a couple of beds built and a few things planted. The tractor made a few ruts in the area where the court yard is going to be. Looks like my impatience will cost me one load of top soil. The good thing is what I don't use to level the area back off I can use in other parts of the yard.  We sloshed around a bit and tried to burn the piles of limbs, leaves, and other garden debris. When the piles finally dried out the wind was too high. Needless to say that is still on the to-do list.

The boys helped move dirt from the two small raised beds we already had in the side yard to the new beds their daddy and pawpaw built.

Two planter boxes made from some reclaimed shelving and parts of a pallet rack for our sweet peas and onions. As you can see, there is still quite a bit of water...and the grass is still growing!

We were able to build our music/noise wall. We used some old wind chimes, cans from the cafe, milk jug, a little wooden box, and canning jar rings among other noisy items.  We will add more items along the way to this area. The boys love it!

You can check out the directions and other pins on my gardening and outdoor spaces board right here https://www.pinterest.com/tmainkyzer/gardening-and-outdoor-spaces/ 

Part of the pallet fence was constructed and work on the horse shoe pit has begun. It is between two trees. My thought here is that during the hot summer the trees would provide some shade. The guys weren't sure it would work so they made a temporary pit, tested it, trimmed limbs and tested it again. It looks like it's going to be the perfect place. I got the idea from Pinterest and showed our youngest son and now he is in charge of this project. Uncle Bubba (Pawpaw) loves to play horseshoes and we think it will get good use during his surprise birthday party in mid-July.

We were able to plant our sweet peas, asparagus, dill, onion sets and potatoes last week and when the boys and I checked our garden yesterday the peas, onions, and even the potatoes are coming up! The plants we planted look like they are taking to their new area and are going to do well. The little boys were very excited to see the new growth...so was Granna.

We found a couple Dahlia's and an Asiatic Lilly when we moved back to the Old Farmer's Market. Not sure how old they are or if they will even grow, but I let the little boys plant them anyway. They were kind of dry so the 4 year old thought it was a good idea to give them extra water after they were planted. (If they don't come up I'm going to plant the plants while they are visiting their mother...shhhh....don't tell!)

 From left to right: Asparagus, planted in a raised bed made from concrete blocks. My daddy always had a little bed of asparagus when we were growing up. It's perennial and needs little care. I mixed 2 parts organic peat, 1 part Fertilome potting soil, and 1 part playground sand and planted already established (2 year old plants) we might get a couple spears this year but next year we'll have a couple of meals! Our potato towers were easier to do than I thought. We picked up a small roll of wire, cut it in half, wired it together with some florist wire, put the hay around the wire, added a couple inches of dirt, a handful of cut seed potatoes, then covered with a couple more inches of soil. They are just now sprouting and sometime next week we will add more hay around the side and more soil. Both potato towers cost about $25.00 and are predicted to produce more than 50 pounds of potatoes! That is if I can keep from digging out the new potatoes! The middle picture is our little strawberry bed. This is a family favorite and is the first thing we planted Ike, now 4 was just two when I brought home a couple 6 packs of struggling plants and threw them in a pot in the front flower bed. The first berries were few and far between and a bit tart. Last year the pot was overflowing and the berries were delicious...This year we transplanted about 60 plants! We first put them in a couple of old tires we painted red and our lab dug them up. I was kind of glad because I didn't really like the look of the tires in the garden. When we checked yesterday they were loaded with buds! The last two pictures are of the onion sets and dill. I am excited to grow some dill this year because I want to try and make pickles for the first time so if you have a good recipe, I would be interested.

The little boys are having a wonderful time learning how to garden. They love the flowers and are amazed that vegetables come from dirt. I can see I need to educate them a little more on what else it takes to grow food.  We did a little more work on the children's area, but that is for another blog on another day. For now, I need to suck down this coffee and head over to the store and get ready to see y'all face to face.  Until then...happy gardening...happy spring!

Aunt Theresa

Hankering for Spring

With daylight savings time this Sunday and spring officially less than three weeks away my hibernation is quickly coming to a close. The threats of more "winter" weather this coming Wednesday doesn't have me too excited about donning my work boots just yet. Though the last shot of warm weather and sunshine had me and the 3 and 4 year old outside cleaning our raised beds and making plans for planting.


It won't be long and we will have our carrots, sweet peas, cabbage, brussel sprouts, broccoli, spinach, and salad onions planted. We are going to make a couple of potato towers we saw on Pinterest and plant them as well.  They can grow up to 25 pounds of potatoes each. I'm thinking we are going to start with three.

The 4 year old is fascinated with both flower and vegetable gardening.  My goal is not only to raise enough food to eat and some to put up for the winter, but to entice him to eat more vegetables...let's hope it finally works.This year we plan on adding some blueberries and grapes. We are all kind of excited about that.

Of course a winter of scrolling Pinterest, browsing gardening magazines, and reading flower and plant books gives a person tons of ideas. Especially when there is such a big back yard available. We have an old galvanized water trough that's been in the back yard some fifteen years. This is the year we are going to turn it into a water feature and the surrounding area into a court yard. I have a drawing, a list of plant and landscaping materials and a detailed to-do list. It includes a children's play area complete with music/noise making area, checker-board, club house (you know cause we have boys) and some whimsical pathways. I love the alphabet pathway but instead of using the flat stones we are going to pick up some of those round concrete stepping stones so the 4 and 5 year old can paint them. It will be the major path leading from the court yard area to the play yard.


We have a stack of these square stepping stones down by the barn and now I know what to do with them! We are going to use Frisbees for the game pieces and probably paint the squares red and black. I'm not sure if we will try and build some benches or just pick some up ready-made. We have to keep in mind that it will be plant season at the store and there is plenty of work to keep us busy there. The hop scotch game will make a perfect path from the swing set to the club house.

I think a pallet fence between the court yard and vegetable garden will be a nice addition and give me another place for flower beds. I really want to add a couple of Jane Magnolia trees.  They are one of my favorites and bloom early giving us the first hope of Spring.

Along the base of one of our huge old oak trees the four year old wants to make a fairy garden.  I love it! I think it will be just the touch of "magic" to keep both boys interested.


Poor Uncle Bubba keeps listening and looking as I show him all these pictures and talk about what we are going to do "just as soon as the weather breaks" but I think I might see a trace of fear in his eyes.  It's going to be a huge endeavor and of course, the vegetable garden comes first...so we are going to break it off in chunks and work it like that. Hope you enjoy this journey with us.  I will post before and after pictures, tips and advice and everything we learn along the way.  Until then...enjoy the last bit of winter weather, make your plan, and we will see you back here soon.

Aunt Theresa