yard help/gardening......heellllllpppppp

[Electric Chameleon]

Hello all! Hope you all had a nice winter and are eagerly awaiting spring as I am!

I have a question and sorry, but this may take a bit. I am looking for some landscaping ideas that are fairly inexpensive and child and dog friendly.

I have a "tough" yard to work with and this is where it is going to take some time while I try to describe it to you. I could try to take a picutre, but even with that it would not do it justice.

Okay, first of all I will tell you what I have exsisting, and then my thoughts.

My yard faces South East. It is in 3 tiers, with each tier being 3.5 feet in height. So, I go out my patio door on to a nice cedar deck with the steps facing west (3 steps). Right beside the door and the steps is a little deck area, with a nice big window. I also have one on the other side of the patio door.

Now, if you go off of the steps there is a small concrete platform to help support the steps and to the right of that I have my composter. Also to the right of the that is my electrical outlet on the wall and the hose and hanger and the kids (not baby goats) sandbox, which is against the fence. Beside the sandbox is the gate to go out into the main (side yard, which I will ask about later.)

So, about 6 feet from the bottom of the steps facing west is a very nice tall fence. (My neighbour to that side is a a wonderful person who has the most beautiful yard).

Follow the fence the down about 20 feet and you hit the end of the first level. I have a fairly tall bushy lilac there. And beside that is the children's swing set running parallel with the retaining wall.

The deck overhangs the yard so there is 1.5 feet of it that is (I think) in a couple of years going to be dangerous for the children as they run under it now, and pretty soon when they get taller they are going to be too tall and crack their heads on it or the corner.

Anyway, you walk to the end of the deck on the ground and the yard wraps around to fill in the space. Mostly when we moved in, it was a big pile of old dry useless dirt. We have put a wildflower garden there, and it did okay last year, but I would like to to see it do better. Maybe change it to a wildflower/rock garden. I have a nice bird bath in there and a beautiful dogwood shrub, which we planted last year.

Now, about a foot from this spot is a side access (another side yard) facing East and gets no sunshine. All along the house in hostas (that I have let grow wild) and a gravel path to the front yard gate.

So there is this little yard space from the flower garden and all along the East fence are very large steps going to the very bottom level.

No steps to the second grassed level, let me tell you what pain that is for mowing!

Last year we put in steps from the first to the second level and we put a children's slide from the top level to the second near the swingset too. Problem with that is they are wrecking the lawn there with feet holes.

There is nothing but grass on this level. We have a lattice type fence on the second level wood retainer to keep the dog from jumping into the third level.

Now, for the third level, we have a garden that is about 15' x 80' of mostly usable space. The west end is our "weed" pile. And doesn't get very much sun, because of the fence and how far down the hill we are from the neighbours and there Amur Cherry tree.

I have successfully grown in this very heavy clay soil. beans, carotts, zuchinni, chives, some peas, beets, strawberry's. Pretty much the layout is strawberry patch on the East side with raspberries on the North retaining wall. Anything after that is for the vegetable garden.

The last of the yard is the bottom which is a concrete slab walkway beside the hedges and chain link fence onto the bike path.

Now, I forgot to mention that we live on a bit of a hill, our West side neighbour is higher than us and we are higher than our East neighbour, We are also higher than our neighbour accross the pathway by about 50. So we can see into their yard perfectly, but they have it ringed with huge evergreens. Some of them shield my garden a bit, but not too bad.

Our deck grows great tomatoes in the pot as well, as green peppers.

I would love to try a vine or two for both fences and maybe the trellis work on the deck. I don't want a lot of bees on the deck because of the patio door right there, so don't know that I would try morning glories or sweet peas there, even though I love them.

I can't really have a plot dug becuase the dog will go in them.

Any suggestions?

Sorry for the long but I wanted to make it as clear as possible.

Next I will tackle the side yard! LOL.

EC

[mesue]

Well since you have let your hostas grow wild you should divide them and use them in the shady areas, this will save you money and be good for your plants as well, hosta are not hard to divide them yopu can take a knife or shovel and just cut them making sure you leave as much root as possible and replant, I've done it and all mine survived, some with barely a root on them, you can also dig up starts from the lilac, look at the lilac and growing out all around it you should see some little starts growing this is how a lilac spreads and grows larger dig some up being careful not to damage the main plant, this will give you more lilacs. Pay attention to how much sun each area get each day, roses needs at least 6 hrs sunshine, look for hardy plants that are pest free, they come back year after year. Look in a magazine or books and find plants you like notice the size they grow to and where they grow best, and then plant accordingly if you have shady spots plant shade loving plants, sunny spots plant sun loving plants. Use weed barrier and dig out weeds before you put it down and also put down some mulch to help hold back weeds and hold moisture. Plant more perrenials than annuals since perrenial come back and can be divided once they get overly large and transplanted elsewhere in the garden. Some good vines that come back are hydrangeas vine, wisteria vine, and hummingbird vine. If they get too big just trim them back every year, don't let them grow up your house. My favorite shrub is the hydrangea shrub and they give you big beautiful flowers in different colors, you can divide them each year like I described getting more lilacs always leave the mother plant intact. Hydrangeas like wet feet shade and partial sunshine. I have one pink and a blue one that gives me blooms the size of a large saucer and a white one that gives me blooms the size of a large dinner plate. I get new plants from each of these every spring. Iris is also a great plant that spreads fast and comes back no matter what. Good Luck!

[brooks45]

I was going to suggest wild flowers and any and every kind of bulb flower and plant!! but you say you have started a wild flower area!! the bulb flowers and plants are great to plant along the fences,, mix the flowers and plants (that have bulbs) they multiply and pretty much stay stong all year! except winter some well die off but well bloom right back in spring and summer!! I have irishes and dafidils and others growing all along my fences mixed with bulb plants and they are easy to manage!! every winter i just do a little pruning of the dead leafs and dig the dirt up around them to give roots space to grow again and let the winter rain do its job and sure enough they are growing and multiplying come spring and summer!

[Electric Chameleon]

Thank you so much! You have both given me some great ideas, and some names for the vines in which I am very interested.

I do have some tulips and irisis on the one side yard so I can take some bulbs from there and transplant them, well the irisis anyway.

Do those vines that you mention come back year after year? Sorry I might have missed that.

Thanks again for the input!

EC

[mesue]

Yes all the vines I mentioned come back every year, if you let some grow along the ground or just gather up some dirt on one laying on the ground and lay a small rock or brick on it to hold it down (if need be) then it will sprout roots and you can have tons of vines to transplant. Once you have roots on it just cut it away fromm the main plant. For the main plant tie it up to a post or trellis this will help it to grow, as it grows you will notice a few vines that sort of head for the ground let them this will give you your transplants to plant or share. The humming bird vine will get trumpet shaped red or orange like blooms, hummingbirds love it, it grows feet like protrusions that cling to things.The wisteria vine in early spring will have pods come out before the leaves and then one day you walk out and these pods have burst open into long hanging 6-10inch clusters (similar to cluster of grapes) of purple flowers hanging, they smell like lilacs but stronger. This vine you should tie to something and wrapping it back around the arbor or pole. both of these will grow about 25 feet each in a season. The wisteria some people try and shape into a tree.

[Electric Chameleon]

Awesome advice on the vines, do you know if they are hardy to a zone 3?

I can see them all along my one fence all ready! And to think I might even get birds!

Thanks bunches!

EC

[Electric Chameleon]

Mesue, are ther roots very deep for any of those vines? I was wondering if I could put them in planters and set them on the ground or do they need the ground to grow from so they spread?

Thanks again,

EC

[mesue]

Sorry to take so long answering, just found your reply. I'm in zone 6, you can look in some of the online plant guides to see if they might do well in zone 3. I would plant them in the ground and mulch well if they are suitable for your zone.

[cervenka]

I'm in the UP of Michigan - know what you mean. I have had great luck with tiger lilly bulbs, the orange ones that you see growning around abandoned farms also some Litaris ?) if you email me, I'll send you some seeds. They ar purple spiky flours that grow about 18" tall and spread like wildfire! The first year they aren't real showy, but after that you can dig up bulbs and divide them and put them anywhere. they seem to like rocky/sandy soil best.

cervenka@ironriver.tv

[mesue]

Originally posted by cervenka
I'm in the UP of Michigan - know what you mean. I have had great luck with tiger lilly bulbs, the orange ones that you see growning around abandoned farms also some Litaris ?) if you email me, I'll send you some seeds. They ar purple spiky flours that grow about 18" tall and spread like wildfire! The first year they aren't real showy, but after that you can dig up bulbs and divide them and put them anywhere. they seem to like rocky/sandy soil best.

cervenka@ironriver.tv

Litaris is something I have planted the bulbs over and they just do not come up, I'm in zone 6 whats your secret? I have plenty of places in my garden like you describe but they just won't grow here for me.