Jared77's Gardening Journal

[Jared77]

Ok well here goes figured I'd start by showing where I'm at. I literally took these yesterday 03/27/2014.

We moved in 06/13/2013. My 2nd daughter was born a week later so as you can see I've just managed to keep the grass cut.

Figured this would be an interesting way to keep tabs on where things are going and where they've been. Plus suggestions are always welcome.

 

[so lucky]

Wow Jared, nice place. You have pretty much a blank canvas, don't you? That would be daunting to me. I think I do better "making do" with the mess someone else has left, than if I had to create it all. But you clearly have a very artistic and creative side, so I bet you will have some awesome ideas. How much land did you say is yours?

 

[Jared77]

Thank you we're very pleased with it. We lucked into it since it was a short sale and they couldn't get an offer because of the commitment to buying a short sake laws so the price fell. We were renting so being locked into a short sale wasn't an issue for us. We bought it for 60k less than the original asking price because they kept dropping the price every month by 10k trying to get an offer. When the price leveled off it was less than 30 days from foreclosure. We were able to push the sale through quickly because it was so close to foreclosure and the bank was extremely anxious to get it off their books.

We hadn't found anything we liked & figured we owed it to ourselves to go look at this place. Honestly we went not expecting much. Especially with the price falling like that. We were VERY surprised by what we saw. Now it's ours.

We have a total of 3 acres. Enough to get out and run around but we'd have preferred more (but who doesn't?) but the trade was in school districts. Anywhere we looked that had 5 acres or more were in school districts we wouldn't put our kids in. That was a huge priority for us. This district is in the top 10 in the state academically and offers literally a ton of opportunities for our kids. From FFA to a robotics team, equestrian team, a swim team and a host of AP classes, literally it's a great school district.

Far as the property itself goes yes it's a blank slate. We had another flowering tree that matched the one you see out front but with the ice storm we had it suffered a lot of damage and had to be removed. It was learning terribly with what was left and I was afraid it would uproot and be an even bigger problem. We were really bummed it was the better shaped and larger of the two trees too. The good thing is it really opened up the front so no shade on the front porch giving us more landscaping options.

The house faces south too so lots and lots of options there.

There plants you see are literally what's on the property. There is a walk way that follows from the edge of the driveway there parallel to the garage under the windows there and ends at the front steps. It's maybe 18" wide so not enough room to do squat with. In that bed are some orange double blossom day lilies that are ticked with a darker orange color. They are pretty but not well kept. They need to be divided and fed. There is also some dwarf iris in there too that I'm going to transplant out so I don't lose it. Literally about 3-4 inches high and beautiful dark purple blossoms. Once I can get them established elsewhere Im more than happy to offer some here. I really like them.

The picture with the berm and the edge of the deck is an engineered drain field. It's going to be my pumpkin patch. Plan us to plant the north side of it with pumpkins and let them sprawl all over it. Not really much else I can do with that area other than mow it.

The little tree you see there is supposed to be a flowering cherry that died. It had buds on if in late June and then it didn't do anything after that. The buds fell off and the ends of the branches are very brittle. So that's coming out year too.

 

[Jared77]

As far as a blank slate being daunting......honestly? No it's not. We had that at our rental and (since we rented from family) we could go as crazy as we wanted with whatever we wanted to bring over with the understanding that we'd divide what could be divided, and put back part of them and take the other part to the new house. Thoselants are safe and the current occupants understand the agreement already in place and could honestly care less what's growing there. So at some point we'll start the transplanting process. Mostly hosta varieties and day lilies. Some things I suggested we simply replace and plant new at our new house. The few that have sentimental value I said I'd transplant myself and we'd replace at the rental.

Some I will say I'm glad to walk away from. The rhododendrons are at the top of that list. Prepped a huge area for them, soil amendments whole 9 yards and they still look terrible. Did a bunch of reading on them followed all the suggestions still blah. Just very woody and not as much foliage overall as they should have. Supplemented them, honestly I'm glad to be rid of those things. Just never could get them happy. Had issues with them at the old house, transplanted them, added 2 more for balance and all of them went down the same path of not doing well.

That place was a blank slate for us too and we received lots of compliments on what we did there. We had a vision and we executed it I thought very well.

The big problem we have here is not getting overwhelmed. It's more depressing than anything for us to drive home and send just NOTHING growing. I know Rome wasn't built in a day and great gardens and landscaping evolve but it's killing me right now because I wasn't to enjoy SOMETHING!!!! All last summer it was awful but with the new baby I was lucky to enjoy the tomatoes to plants I put in.

 

[digitS']

Uh, oh. Mary is gonna see all this open space!

You need that program that P Allen Smith uses on "Garden Home." The thing where people send in a picture of their homes and he does that 30 seconds of drawing and even that makes it look nice!

Me? I'd just go for raw dirt 6 months out of the year with a few odd outbuildings - odder the better.

You sir, are going to have fun!

Steve

 

[thistlebloom]

Oh wow! I love it! Very nice house too. The possibilities are endless! A big congratulations to you and your wife.

First thing I'd do is put in some screening trees so you get them growing.

Our house has a sidewalk entry similar to yours with one extra bend in it. I really hate all the angles, someday I'd like to remove it and put in stone with a more sweeping arc around to the front door and make the bed along the garage bigger.

You have probably already considered how to widen your sidewalk. !8" is very narrow, ours is 40" and feels cramped sometimes.

I'm really looking forward to seeing your progress Jared, it's so exciting!

 

[Jared77]

Thank you!

It's going to be fun that's for sure. We've already started laying out where we want the greenhouse, the compost bins, the garden, the play scape for the kids, the rose garden (which is my personal project I love roses) the herb bed, and a pool. Maybe not that exact one but something along those lines. Enough to swim in but not so big that it's a royal chore to manage.

Keep the kids busy swimming all summer long and help give them something to do. My wife grew up with something like that and easily convinced me we need one too. We have the space why not?

The projects this year are get the porch swing up on the front deck, which was a birthday gift from me to my wife about 6 years ago, get the veg garden planted, plant the long term edible perennials (rhubarb, asparagus, and blackberries in that order of importance) so they can get established, fence the veg garden, build a screen for the awful looking tank, and build the compost bins.

Honestly I think I'll only get the rhubarb in this year because I really hate looking at the propane tank and the veg garden really needs to be fenced to keep the bunnies and the deer out. The deer really seemed to like the early pink tomatoes I tried last year for some odd reason.

The screen will probably be a letter L screening the west and south sides of the tank so it's not visible from the road. Figure some 4x4 posts some lattice and 1x4s to serve as moulding to give it a nice finished look and give us a hardscape structure to anchor the rest of the bed so it doesn't look like an island of plants in the middle of the lawn. Maybe a smaller climbing rose or a clematis or both to cover the screen and go from there. I've always loved the look of those climbers Garden phlox, or peonies, who knows. Always like that look of those two climbers growing together. Maybe do Eden as my climber with a Jackmanii clematis, or Iceberg as my climber with a Rebecca clematis blended in. Just a few ideas off the top of my head. I know we have LOTS of choices.

Between the walkway and the garage is literally an 18" wide bed. That's where the orange day lilies are and a handful of the miniature iris. It's maddening and unrealistic to try to do anything with that small of a space. I've already got the green light from my wife to bust up the old walkway it's literally in no straight line then makes a 90 degree turn in front of the steps and then stops at the front steps. That's it. So I'll be out there one of these summers with a sledge and then will redo it with a concrete mold to create the new walk way.

I was told so long as we replaced it then I can take out the existing one because the bed that it created was just too narrow. So at some point it's going to go. The key is knowing what the design is for across the front of the house so we're not defined by it but instead incorporate it into the design.

Biggest thing is to get a general idea of what we want to do. That's why the smaller side projects and the veg garden have taken priority so we get those done and we can focus on the front.

 

[Smart Red]

Beautiful place with fantastic possibilities. We can hardly wait for the slow unveiling as you develop the property.

 

[so lucky]

That pink Eden rose is beautiful, and I think would look fantastic with a purple Jackmanii clematis. will you be painting the lattice white, or have you thought about some other, kinda funky color? Like lime green or turquoise?

 

[Jared77]

Yeah that combination of the soft pink and the dark purple is really a beautiful combination. Plus the large blooms that Eden has should hold up well to balance the colors too.

Honestly I figured I'd just stain the lattice. My thought was to keep it subtle and simple so it's not taking away from the climbers and the other plants around it. I don't want it to be a distraction.