garden projects 2012

patio area looking north, small lawn area remains, dry well added, planting areas added

transition from vegetable garden to patio

It has been a month since I last posted. What can I say, it is spring and we all know the dangers of being a gardener in spring...And to top it off, this is a new property and there are new projects.

The property consisted of a large lawn and a few small flower beds. Our goal was to remove the lawn and make room for a vegetable garden, as well as add a patio and extend the garden for habitat.

vegetable garden cleared and raised beds formed

During the course of our outline and planning we encountered a few challenges. The first big challenge was learning that two trees on the property would need to be removed. This will affect the property significantly as far as sun and shade, as well as the aesthetic. We initially consulted with an arborist for pruning, and upon learning the tree had fungal root rot, the removal is scheduled for later this month.

There were also existing issues with water drainage that we wanted to address. A single downspout handles about 1/3 of the water runoff from the roof. This could cause significant problems if not properly accounted for in our planning. Also, a second downspout has the water from two roof lines routed through it and it was causing overflow and flooding in the garage through the man door.

And finally, the existing planting was overgrown and had not been maintained. We are in the process of transplanting much of the nursery stock, but we have also removed a good deal of overgrowth.

I have uploaded several photos and will begin to review each project area.