My entire yard, front and back need overhauled. I have spent the last few summer working an exciting job but it has taken away from gardening and keeping the yard up. So this year its time to redo the backyard and I plan on working in small spaces with small space design so that the projects will not become a burden. It will be nice to have a new backyard oasis design.
photo credit: D G Brown

One area I am working on is to put in a decorative fence. I have an area that is difficult to mow because of tree roots so I decided I to put on a heavy ground cover, them add a few black locust posts and foraged barn boards for the fencing rails.

First I will place the posts in the ground. Then I will cover the ground with heavy cardboard, which I have soaked first in water in a wheel barrel. (It holds the cardboard in place while I put mulch on top.) After the cardboard is in place I will add some old straw and top off with a very heavy layer of wood chips. I was lucky enough to get all the wood chips I want for free so this will keep the expense of the project down.

Tip: Check logging companies and tree services for free wood chips. I will also borrowed a post hole digger to make getting the fence posts in the ground an easier job.

Next I will add the boards to the posts with screws and drill holes in the boards first to help with nailing. I only plan to add two boards to each fencing piece. I just want a break in the yard and feel this will accomplish the goal.

I want to use the space near the tree to plants a few flowers, some ground cover and possible a few shade loving vegetables.

Since this is the first year that the mini garden is in the soil will not be as rich as I want so I will add containers to the planning area to make sure my plants have a rich soil. A few containers I will sink into the ground and a few I will leave on top of the ground to add height and interest. I will use the pop bottle watering system for container gardening to make sure the container pots do not dry out too fast.

For the ground cover plants I will add soil to the area I plan to plant them in them and I will also make a rock formation for them to grow in. I don’t want the ground cover to take over the area and this will stop the problem.

Having all the materials on hand I think this will be a weekend project. It should be rather easy. I like to set up my project to be small if possible so that you can enjoy the new look in your backyard oasis immediately.

As soon as the weather breaks in my zone 5 climate this will be one of my first projects and I will include pictures of the final project.

Technorati Tags: backyard oasis, backyard oasis design, container gardening, small space design

This entry was posted on Friday, February 27th, 2009 at 7:33 pm and is filed under backyard oasis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.