Saturday, March 8, 2008

The New Patio Bed

Jamie and I started on one of the new beds last Saturday. I’m getting very excited about watching everything come together. I would say we are about half way thru with what we are calling the “Patio Bed”. I’m still having a hard time adjusting to the barren back yard. I get myself past it by realizing we have a blank canvass. Lately ideas have been pouring into my mind so by the end of summer we should be noticing some major differences in the garden. Right now I’m flip flopping on whether or not to put up a privacy fence. We would have a much better back drop for the garden but, our neighbors on the right hand side put one up a couple of years ago and we never see each other. I really, really like the elderly couple that lives on the left side, so they are my only hesitation in putting up the fence. I enjoy meeting at the fence post to talk.


My Oh So Hard Working Other Half

DSC02110


This bed would already be done were it not for the tremendous amount of tree roots we have to dig up. There were three very large forty year old trees back here and they had many years to stretch out their feet. In the background you can see I’ve pushed the chain link fence back up but it still hasn’t been repaired. I think I can fix it myself, it seems pretty simple.

DSC02116


Looking at Jamie standing there you can get a better idea of the size of the Patio Bed. As big as it is you can tell from the picture it still only covers about seventy percent of the original area. We may extend it just a couple of feet more on the left hand side or Maybe not. I have some ideas for other beds and I may need that area for something else. I climbed on the roof to take the picture.


Jamie Sure is Phoe-toe-genical

DSC02121F


Well, you should have a general idea of which direction we are heading with this bed. We have two Japanese Red Maples to plant on the very ends of each side and a Stellar Pink Dogwood to go in the center towards the back. All three will grow to fifteen or twenty foot trees and will eventually provide some shade for the bed but still allow it to get plenty of sun. I’m concerned about the pink dogwood being in full sun, but if we water it well enough it should do just fine. The ones in the front yard were thriving just fine in full sun. The leaves did get a little crispy during August sometimes; it didn’t matter though because Fall is close enough at that point they are only a temporary eye sore.

DSC02119


This little Redbud is the first step towards replanting the garden. We bought two of them to replace the ones broken off in the storm. I got such a sense of satisfaction from planting it in it’s new home. I hope it does well for us.

Eastern Redbud

DSC02106

8 comments:

Connie said...

So sorry about the storm. Your new garden area has a nice shape and I'm sure it will be beautiful.

Anonymous said...

Things are looking great. At least you get to do all that hard work in cooler temperatures. I know when the heat comes in, I do no more hard work in the garden.

Jan Always Growing

Phillip Oliver said...

It is going to look great. I like the shape of the patio. Like you said, you now have a blank slate to work with. I would install a privacy fence but if you like talking to your neighbors, maybe you should skip it. However, you never know who your future neighbors might be. Our back and side garden is completely enclosed with hedges and fences and we love it.

Annie in Austin said...

Hi Randy and Jamie,

I couldn't get the photos to come up the other day, but now they're up and wonderful.

The Japanese maples and flowering dogwoods sound lovely - we've mainly gardened where it's too cold or alkaline for them so I have no experience growing them, but I love redbuds. We've planted 3 redbuds here and even named our house "Circus~Cercis".

Phillip said exactly what I was thinking about the fence! In past gardens concessions in the layout were made for certain neighbors. Then fate intervened, they moved, and I was stuck with a design that didn't work with the next family.

Have your elderly couple mentioned retirement or relocation? Could you make one section lattice, with the solid boards kept stored for fast replacement if a "for sale" sign appears?

This is our first house with a privacy fence and I do love having it.

That's such a generous, gracefully shaped space for gardening!

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

Randy said...

Connie, it's okay about the storm. We are moving past it a lot better than I thought we would.

Jan, the entire time we were finishing up the bed this weekend an pulling out over seven wheelbarrows full of roots I was thinking of your statement about the cool weather. :-)

Phillip and Annie, we actually extended the bed about another eight feet on the left hand side. I'm going to post an updated picture, I like it even better now. Annie I hadn't even given thought to lattice! That's an excellent idea. I was walking around the fence line yesterday and I observed another problem. Most all the peremiter plants were planted with the intention of them growing right up next to the chainlink fence and over it. I have three redbuds, four Forsythia, Four Bridal wreath and three Japanese Magnolias that will be only about 18 to 24 inces at the most from the fence when/if it's built. Do you think they will be okay if I keep the limbs pruned until they get over the fence? I never really thought we would have the money for the expense of a privacy fence. That's why they are so close.

Annie in Austin said...

Wow, that's really close. I'm not sure how it will work. My semi-dwarf white crepe myrtles are planted pretty close to our north fence, but they're young, single-trunked speciments with only branches growing away from the fence allowed to develop. I try to keep my landscaping inside my lot line.
The shrubs are probably okay, but once the tree canopies spread, your neighbors would have the right to prune off any branches that hang on their side. If they don't care this might not matter, but some people can't stand vegetation touching fences.

Annie

Randy said...

Annie, in retrospect I would have done it differently. I've already told my neighors I plan on keeping the trees pruned and as compact as possible. Although they don't care anyway. (future ones might though) Plus, my plan was to train the branches the way I want them with wires and tying them at different angles and what have you almost sculpting them. But, you are right and from this point further I will make sure the vegitation is contained to my property lines. You know how it is, you learn as you go and try not to repeat the mistakes.

Annie in Austin said...

I'm on house #5 and there's still a lot to learn, J & R!

Back at house #2 I planted a line of clematis next to a shared chainlink fence. It was a shock to find out that weed killer sprayed on the perimeter of our neighbors' lawn could knock off the clematis in my garden. By the next garden any vines on shared fences were expendable annual vines from seed. More expensive or rare stuff gets the middle!

Annie at the Transplantable Rose