Last fall, I sat in on forty hours of master gardener classes on all sorts of topics. What else was I going to do in the breaks between intellectual tidbits besides daydream up a new space? So, out with the old and in with the new:

This digital representation is not at all to scale, but that is why I will be taking a lot of pictures along the way to show what each area looks like. This is more of a roadmap for when I post pictures and talk about the individual areas, to mentally organize where they belong. All of this rests, by the way, on 0.20 acres chock in the middle of town.

Now – to the changes.

Raised Beds

The raised beds have not gotten smaller (despite their drawing appearing thus), but instead we have plans to increase the gardening space by adding more cinderblocks and compost to the ends to create more of two “E”s facing each other. There are also three cattle panels on the north-south ends of the beds which have been bent into an upside-down “U” shape to grow plants on a rugged, and inexpensive, trellis. These archways also provide a pretty path to walk down the center of the raised beds.

Our compost is going quite well – as a mixture of traditional composting techniques and vermicompost – and we’ve utilized a bit of it this year in refilling the raised bed and some of the holes in the cinderblock (in which we also plant).

We would still like to eventually build a greenhouse-chicken coop-rabbit hutch combo building in this area, but this year is not the time for it. We’re also still waiting to see if urban chickens will be legalized within our town limits for residential properties.

Many of the beds have been planted for the upcoming year (I’ll share more later) and Aaron has been slaving away making arched raised bed covers out of PVC and chicken wire to help keep the squirrels, cats, and other animals out of my raised beds. The covers can also have plastic thrown over the top to create row covers for this winter to help expand the season. I’m extremely happy to have them and very grateful that my husband has been helping me so much – while I am only  nineteen weeks pregnant, I’m much slower than normal.

Ornamental + Edibles

We have tilled up a lot of the yard this spring and turned it into more gardening space – removing weeds and grass as we could. It is now mulched and ready to be planted. Some blueberries have already taken up residence and a 100 gallon pre-formed pond liner was purchased to put into one of the corners.

I’m hoping to use a lot of permaculture principles in this area to create a beautiful, relaxing, and still usable space to look out on from our new patio. Our yard was never really big enough to run around in to the degree the kids would have liked (particularly with four young ones), so we utilize the park which is just a few blocks away for that sort of activity. Instead, this is a haven for reading and relaxing, watching wildlife, and connecting to nature.

Our peonies, shasta daisies, and grape vine are all doing well in this area. The vertical “living fence” garden is nearly planted and ready to be hung up again after overwintering inside.

Patio

The forms for the patio are nearly complete and the ground has been leveled in preparation for the next steps. All of the patio pavers have been purchased and are waiting on pallets. Once the forms are completed, a tamper will be used to ensure the ground is compacted. Then, layers of gravel and sand will be carefully created. The pavers will go on top with soil in between the pavers in which we hope to plant some sort of low-lying creeping vegetation. In addition, we intend to built an outdoor kitchen complete with grill, sink and water hookup, fridge, and counter space for food preparation. Overhead will be, eventually, a beautiful hand-constructed peaked pergola – most likely with some sort of clear cover to help keep rain out. Also part of this plan are raised ornamental and edible beds on two sides (the outdoor kitchen on the third) with an opening out to the yard on the final side. A sliding glass door will be installed on the backside of the house with stairs over one of the raised beds to access the patio from the house.  Vining plants will be used prodigiously on the pergola supports – tentative plans include hops or clematis.

Pollinator Garden

A lot of work has already been done on this area, as well, this spring with all the grass and weeds suppressed, mulch put down, a path created, and dozens of pollinator-friendly (bees, wasps, butterflies, etc.) plants in the ground. Most of the plants are natives and most are perennials that are supposed to be safe for our gardening zone. We’ll see how it works – look forward to an upcoming post with much, much more detail.

Hostas and Ferns

Not much has changed here with just weeding ongoing. I need to add more ferns and also, after taking those aforementioned gardening classes, I’ve gotten lists of shade-friendly flowers that I can add in to that area to make it more vivid and lush. While I’m anxious to get started – I have enough going on in the other areas that it is going to have to wait.

Fruit Bushes

Here are where our raspberries are. I’ve already planted eight more canes of two different varieties in the hopes that we can get many more raspberries this year. We also cleared out some canes last year which never produced and we have a suspicion may have been blackberries.

Mint & Fruit Trees

The mint is doing well and spreading like crazy (as hoped). We’ve done a lot of work on this area this spring which involved a skid loader, a very happy man, some landscaping rocks, landscaping lights, and a lot of muscle. The area is now terraced (is that the word I’m looking for?) and ready for apple trees to be planted. I’ve been doing research and looking for dwarf apple trees with little success. What I had a lot of success with, though, was finding local non-box-store gardening stores with columnar apples. I think I’m going to end up going that route with three greens, a red, and a golden right off the bat. I end up with more variety in types of apples if I use columnar intend of dwarf and I get to experiment – I like the idea of having some other columnar fruit in the backyard which won’t take up as much space or shade nearly as many plants. That’s a win-win for an urban garden!

Talk to Me

Does anyone have experience with columnar apple trees? What does your yard look like?

Meanwhile, I also have actual “work” to do. I have articles to write for our weekly newspaper, I have logistical things that need worked on for my upcoming classes for the masters program I was accepted into, I have stories to write down for EmSun, photos to edit, I have garden beds to weed and seed, I have plants to nurture, I have languishing house plants that need moved outside, I have problems at EmSun I need to fix (anyone else having problems seeing graphics?), I have books that need read in order to be reviewed, kids that deserve my one-on-one attention (sometimes one-on-four) and to be cherished, pets that are needy-needy-needy, volunteer projects that require my attention and people in them that deserve my attention, a house to clean up, a baby to build, and so many other things just preying on the corners of my mind.

Sometimes I think that a half an hour of squirrels and birds and insects is what makes it so that I can hustle through the “work.” It relieves the pressure and reminds me that life does, indeed, go on.

• Get Your Graffiti On
• Mid-Way Part 1
• Mid-Way Part 2

At the end of the festival, I went back to take some follow-up photos of some pieces that hadn’t been finished before. In addition, I snuck back up to take some photos of doodles my kids had done. Enjoy!

I went back up to survey main street early on Sunday morning to get the “half-way” point of the festival. Look at the progress made in just one day! Check back later for more photos taken at the end of the festival!

I went back up to survey main street early on Sunday morning to get the “half-way” point of the festival. Look at the progress made in just one day! Check back later for more photos taken at the end of the festival!

These images are all from Saturday. Check back later for those taken on Sunday!

I couldn’t just leave with this tiny blurb, though, so I thought I’d show you the new “me,” too. I’m chugging along at seventeen weeks pregnant with my third munchkin (sixteen in the picture) and I’m happy as can be.

I’ve been looking for things for all these kids to do this summer so that I can corral most of my energy for taking care of my very expanded garden.

A few weeks ago, Aaron found an old sand box on someone’s curb. We’ve gotten quite a bit of furniture and equipment over the years from curb donations. I figure with a bit of disinfecting and some sand, we’ll have a great play thing for the kids this summer.

Picture taken from and linked to Step2.com website.

This was only the first step, though. A friend of mine had mentioned on Facebook that she had purchased a water table for her child. I’d been wanting one for my kids for years, but since I typically make everything (or rather, design it and make Aaron build it), the idea had sat on the back shelf since so many other things needed done. Finally, her recommendation sparked the thought that I just needed to buy one. I typically don’t like buying plastic toys for the kids, but I made an exception.

Picture taken from and linked to Step2.com website.

While this is the essentially same table as the one I bought, ours is a different color and ours came with a shark-shaped cup instead of a measuring cup.

Over the past two days, despite it being rainy and cold, the kids have spent multiple hours playing with the water table and the watering cans I purchased. Between the sand box, the water table, bubbles, bikes/ride-on toys, kids garden, and homemade playdough, I’m hoping to keep these kids entertained for most of the summer.

Knowing how kids can be really into something for a few weeks and then be tired of it, I’m already considering putting some water dye into each of the two water pools (after the appeal has worn off) so that the kids can “mix” the color. At some point, I’ll probably drop some ice cubes into the water, too, so they can watch them melt. I’m also going to start holding back some jars, buckets, and corks from the recycling bin and trash for use with the water table and sand box.

I found this link to an article about water-based learning units which had some additional ideas for fun.

Do you have any ideas for other fun and imaginative play for the passel of kids I’ve got hanging ’round?