Expanding the garden this year... yikes!

**Siebrie** · 01-11-2010, 05:30 AM

" I think they'll go in the side fence in the backyard that joins with the neighbors on the other side of the house. I know they won't pick them."

Momtotwoboys, your neighbours may not agree with your plans, please check with them. Raspberry bushes are terrible for walking all over the place and do not care for fences! Maybe you can pick a type of raspberry that will grow in one place, but most types grow for just one season, form new shoots via their roots, then die.

**MomToTwoBoys** · 01-12-2010, 12:28 AM

Originally Posted by Siebrie

" I think they'll go in the side fence in the backyard that joins with the neighbors on the other side of the house. I know they won't pick them."

Momtotwoboys, your neighbours may not agree with your plans, please check with them. Raspberry bushes are terrible for walking all over the place and do not care for fences! Maybe you can pick a type of raspberry that will grow in one place, but most types grow for just one season, form new shoots via their roots, then die.

I gave what you said a lot of thought, and I believe that the side of the house would work the best. It's not anywheres near the fence, so there wouldn't be conflict with any neighbors. It'd be easier to prune them and keep them from walking up into any odd places like the siding on the house or any vents.

So raspberries on the side yard plot, it is!

**shp1055** · 01-12-2010, 02:43 PM

I did the bags of potting soil last season for my tomatoes & okra & it worked well. It takes watering on a daily basis & when the remnants of a hurricane came thru, it did make the okra lean a bit but they kept producing into mid-November. Because we live soooo close to the mighty Mississippi River, when the river levels rise really high, I have seepage in my yard. If I planted in the ground the roots would rot, so the potting soil bag method works for me. The rest of the garden was planted in various containers. This year I plan to lay down some heavy tarps and re-use last years bags as well as adding some more. The tarps will serve a dual purpose...keep the seepage from getting into my bags and to keep me from having to weed the garden.

**my4littlebuffaloes** · 01-14-2010, 02:22 PM

We are going to be putting in raspberry bushes this year too. Actually we have planted them the past couple of years but they keep dying. This year I am determined to get them to live. I also want to get a cherry tree. I can't wait for spring!

Jennifer
Our Suburban Homestead

**Russ** · 01-14-2010, 02:31 PM

the dang birds usually beat us to the cherries

**wjcalderon** · 02-04-2010, 08:44 AM

I built a raised garden by arranging concrete blocks in a rectangle and filling with good dirt.
I used the "holes" in the blocks for herbs and flowers.
It worked so well, I added a second one last year and now I'm tempted to add another.

**MomToTwoBoys** · 02-04-2010, 10:56 AM

Originally Posted by wjcalderon

I built a raised garden by arranging concrete blocks in a rectangle and filling with good dirt.
I used the "holes" in the blocks for herbs and flowers.
It worked so well, I added a second one last year and now I'm tempted to add another.

I absolutely love your backyard.

I may end up doing what you did to the front of my house. I have a spot to the right of the steps and in front of the driveway that I think something like that would look absolutely amazing in. I like that your blocks aren't a permanent solution either; you can remove them when you sell your home if you choose to.

I'm still playing with the idea of not starting any seeds and just working on leveling out the backyard this year. DH doesn't think that it'll be nice enough, early enough, for me to dig out all of the lilac bushes and the maple bush in time to plant seeds. We decided that the retaining wall would be made from the same wood as a raised garden bed planter box with some waterproofing on the side opposite of the garden. That way, water doesn't seep through the wood and it keeps the dirt in the upper portion of the yard.

I'm hoping that the snow in the backyard melts before March. If I get out there in March and get to working on the backyard, by April I'll be able to start setting the garden up.

**sue s** · 02-06-2010, 01:26 PM

Go to your cabinets and look at the canned goods you bought. Then open the frig and look at the produce that you tend to buy. That's what you need to plant. If you looked in my cupboards you'd see a lot of canned whole and diced tomatos and tomato sauce. That is what I plant - Roma tomatos. I also plant a few slicing tomatos but not more than a half dozen plants of them. I just can't use them that fast. Unless you do home canning you need to succession plant your veggies. That way they don't all come in at the same time. Plant them according to variety, several weeks apart. You can guess how far by reading the seed planting guides on the back of the seed packet and figuring how many growing days you have in your area. Good luck with the garden!!

**Trishagirl** · 02-06-2010, 03:13 PM

I plan on growing potatoes this yr. we've grown them in the past and you get alot in harvest it really pays to plant them. We will be planting pumpkins also and cucs they are so expensive I just hate it! I grew tomatoes & peppers last year and the tomatoes did good but only got a few of green peppers. Will be planting banana peppers & green beans also cause I love them!

**MomToTwoBoys** · 02-06-2010, 11:36 PM

I quickly perused the seeds section today and found that the organic seeds come in a variety of packet sizes. One would stretch about 62 feet worth of garden, while others would be less than that. I figure that after I get the garden all dug out and put compost material into the soil, I can focus on organic vegetables that we'll actually eat.

Calgary has about 180 growing days a year and something like 4400 hours of sunlight. Wow!

Starting this week, I'll be going out for an hour per day to start clearing out some of the snow. The backyard gets horrible sun at the moment, but in the summertime it's a lot better. I figure that the more snow I get rid of, the less that'll have to melt before the ground is workable. I'll transfer that snow onto the front and side yard to give the beds a nice blanket of snow until the weather gets nice.

**MomToTwoBoys** · 03-05-2010, 11:11 PM

We made some major changes in our plans for the outdoor space:

We're going to focus on the front and side yards first. We'll be planting rose bushes in the front yard. The side yard will still be raspberry bushes. We'll be removing the spruce tree in the front and looking to do a raised planter bed throughout that space.

Also in the side yard, we're doing paving stones and replacing the fence finally. We decided to go with a spruce fence with a lattice on the top. At about $5.70 per 6 foot section, it's pretty reasonable since we don't have to do the entire backyard. We share a fence with two neighbors.