My wife and I have lived at our current address for 3 years. Until now we have neglected the backyard, except for a square foot veg garden. But now we have a toddler who loves to play outside so over the past few months we have been designing an overhaul of the backyard! I'm going to use this thread to keep a record of all we do. Until last week we had a few trees and shrubs but no real strategy. That's all changed! We both did some garden design research and worked together to plan our backyard paradise! Here's our plan. It's scratchy but gets the job done. And here are the beds I cut in yesterday! I did use a weed/grass killer on the large open areas just for ease of labor, but I will be cutting out cardboard for the areas around the trees and shrubs. Next stop: Soil Delivery! My question for the community is: How deep should my new top soil beds be? I had planned on 6". Should I do more or less?
I couldn't exactly make out the entire plans from the paper. Are you looking to replace all that section of grass with new soil ?
This Fall we'll drop some topsoil for the lawn. This week we are filling the beds on the perimeter with topsoil. Our dirt here is hard red clay. We're going to add a layer of topsoil to the beds then amend holes for plants with compost/conditioner.
Hello Friends, Yesterday was long, tiring, and dirty. I took the day off and we filled out beds with 5 cubic yards (3 truck beds full) of what our soil supplier called Garden Blend. It's screened top soil mixed with Mushroom compost. I borrowed my dad's truck and we got to work! Couple tips: 1. Lay your tarpaulin down in the truck bed before they dump soil. That way when you get to the end of the bed you can just "roll" the soil out by pulling the tarp. 2. Lay another tarpaulin beneath the bed to catch runaway soil falling through the tailgate. Another 3 truckloads will finish the job so we have more work to do before we can plant.
It's looking good, Jon, That looks like good soil too. I like you tips. They would sure help on clean up.
Would you like to come work for the landscaping company I work for? It looks like you're off to a great start. Have a good time with your landscaping project! Also, remember once you get started, and you get the "bug" you'll never be finished!
Looks like you've got a great start. I learned the tarp trip after my first truck load of mulch. Too bad they couldn't get the dirt dumped in your back yard... that wheel barrow is going to get a good work out.
Well friends, all the soil has been moved into beds. We moved a total of 11 cubic yards. This evening we planted out annuals and perennials!
Looking good! Will you be planting everything from seed? It is a large area to fill, and seeds work well for that without costing a fortune. If you are like me, you might want some 'instant' color too. Oh, just noticed the trees and shrubs along the back fence ... love it! Looks like you have a special area in one corner of the yard ... maybe a bench will go there? I love this project
Netty, I plan on building a pergola in that corner with a hammock! First I need to learn to build a pergola. And yes, we just planted seeds for cost effectiveness.
I laid the tarp on the ground below the bed. As we shoveled dirt out some falls be the tarp catches it.