I’ve lived in cities where the only available space was container gardens or windows. I rented and had to work out a system where you get a landlords permission to do any backyard activity and I’ve been blessed with unlimited space in a rural setting. All situations have challenges and steps to make the best use of any space available.

So even if you live in a city or town you will be able to find a way to use some of the space available to you even if it’s a windowsill, patio, balcony or rooftop.

One step in backyard or garden design is to simplify your work. You want a beautiful garden and living space but setting up an easy design with multiple uses for each space will give you more time to enjoy the yard and family activities.

So as a starting point consider these questions to help you design the perfect backyard oasis.

1. Uses for the yard. Is it mainly relaxation where a garden, patio or swimming area will be a focal point?
2. Ages that will use the yard. And will these ages be changing in a few years. This will determine if a backyard area is childproofed, if a pool is a useful option or if outdoor buildings such as a workshop or potting shed would be handy.
3. Is the size of your available space a major consideration? Will each area need to serve a variety of uses to encompass everyone’s needs? Is your available space limited to a porch or small space by a garage? Small spaces create challenges but make beautiful hideaways.
4. How to blend the new design in with your home and any design elements currently in place.
5. And most important is the amount of money and time you are willing to devote to planning a design for your living space.

Backyard Oasis is offering a contest from March 16th to 23rd to help you with backyard design. Just place a comment below this article on what area of your yard you would like to have a fresh new look for. Three selected ideas will have a design made for their yard. The designs will be made with cost effective plans.

What is it about a perennial that enables it to survive a wide variety of weather conditions and still thrive? Annuals and biennials add to any garden but they do not hold up to climate changes like the hard perennial. And with a perennial plant lasting for years it will add beauty to a garden at a very reduced cost.

The perennial plant is able to thrive year after year due to a few survival tricks in its traits. Trees and shrubs drop their leaves and protect their next year’s growth with waxy scales. Examine the bud of a perennial plant and you’ll see that it covered with a sticky looking waterproof wax. When the bud begins to bloom, it scars as its scales fall off and the distance between its scars are an indicator of how many times a year that perennial plant grows.

The perennial plant gears up for the winter by draining its own food supply from its leaves down inside its trunk, branches, and twigs. As the weather gets colder, the tissues of the perennial plant will slowly change and become cold resistant in a process called “hardening.” During these changes, the chlorophyll of a perennial plant will decompose and lose its propensity to project a green hue – leaving the tree with its trademark red, yellow, orange, and brown autumn leaves.

And as with all plants, perennials also have their weaknesses. You need to study the climate areas that the plants will grow in and select plants accordingly.

Here are a few traits to look for:

• Some perennials are not as hardy to cold or heat.
• Most perennials have a shorter flowering stage and will need other perennials or annuals to add color or texture to the area when not in bloom.
• Some perennials are spreaders and need to be retained so that they do not take over a garden or yard.
• There are short life and long life perennials.
• For perennials to grow well they need to be divided every 3 to 5 years.
• Most perennials do better with a compost or ground cover applied around them. This keeps weeds down and lets the plant thrive.

A basic rule of thumb to any plant is to do research and know its strengths and weaknesses. This will let you know if the plant will be a good addition to your landscape.

Whether you are a weekend flowerbed gardener, or whether your garden is planned to feed your family through the winter, fanciful accessories will add to the enjoyment of the outdoor living space and the time you spend caring for your garden areas.

Here are two ideas often overlooked in garden planning that will add to your decor and landscape

Garden in three dimensions

Well-planned flower, vegetable or herb gardens do not have to stay at ground level. If your square footage is limited, cube it by the use of attractive and functional trellises or rails to bring plantings into the air. Small spaces can make use of vertical space and add privacy to the home in the process. Hanging baskets will also create a growing wall effect.

Make use of your windowsills, both indoors and out with small plants, flowers and vegetables.

Surround a tree with vinyl-coated wire and bring climbing roses or flowering vines into view.  Create a secluded outdoor room by trellises covered with decorative flowers, vines or even vegetables. Small ornamental gourds will add color with the blossoms and later the multi=colored gourd crop. I like to mix scarlet runner beans with any vine or near sunflowers for more color and a quick snack. Scarlet runner beans are extremely nutritious to eat.

Five senses

Plan your garden to include all five senses. You see the beautiful colors in the plants, flowers and accessories. You feel the texture of the earth as well as the crisp vegetables that are picked for culinary enjoyment. You can smell the perfume of the flowers and trees. Tasting fresh produce from the garden is a bonanza for your taste buds.

Finally, your sense of hearing is able to pick up the sound of the wind in a set of wind chimes.  Wind chimes are decorative and can sound melodic or mournful, tinkling or hearty. If you don’t have room for a large fountain, a table fountain will add the sound of water to a patio or balcony area. Running water drowns out noise from traffic or neighbors.

And a moonlight garden, set up with night lights and flowers that glow in the light evening light will add mystery and more time for relaxing to your backyard and patio area.

Plan your garden accessories to appeal to each and every human sense and your garden will be a place where your spirit is uplifted.

photo credit: echoforsberg

My front yard is going to be small terraced gardens, seven mini gardens in all. One will only be two foot by 3 foot and the largest, a rose garden; will be 4 foot by 8 foot.

As I spent most of the day moving a perennial garden, my two areas for perennials will be the first areas I work on.

The one small space garden will have rock cress and a moss ground cover in the front. Behind that I will plant a few varieties of herbs and small variety hosta plants. The last section in the back will be red sedum on the sides, bee balm in the center and one other taller perennial flower. I haven’t decided which one yet.

The other perennial garden is located near a tree so I will need to set up a shade garden in this area.

I dug up close to 150 perennials today. I put them in my transplant garden area overnight until I fix their new home or repot them for sale or trading for other new plant varieties.

You don’t want your plants you moved to have the opportunity to get dry roots so you need to make sure the roots are wet and that they are placed in soil as fast as possible.  That’s were a transplant garden can come in handy if you cannot plant them on the same day.

My terraces areas are set up on a hillside with a 30-degree slope. The area is being terraced to help redirect and prevent any runoff flooding from across the road. The road drains are all clogged and they said they would not replace them for 15 years so prevention is the best step to take. I say this after the downstairs of the house was ruined last year.

I am also place a mini mound garden area with shrubs and very hard perennials up by the road to help redirect any water if I have this problem again.

I am planning hardscape stairs in two places and laying them out in such a way that if I have any rain problems the rain will be carried away from the house and any gardens areas.  I think think the look of stairways curving through gardens will also add interest to the gardens and landscape.

The other small space gardens will be an herb garden, a flower garden and two veggie/flower garden mixes. The vegetable gardens are being planned for near the patio area and near the kitchen area. This will be a perfect location to run outdoors and select a few fresh vegetables to add to a meal.

These garden areas should be easy to maintain. They will make a problem yard less work and they will also help control any future water problems.  And above all they will add color and interest to a rather ordinary yard.

photo credit: foodistablog

With a little planning on fruit varieties that you want, you will be able to raise fresh non-chemical produce for your family. And by adding other soft fruits like strawberries and melons you will have a great supply of fresh fruit for any occasion.

Here are two you tube videos on small fruit orchards.

One shows growing a small fruit orchard in your backyard. This garden is set up in a city and set up in a raised bed. You could also grow the fruit trees in containers for the patio or balcony garden.

One point mentioned is that sometimes you have to wait a year or two for the fruit to produce.

What I do during this waiting time is add leafy vegetables around the trees or in the containers for color and to make use of the space.

The next video shows how to grow blueberries.

Blueberries add to any mini orchard and are easy to grow. You will need at least two varieties of blueberries for cross-pollination so a larger patio or balcony will be needed or a backyard for the blueberry plants.

This you tube shows planting a blueberry plant in a container. What I like about this your tube is that they really showed mixing up a great soil that will keep the plant healthy and producing for years.

I have 6 blueberry plants that I planted in a circular garden form near the patio and added other small fruit in this area. Vine peach on a trellis, rhubarb in a few groupings, kiwi fruit and raspberries all grow here. I added a few herbs and edible flowers for color and as other crops to harvest.

I also added a bench and a water fountain to this area to create a wonderful place to read or relax in my backyard oasis.

A small fruit orchard can add to the beauty and value of your home  and with the new varieties of small growing trees you can grow almost any fruit that will grow in your climate.