My wife and I are finally ready to make our backyard enjoyable after living in our home for 3 years. We can't afford to hire a landscaping company, and I like to DIY, but Google and Youtube only seem to confuse me more than help.
Our main priorities this year:
– Firepit (probably pea gravel circle?)
– Garden boxes.
Our soil is very rocky. Behind our fence is a drainage ditch.
My questions:
– What do I do with the current soil? Do I need to tear it up at all? Or do I just bring a bunch of dirt and load it on top? If I tear it up, what tool/equipment do I need?
– Do I put in a fire pit BEFORE I try and make the dirt nicer for grass?
– There is a large gap between the ground and the fence all the way around the yard. Do I put some sort of edging barrier on the other side of the fence and build up dirt to the fence to stop critters from getting in/out?
Sorry if these are dumb questions :/
by bigdaddygibson
4 Comments
Check out zone gardening for permaculture! And go from there. Bill Mollison is a good name to google to start with. Gaia’s Garden is a great book for home gardening/landscaping!
Congrats on first steps!
1) GRADING. You want your yard to slope AWAY from your house. Its hard to tell from your photos, but you might be good there?
IF you do have a slope going towards your house, you should make sure to fix that as you continue.
I would not plug the gap under your fence unless water has a different way of leaving your yard. Maybe you could do a wire mesh? but water needs to leave to get into that ditch. Otherwise you’re turning your backyard into a pool.
Rocky soil -> not good. Looks like even weeds are struggling to grow!
For poor soils I’m a HUGE fan of wood chips for improving soil. They are free (Chip drop!) or really cheap, although they do take TIME. I would use a rotor tiller to loosen up your dirt, add 1 inch of manure/compost, and then add 4 inches of wood chips on top across your entire backyard. Now 5 inches of material seems like a lot, but the wood chips will break down a lot and it’ll end up being much less at the end. In 2-3 years your soil will be beautiful, although You might need to remove some of the current dirt first depending on the level of your yard and that concrete pad the chairs are on. You don’t want your soil to end up being several inches above your concrete!
Digging the foundation for your firepit area will be incredibly difficult in rocky soils, so you might want to get the soil fixed up first. Although if you rent a backhoe or something it wouldn’t matter.
Only thing I would suggest is giving us your USDA region (i.e zone 7b or whatever) which will inform certain planting choices
The best time to plant a tree was 25 years ago. The next best time is today.
Start with a piece of paper.. grid paper. Measure and draw out the space.
Look at the walking paths you take already.
Identify areas that are more secluded quiet and away from your neighbors.
Identify areas that are NOT private. Don’t plan private space in an area where your neighbor has a view etc.
Write down what is important to you.
Fresh garden hoop houses. Chill hideaway firepit, honey bees…..
So many people plan for a “party area” which is BS. 99.9% of the time you own your house it is only used for your family. So design for what YOU want. Fit the party into it later.
Find your USDA Zone.
DESIGN for native plants and trees. Wildlife and trees and plants evolved hundreds of millions of years for your exact climate. Use that to your advantage. It looks like you are in a hot area so don’t buy plants that can’t survive there. Plant trees!!! Lots and lots of trees.
Mature Shade is the new gold for home equity. Especially with the climate getting hotter every year.
Plan irrigation lines. Rip out all of the grass.
Start fresh! What a great opportunity!!
Look into the xeriscape and nolawns subs.
— you can rent a sod cutter. It’s like a linear blade that cuts the grass into strips. Pile tgis up and turn it into compost by adding more material. Mulch, veggie scraps (no meat or dairy. Turn it over a few time amdnlet it decompose and kill the grass with sun.
Do not EVER use chemicals in your lawn. No pesticides, herbicides etc. You need to develop a healthy biome. Round up takes over 7 years to leave the soil…you want pollinators, wildlife amd yourself yo live chemical free.
You neighbors will wonder what your secret is…its ending the chemical warfare on Nature.
Let nature be nature.
Don’t rake up leaves. Let them work back into the ground amd protect the roots.
Think about what nature would do if you weren’t around. That’s the key.