We live in the best state anywhere but our weather makes it hard to plan out our flower and veggie beds to give some shade and water. I am getting ready to carve out a few new beds into the yard and just wanted to know how my fellow Texans planned out there bed and even better what really loves our heat! If you have been on the DL thread or the Iris thread they are were I got the idea but seeing we have our own here to try to meet the needs of other Texans who have to deal with our heat!
Mitch
All right Texans show your garden planning!
I learned that it's much easier to improve soil FIRST, and then plant the flowers. Test the pH, add organic ingredients if it's too clayey, add lots of organic matter to help hold moisture and mulch when finished planting. Oh yeah, kill the weeds before you do anything!
if I ever kill all my bermuda I will be doing good - never ending battle there!
Good luck on killing the bermuda! Here is what worked pretty good for the bermuda grass: In July or August spread a nice heavy piece of thick, clear plastic over the area you want to plant. Weight it down with rocks or something. Leave it in place for a whole month. It will kill everything under it(the earthworms crawl away but will come back) including weed seeds, nematodes and bermuda grass. After removing the plastic, till up the area and remove any stray pieces of bermuda grass root that you find. Work in your favorite ammendments and plant! If you happen to find a piece of bermuda grass growing, yank it out before it spreads. Mulch the ground with a thick mulch, bermuda is weakened when it is continually yanked out and/or has to grow thru thick mulch.
Garden what-ing??? You mean you are supposed to plan???
Okay, I'll chime in. I made a plan, some/a lot of it is not working, I'm tearing up the plan.
You've got to be realistic about how much, where, and when your sun and shade are. I thought I'd pretty well mapped out the sun/shade in my back yard for almost a year after all my pines were removed. I don't have as much sun as I thought I did, some places not nearly as much as I thought! (Luckily, the roses were placed in the one perfect spot for them.)
Also, think ahead about maintenance, about access to the beds for dead-heading and weeding, and especially about watering. Do you want to drag a hose past the plants that don't want as much water, to get to the far corners of the garden where you've planted the ones that do want water? If they have to be planted that way (due to sun requirements, etc), consider installing drip irrigation in that area, or maybe another faucet in that area (nothing will mow down a garden bed more effectively than a hose accidentally raked over the bed while you're dragging it to another location.)
You are so right, Mary.
Keep it coming - I have seen Josephine's gardens and loved them just wanted to get a few more ideas before I tore to much up!
I've seen some garden planning software, but it's expensive. Graph paper and a pencil work just as well and is cheaper. Just remember to use the mature size of the plant when planning otherwise everything will get too crowded. This is critical in a veggie garden because overcrowding can reduce production.
My hubby is the king of garden planning! And I can now say that he FINISHED a major project! He finished the walkways and planting beds yesterday. All of the beds are bordered with chopped sandstone, and the walkways are leveled,and lined with landscape fabric, then red pinto gravel that is about 4-6" thick. It is nice to be able to walk around the back garden and pond, and reach into the middle of a bed to weed, deadhead or prune!
He had the concept on paper, then added to it in his head, but now that it is finished, I can see what he had visioned! Once I get the beds filled with some good compost and planting mix, planted, and mulched... then I will feel that it is finished.... NOW where is that cool weather, so I can do MY part......?
Here is a picture from about 6 years ago....
I would call this phase 3..... after the pond, but before the walkways and new beds... probably 3 to 4 years ago...
We planned our habitat garden on graph paper after measuring the space.
The south side slope outside the fence, we reserved for the wildflowers. It measures 10 wide by 80 long.
Inside the the fence, we reserved a space 10 by 30 feet for vegetables, also on the southside.
Across the back of the yard, we have a space 20 feet deep and 80 feet wide.
On this space we planted the small flowering and fruiting trees, to provide food for the birds and small mammals.
Also on that space we planted shrubs and wildflowers. We left two entrance spaces to the area, with a path down the center, to provide access for watering and tending the area.
On the fences we planted native vines with a row of shrubs next to them, in order to have flowering plants for the bees and butterfies at most times of the year.
On the north side we made a space for composting, 15 by 20 feet, made of concrete blocks, and divided into separate sections for leaf and mulch storage and for separate compost piles.
In the center of the back yard we have a lawn that measures 50 by 30 with 3 Maple trees around the patio, and 2 volunteer Pecans, one on the south side of the house and one to the southeast.
This habitat arrangement has worked very well. We also have a shredder to grind all the plants that we pull and trim, which is constant, no small task, but worth it.
Josephine.
Josephine, is that a chipper-shredder? Something that will chip small branches?
(sigh!) If I was married, I would ask for a chipper-shredder instead of antyhing else for birthday/anniversary/Christmas/Mother's Day!!
:-)
Yes Mary, it is a chipper-shredder, a 10 horse Troybilt, and is does a great job on small branches and reduces all the plant trimmings to the size of mulch.
It would probably be difficult for a woman to run it, it is heavy and takes a very strong pull to start it, I don't think I could do it, but you never know what you might be capable of doing if you have to.
Josephine.
Wow, better than a diamond any old day!
TXmel, I love your garden. Do you have recent pictures so we can see how it's grown?
Good question. I would love one, but the view from above is now blocked by the crossvine on the arbor. When I told my hubby that we need to climb on the roof to get a better view, I got a funny look. I considered doing it yesterday, but thought that I had better wait until someone is home..... to dial 911 when I fall!
Hopefully I will get help one evening to get a shot from above!
mel
....here is a shot from early 2005 (winter here) while he was working on the rock beds! (phase 4)
Ok, it's not very good, but it will give you a glimpse of how things are greened up and growing.... the shot is not very good in the morning light, too much glare...
You can see the pond,stream, beds, pergola and arbor though! If you look close, those are walking paths around the pond... so I can take my laps around to see what is blooming!
OMG, I meant to have a yard like that!
It has turned out beautifully, Mel!
Wow, you guys did a LOT of work, and it has really paid off! Your yard is beautiful. I'm with Cala - I meant to have a yard like that, too!
:-)
Thank you! He will be so pleased to hear! Just wait till I get a better shot from up on the roof!
Mel,
Your garden is beautiful!!! It's a wonderful looking oasis. Congradulations to both of you.
TXMEL,
I am still waiting for my tour... ;o)) Come spring we will have to get together, your yard is georgeous!
Sheila
I was thinking about you this week, when we've had cooler mornings! Since hubby just finished his major goal, he will be a little more ready to have a tour! We will get together very soon! I promise! I can't wait to see yours, too!
melanie
How about a Dave's Garden tour? Just a few thousand of your closest friends traipsing through your garden paradise?
:-)
You know..... maybe that's what he was planning on with those meticulously built gravel paths! =D
Funny memory.... Before we built our pond, we went on many DFW pond tours, seeing as many ponds as we could cram into a saturday and sunday.... one year, we saw 36 ponds and gardens!
After we finished building our pond.... we said.... we dont WANT 500 people trampling down our garden... not everyone that comes to the tour is a true gardener, and they bring children.... and pets.... I now realize why some people specifically said NO CHILDREN... There is rarely a child that visits our pond that doesn't want to spend hours throwing rocks into the pond! One handful.... fine, but eventually, we have NO more rocks outside the pond!
Not to mention compacted soil....
But, for DAVES gardeners.... everything is different! =D
Good to hear that, we'll start making arrangements for the Dave's Garden airbus to pick everyone up and deliver us to your home!
:-)
Hey, next year in August I'll be back up in Grapevine for a jewelry show at the Gaylord and I just MIGHT have to plan to let you know and stop by to do some major drooling!!!
Mine would prefer to splash in the water than throw rocks, or feed your fish. :) WHERE is that new bed at?? I can not figure it out from that picture! Outside your fence by the driveway?? It looks wonderful! And just think of all the new plants you can get!!
ps...there is no planning to my garden. It's just happenstance. I am thinking about rearranging some things this year or in the spring tho, maybe adding a small tree in the middle of my back bed to give it some height.
This message was edited Sep 10, 2005 10:35 AM
I saw Meiyu's gardens in San Antonio, they reminded me of yours TXMel, she has a pond and gravel paths, and such neat gardens. Mine are not neat, lol!
Calalily........I hear this all the time.....
I learned that it's much easier to improve soil FIRST, and then plant the flowers. Test the pH, add organic ingredients if it's too clayey, add lots of organic matter to help hold moisture and mulch when finished planting
How do you work the soil if you have stuff already in the ground? I am afraid I will tear something up. cant you easily ruin seedlings or other stuff you cant see. Maybe my question is wrong....How do you work the soil if you have plants in the ground you cant see?
Sylvia:(
I was guilty of planting first, then finding out my soil was terrible(just because it's rich, black delta soil doesn't mean it's good, lol). I tried working peat moss and gypsum in without moving the plants, but after a year I gave up on that idea. I worked with one section at a time. I dug out the existing flowers that weren't too big to move and added amendments to the soil and then replanted the flowers, watered good and mulched heavy.
My soil was loose and easy to work with, the problems I had were high pH and salt. I guess if the soil was clay, it would have been harder to dig the plants out.
...I knew it would not be easy.... :) ....been here for about eight years now...when I lose plants...I rework the area...with whatever I have, horse manure, miricle grown gardening soil and some of that black stuff they sold me at the feed store. She told me it is compost...I think the bag says Humous.
I am having my raised bed...which is really a retaining wall repaired this month. I sure hope dont have to dig my plants out...if he does I guess that would be a good time to work the soil. :(
btw what does peat do?
Sylvia
Hi Sylvia,
Peat is good for water retention.
How much peat can you add and still be safe? My FIL mixed in to much and burned a part of his garden (at least we think this is what did it!)
I've never had Canadian sphagnum peat burn anything, but if you use it without mixing it with soil, it can form a crust on top and water just runs off.
Most bagged potting soils(the good ones anyway) are mostly peat. I use peat because it seems to lower the pH.
Thats what I thought until he said he did it... will have to look into what else he used in there!
I use peat as a main ingredient in my potting mix http://davesgarden.com/journal/ed/index.php?tabid=10 , but before I add anything else I mix lime in to bring the pH more toward neutral.
....so Calalily...I guess I am safe with the MG gardening soil? Its works well in all my Pots too. Sometimes I think I use too much stuff. I am always trying something .... Poured nitrogen on my Physostegia's .... I think it almost killed them...they would have been blooming this month. :(
..another question ...what is Humous used for?
S