T Holden

New house.  New yard.  New adventure.

I've enjoyed reading these ideas. There really is no way to reflect light or bring it in via solar tubes- it is on the north side of the house, the house is two stories and the west is a bluff wall canopied by tall woods. It never ever sees any sunlight and that side of the yard sees maybe 1 hour in the morning. There are moss, ferns, wild ginger, all over that side of the yard because it stays so wet...as does the solarium.

Luckily, it will not be a big project to remove as the structure it is attached to was the back porch and is still sound. A door will have to be framed into the kitchen. The carpet and tile will need to come off the concrete slab it's on. Aside from that, it's not too much of an issue to take it down. It will go to a friend's sustainable farm and they will use it. That makes me happy.

I don't like things in rows. I'm not into straight lines or sharp corners much. It's just my preference. So, I have this new yard/canvas to work with and I have some berries to plant. They cme from my tiny house garden where I had them planted in a curve around my curved chicken yard....of course...never thought of that part until now. lol. Anyhow, I absolutely do not want them to be in a straight line messin' with the aesthetics of our yard. My vision is to do a sort of snaking line down the side of the yard. I realize it will need to have a wide enough radius in the curves to make the curve obvious and it will need to be kept in check (it's in an urban setting, so we can't let it get too widespread anyhow. It will be 6ft away from our neighbros property line). The back of the snake will be taller and will taper to the front with blackberries in back and raspberries in front. We will be using the evergreen branched trunks for the t posts and then run wire to support the canes.

Thoughts? Poke holes in my design. Think of things I haven't thought of for me.

outside

We just bought a property and the house has this amazing solarium. Only, it's completely shaded 100% of the time and it cannot be moved to any other side. Before we tear it down (and donate it to a friend who has a great little farm), dream up some ideas for me. If it were yours, how would you use it?

But what if the "native garden" is full of invasive plants and has not been allowed to burn naturally to control those native species that would otherwise be controlled through natural burns and what if these issues cause the zone 5 to be a mess of weedy invasives...and you want to bring it back to it's natural state. Then, is it zone 4.5?

Funny- every plant I talk to more traditional style gardeners about growing that self seeds makes their head spin and then they foam at the mouth as they tell me it will take over my whole yard. I always think - well, not if you EAT IT. I love self-seeding plants. Thanks for the offer and suggestion. I will PM you!

Have you had hosta sprouts? They taste very similar to asparagus too, only a different texture. And I found the Bishop's Weed in my yard and discovered it was edible, tastes kind of similar to cilantro. Apparently, that one will take over the planet (said my gardening friends). Well, it's obviously been growing in the yard forever and it didn't take it over, so I'm keeping it. (new yard, lots of pre-existing unknown plants, a good curse)

My yard is coming along nicely, but I have a whole lot of fruit and not very many perennial vegetables. I do have asparagus, walking onion, sea kale, sorrel, horseradish, groundnut, sunchoke, hostas. I'd love some to add any really great perennial vegetables. What do you have experience with that you would recommend? Thanks for your help!

I'm trying to plan a guild for 3 blueberry bushes.

Blueberries
False indigo
Yarrow
Arugula
Ostrich Fern (to the back where it will be more shaded)
Ascelpias Tuberosa
lavender

An issue: there is a VERY large silver maple as canopy, but the area would get sun most of the day- would the acidic topsoil interfere with the maple?

I'm in zone 5a. Can you provide feedback or make suggestions?

Thanks so much.

That's a great idea. I keep thinking of it as a huge area, but really, it would just be under where the cars would have been parked and doing that to a small area would be a do-able project. Thanks. I will look for the video and check into it.