Garden Plans

Call us crazy, but we are extending our garden. We had a bunch of mink compost leftover, so we decided to till it in behind the garden and grow our corn and vines (pumpkins, watermelon, cantaloupe, zucchini) back there.

Who knows what it will be in the long run... my dream was to build a pergola and patio seating area and plant grapes to climb over it. Then we inherited the truck and realized it needs a resting place, so we talked about making a gravel pad there. Neither of those plans were going to happen this year, so now it will become fruitful... literally.

 

Speaking of garden plans, Mike has been asking me to plan the garden for a few months now. I guess I am more the type to plant things as I go, and I had a picture of it in my head but of course he couldn't see it. He had finally had it with my loose interpretation of a plan, so he whipped one up himself! The engineer in him has to be exact, so it includes not only dimensions and spacing, but even number of "seeds needed", "projected harvest date", and "projected yield (lbs.)". 

You should be able to enlarge it and check it out. I'm willing to hire him out if anyone it interested! :)

Installing a Landscape

Summer is at its end... and we're finally getting grass. Let's take a look at the journey.

I also wanted to share how we approached the process in case it could help anyone else out there attempting to landscape a new home. As with any DIY project, there is a fine line between looking, well, like you did it yourself, and looking professional. Assuming others agree that ours is turning out pretty awesome, I'll share a few tips that pushed us past looking ordinary.

April 25th: Final Grade at Move-in

We got a map of our plat at the very beginning of the build process and started brainstorming. You might think I would be good at landscape design seeing as I studied it in school, but the truth is I only took one design class... and designing your own is rather overwhelming! A few basic steps helped:

- Look at functionality and accessibility. Do you want to entertain, play sports, and/or garden in the yard? We wanted to do all three and set aside space to do so. We put the area for the playset where I can see it from the kitchen and the garden near the garage man door.

- Assess the elements. Where does the sun hit, and at what time of day? Which way does the wind blow? We put our garden on the southeast side of yard where it will get the best sunlight.

- Decide where you want hardscape. The first lines we drew were the fences. They won't go in for a few years, but they define the boundary between the front yard, a more public space, and the back yard, a private space. Again this affects functionality and helped us imagine how everything is broken up.

- Decide on your basic design theme. Do you like formal angles or relaxed curves? I tend to think curves are more visually pleasing, so we used a circular theme for the shapes of flower beds.

- How much maintenance are you willing to do? Many people prefer grass fence to fence so all they have to do is mow it. If that's you, power to ya, but I need room to grow my pretties and I'm willing to spend time planting and weeding.

After we drew up a basic plan, we took it to the sprinkler experts at BJ Plumbing. They provide a free service of drawing up a workable sprinkler system for you! A friend of ours had their plan drawn and then bought sprinkler parts online at Sprinkler Warehouse, where you can get them cheaper. We planned on doing the same but soon realized what a great resource BJ was and stuck with them. Brad was a great help to us! Not only did his sprinkler plan give us somewhere to start, he provided all the details to have a successful sprinkler system, from how many feet of pipe and wire to buy to how to water each zone.

The first thing we did in the yard was stake out and plant our garden so it could produce all summer. We also bought and planted a bunch of trees... some would say prematurely, since we didn't have water to them yet, but we wanted to catch the spring sales and get them established early. I had to hand water both the garden and the trees all summer (which I'll admit was a pain) but I have loved having both!

June 29: Weeds

Meanwhile the weeds grew. To remove them, and also all the rocks that were planted by the builder's backfill, we rented a bobcat and Mike scraped off approximately 2-3 inches all over.



Next step, sprinkler trenches! We hired this out and it was worth every penny. He did in a few hours what could have taken us a year! We highly recommend Andy's Trenching.

July 17th: Trenches

The next 8 weeks consisted of man versus sprinklers. Mike spent every spare minute outside laying pipe, connecting pipe, connecting valves, wiring, installing the clock, burying pipes, testing for leaks, fixing leaks, putting on heads, etc. etc. He had never done it before but you wouldn't have known--he's a whiz. The above picture was when he and his brothers bored under the sidewalks by hand to get water to the park strips. The plants in our yard will owe their lives to this guy!

Sept. 8: Ready for topsoil

2 of 10 loads

We found a guy here in Lehi that delivered and spread the topsoil. He was amazing on the bobcat and had it spread almost evenly in about 2 hours. Once again, I would highly recommend him: Jose at J.C. Trucking. We had to rake it out and wet it down to compact it (above) but a big rainstorm helped with that.

Sept. 15: Curbing

After topsoil we were ready for our curbing. My sister and brother-in-law recommended Clayton Custom Curbing and we were not disappointed. Robbie was so friendly, helpful, and professional. He has been doing this for 20 years and has it down to a science. He also gave us a good deal since we were doing so much!

Again, I think curves are pleasing to the eye, but one thing to avoid with curbing is too many snaky curves. Slow, large radius curves keep things simple and natural. Ours seemed a little dizzying at first, but when the grass and soil back up against them they won't be as dramatic.

After the curbing was in, Mike installed all the heads and ran the zones. We have water people!!! It's a miracle!

All that remained to do was final grading and raking and then hydroseed! We opted for seed over sod since we were doing so much of our yard at once (we did about 2/3 and will finish the last 1/3 in the back next year). We used Enviro-Systems of Utah, who 2 near neighbors have used and had good results with. They use a high quality blue-grass blend and apply it with the wet green mulch.

Sept. 21: Hydroseed

Now the question is, what are we going to do with our free time? In truth, a yard is never done... but we might put our feet up for a few days.

Pergolas and Arbors

Now that the cat is out of the bag... yep we are building a house! The longed for day is approaching... a yard of my very own! As excited as I am, I'm also overwhelmed by the idea of designing a half acre into the dream space I want it to be. While I know these things take time, I have someone breathing down my neck to lay out a landscape plan so he can install sprinklers this summer!

One thing I have been thinking a lot about is pergolas and arbors. They add so much character to a space and provide a place for climbing plants, like wisteria... my favorite!! We had wisteria growing on pergolas at the Noni gardens and I vowed then that I would have my own someday.

Doesn't this just feel like the entrance to an enchanted garden?

I love this simple pergola over a small sitting area. I can imagine a little patio in a corner of the yard, maybe down by the garden, with some seating from which to enjoy the landscape from a different view.

I like how this small arbor provides a smooth transition from the driveway to the garden.

Mike is planning on adding to the small deck we will have already, and we considered putting a pergola there for a little bit of character and shade.

By the way, all of these pictures came from Better Homes and Gardens website. I am subscribed to their email newsletter and they send me new ideas every few days. It has been a great way to keep me thinking, and it's so fun to browse all their slide shows of beautiful landscapes and dream! Someday!