Denise

Semi-retired professional photographer and freelance writer, Denise now creates art from salvaged items. Gardening and any outdoor activity is a great way to spend spare time Current plans are enlarging a perennial and cutting garden business and developing property to be an environmentally fun place to spend time for the community. Future plans include more travel and adding to my own photography and art collection.

Recreate your backyard this Fall

 backyard design  No Responses »
Nov 032010
 

A Backyard is more than a place to relax and share time with family. It is an extension of our personalities. By adding plants, trees, shrubs and garden art we create a feel and leave behind a part of ourselves.

The fall is a great time to look around your backyard and patio area and make changes for a new look. When you look at one area for a long time you tend to overlook things.

One of the first steps to changing your yard is to take photographs. This will help you see your yard from a new perspective. Maybe you didn’t realize a patio window was broke or a step was uneven. A photo often brings these small details to your attention.

Take a look at your layout. Most backyard designs fit in a formal look – straight lines and structured paths. Or a flowing pattern and meandering paths, which creates a more relaxing cottage garden, look to a home.

After deciding on the layout of your garden, and if you are happy with it, you will want to decide on any new plants. Fall is a great time for new plants. They are usually on sale and the plants have time to adjust to their new home without abundant heat.

Japanese Maple and Bamboo are suited for the modern style. Roses and most perennials suit the traditional style and the Black Eyed Susan, flowering herbs and Coneflower are best suited for the country styles of gardens.

Trellises, garden fences and gates create backdrops and boundaries for gardens and other areas of your backyard. They emphasis your plants and make them stand out. The use of short decorative fencing not only creates the boundaries to your garden but also creates a layered look, which adds dimension and seems to expand the look of a yard. In a small space landscape this is a plus.

Small touches will add a new feel and flair to a home or landscape and fall is a perfect time for great landscape deals.

Posted by Denise at 10:00 pm  Tagged with: , , , , , ,

Rough Grade in a Backyard Project

 landscaping  No Responses »
Oct 292010
 

There are times when a large backyard project will leave you with a mess to clean up or more work than you had anticipated. I have had such a project this year and now I am trying to refinish an area and make it workable.

Yes, I could have had the project done for me but sometimes you have to cut costs in one area to spend in another.

So, I have an area of my yard that has had fill added and been roughly graded by a bulldozer. I need to clean this area up and make it “useable.”

When contracting for a job there is a term called rough grading. Most building contracts or landscaping jobs call for the rough grading to be complete, but this may be pretty rough. When a bulldozer is used, the surface is usually packed hard. Depending on the fill used or location the area may have bricks, rock, wire and boards pressed into it. Even a better grade of fill will have rocks and possible branches.

If your area is very rough leave it alone until the mud dries out quite well. Working it too soon could ruin the texture of the soil and depending on how wet it is you may leave ruts or sink in soupy soil.

As soon as you can walk on it without getting stuck, pick up and get rid of any rubbish and larger rocks. You may find that a few knolls need to be shoveled into low spots. I use a rake to smooth the final layer.

This rough grade should be 3 to 4 inches below where you want the finished grade. You are leaving room for rich topsoil for planting and your lawn. You will also want to excavate shrub beds and others to 9 to 12 inches below the finished grade.

Usually poor earth, either sandy or clay fill, is used to make the rough grade. My fill was heavy in clay. The good topsoil is either buried or scraped off and sold as topsoil to someone else. So be prepared to spend some time or extra money for finishing off the projects and adding topsoil for your yard and plants.

I am just finishing up my rough grading and will be adding soil to finish off the project this next week, if the weather holds. My topsoil is good soil that was moved and stored to the side and compost I made to enrich the final soil layer

Posted by Denise at 8:20 pm  Tagged with: , ,

Last Minute Backyard Fall Projects

 backyard projects  No Responses »
Oct 272010
 

Fall is the perfect time to catch up on those projects that you don’t have time for in the summer or don’t “see” due to the backyard chores that seem to take precedence, like mowing.

Today I dug up peonies from the front yard and repotted for next spring. One third of these I will replant, some I will sell to make more money for new plants and the rest I will trade for plants with my neighbors and friends.

Peonies have long roots and are difficult to dig so I wait until we have had plenty of rain and dig them up then. I have a rich mix of compost and potting soil ready for the plants and use recycled shrub containers that I have cleaned and sterilized.

I also received bulbs from my neighbors who were thinning their garden areas. I rototilled an area for them and added compost and shredded leaves. I also piled the soil eight inches high and then added timber for a raised bed. I have too many problems with animals to grow bulbs in soil like many do. A rock wall will also make a fast raised bed if you have rocks available.

My new raised bed took about 2 hours to make. Tomorrow I will add a wire fence screen across the top to stop my wandering visitors from mulching all my bubs before they have a chance to flower.

Late fall is my time to collect plants from the wild, neighbors or stores that have perennials and shrubs on sale. Later this week I will make one more trip to my favorite garden center and but their left over healthy plants for my yard or to trade for other plants from friends.

I will also take some time out to enjoy the last of the fall leaves and collect any seeds from wild flowers. They grow just as nice as those you purchase and no one will ever know they were harvested from the wild. .

When the grass dies down I see all the jobs I missed like filling a hole in the yard and rocks that were kicked up so I will do those small jobs before the snow falls and covers my yard until spring.

Posted by Denise at 6:53 pm  Tagged with: , , ,

Planting Ground Covers in the Fall

 backyard projects  No Responses »
Oct 232010
 

Fall seems to be the best time for adding plants and redoing backyard areas. I have a large assortment of ground covers so redoing garden areas and hillsides were the projects for today.

Many of my ground covers are plants that I traded other plants for so I am not sure of all of their names. I just watch them grow for a year or two, see their growing habits and decide if it’s a plant I want to add to more areas of the backyard.

I am definitely plant addicted but I will remove a plant that creates problems in the yard and sometime groundcovers have more disadvantages like being invasive so I do watch their habits and re-plant accordingly.

Ground-covering plants such as dwarf asters are very useful in gardens where broad low masses are often needed beneath an overhanging roof. Such a planting will carry out the lines of the house and blend the yard and home.

Plants like dwarf asters need to he hardy, at least when covered with snow. They also lend themselves to difficult planting areas. They should have neat foliage, which may be more attractive if it is shiny or distinctive. Winter creeper, periwinkle and Japanese spurge are good examples. Using these plants I like to add a colorful border or garden art to create more interest.

I have five ground covers that I am not sure of their names but 4 stay low and have different colors and flowering habits. One is a bit taller and will spread if I don’t contain it. So I used these ground covers on a hillside where I am tired of mowing and that has roots from trees that are beginning to create problems. The roots will add interest to the ground cover plantings and ease my weed wacking chores.

I plant to contain my spreading ground cover with a border. This is a stubborn spreader so I will use a plastic in ground border with a rock border of creek rock set in a gentle curve to match the hillside.

The other ground covers have laid out in flowing patterns by color. In between the planting I have wood chip mulch, rocks for emphasis and a small garden bench.

Ground covers also work well under trees or shrubs. Just check the lighting needs for the plants when selecting them. Periwinkle or a trailing evergreen perennial grow well under most shrubs and trees.

For more ground cover selections check your local garden supply store for advice on what will grow in your climate

Posted by Denise at 7:22 pm  

Backyard Plant Tips

 backyard design  No Responses »
Oct 212010
 

Fall is one of my favorite times for find discounts on plants, trees and shrubs. Stores and gardeners are getting rid of extra plants and seeds.

It’s also a great time for re-evaluating your backyard landscape design. What worked and what was a backyard disaster? Oh yes, I have had backyard disasters! To avoid such a situation reading books, garden magazines and talking with other gardeners will help.

Most garden clubs have large shows in the spring and fall where purchases can be made at a reasonable price. They are a great place to learn as well as get some savings too. You will find as you talk to a avid gardener they will have a few extra plants that they are will to trade or give to another gardener.

At this time you can also find out the pros and cons of the plant and if it will add to the value of your backyard. There are very few plants I will turn down. I may get them with the plan of trading them if I feel they will not work in my garden plans.

One thought you should keep in mind when getting deals on plants is do I have the time to plant them?  You may get 10 bargain basement priced shrubs but if they don’t get planted and die from frost or lack of water,  you really didn’t get a deal.

I have had this this problem of too many plants to get into the ground at one time and a solution to this problem is a holding garden or to mound the plants under soil or compost to protect them from winter weather. You can create a temporary garden area that will safely hold plants for a few months if need be.  Right now I have three holding gardens for trees, shrubs and perennials that will have permanent homes this spring. I ran out of decent weather and time to plant them properly.

The only plants I turn down or very poisonous plants or plants on the invasive list. There’s no sense in hurting my environment, ever for a pretty plant. And many invasive plants are beautiful!

Posted by Denise at 7:45 pm  Tagged with: , , ,
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