my reclaiming of the old garden PHOTOS

[ronbre]

OK I promised some photos of the reclaiming of the old gardens..remember this was nearly all quack grass and weeds..some areas are still pretty bad as I haven't finished..but you can see the progress.

this first photo is from the North looking toward the house..to the left is the last garden i edged yesterday..it had just 2 hazelnuts in it and a few daylillies as well as all of those pesky Jerusalem Artichokes (which I hope i got all of them out of there..)

there is a Scarlet canadian cherry that was in the center of a 16' circle lawn,and paths going north south east and west off of the lawn with arc shaped beds on the 4 edges..there is an arbor built with telephone poles on the south with a wooden swing..i will be building an identical arbor as noted in the photo on this north end..and the swing will be moved to this end as right now you can tell it really blocks the path and is in the way there where it is..but it is a great place to sit..when it is moved i will be able to view the entire garden as well as the gardens behind our house also visible in this photo..that greenhouse you can barely see by our house (with orange wheelborrow leaning against it) will be moved from that spot to it's new home in a few weeks.

[ronbre]

This is a shot from the South facing North of the same garden area..to my right is the really old asparagus bed that was several inches thick with solid quack grass and oregano and weeds on top of the asparagus plants..the asparagus is still there under a mulch of composted manure..this bed is about 25 to 30 feet long and varies from 4 to 8' wide ..kinda a curve..to the left are two beds one raised with bark buried about a foot deep under the soil and manure..and the other at ground level..then you can see the above photo circle lawn gardens behind the swing.

you can see that the lawn was kinda torn up with all the work..so i replanted that to grass seed in the worst spots..all of the paths will eventually be lawn, when i can get the worst of the weeds out and get the paths levelled..a couple more photos will follow still

[ronbre]

the bark mulched (for now) along the front is 9 blueberry baby plants..and then to the left kinda behind me are 2 chinese chestnut babies and along the new to be finished fence are red, yellow and black raspberries and blackberries..along the back by the solid screen fence are 4 wild plum..and then behind the circle bed are 6 hazelnuts separated into 4 and the 2 in the bed in the first photo that i finished yesterday..all still to be weeded and edged.



the paths are still rough and full of weeds..but there are in this west (left) section 2 more circle beds 8' across with 4' wide paths around them, they are yet to be finished but will have apple trees in the centers of them (dwarf).

there is also another raised bed between the two circle beds that has been weeded and has bark buried about 1 foot deep under a foot of soil and then some manure..with the second circle bed north of it..and then another large wide bed that was where my compost pile was..beyond that..that bed is still fairly weedy and is planted to some annual spring plants and will be redug and edged after those spring plants are up ..grown and harvested..as i can only do so much at once and had to get the seeds in for those spring plants..not sure how they'll compete with the weeds..but i do keep pulling them as i'm able..

another photo or two to follow

[ronbre]

ok here is another photo from the east ..i'm standing beside the pond looking toward the garden..and the neighbors swingset.

you can see the start on the picket fence and the screen (burning barrels behind the screen) ...eventually i hope to have the picket fence all the way around the garden..and gates..the new arbor will be to the right on the North end in this photo..you can see a little of the work that still needs to be done on the far side of the garden where the weeds are still quite heavy..also i see the arch is kinda leaning..they will be covered with morning glories and the telephone pole arbors will be getting seedless grapevines when they come.

the circle garden beds will have 3 pear trees and 2 no ladder sour cherries and there will be 3 dwarf apple trees in the two new circle beds and in one of the other beds on the far west side..
i'll do a photo from the pond area..and then call the photos quits as you are probably getting tired of them.

[ronbre]

this photo is at the far north end of our pond (150 x 75 ' )

last summer we had a few hours use of a backhoe and so my son quickly enlarged our pond which was only about 75 x 75feet..this is an area that he dug to enlarge it last summer..now it is twice the size..and there are two deep areas..one hole is not in this picture is in the south end and is 9' deep..and just to my right in this photo is an area that is about 6' deep and then it shallows out toward the west..or far end in the photo to just a couple of feet deep (didn't have enough time with the backhoe)..the pond extends to the left or south 150' long in an irregular shape with an island in the center..and lots of cattails..
you can kinda see the garden on the far side of the photo beyond the pond.

this place i'm standing is a nearly solid clay pile of pond scrapings..we are working on it a little at a time..behind me it already slopes off to a large field about 600' x 600' dotted with evergreens and alders..to the north directly behind me is an alder swamp and then to the north slightly in front of me and to my right is a large woods with aspen, wild cherry and red maple trees, we are working on developing this woods into a food forest..right now it has piles of pond scrapings in a clearing in the front of it and that is where i have been piling the quackgrass weeds and sod..

i'm standing on the clay pile..son was able to get a start on levelling it a few weeks ago..it slopes down beside me into the woods but you can see there is a lot of work still to be done to clear out a few aspens and to level the clay down to where it will be less steep and level with the lawn ahead of me..

i have begun to plant the lower levels of this pile with some evergreens and some deciduous shrubs and trees and some perennials along the waters edge..but this is just a start..so much to do..

eventually there will be some bark paths through the woods and a clear in the north part of the woods will be developed into a sitting area ..we have an old barn in the north part of the woods..eventually we'll cut out a bunch of dead or dying aspens and make paths through the woods large enough for the tractor and riding mower to get through.

a lot of work..ok I'm going to quit..i could go on forever..i have so much to do but it is also very rewarding as it gets done

[chickenista]

That looks just awesome!
Great job!
It will be just wonderful this summer.



(but your trees.. they are naked!)

[ronbre]

i live in Michigan..everything is still naked but the people

[geo in mi]

Nice work. Isn't it something that, once in awhile, you hit patches of clay? Sometimes where you least expect it, but most often near or in close proximity to a stream.
geo

[Mickey]

Wow ronbre! Just beautiful. Your hard work has really paid off. I can see so much potential there and can't wait to see more pics as things start growing. I know how hard the work is as I'm in the process of re-vamping some of my garden space too.
Good for you! :-)

It's the same here too Jen. It's only early spring for us northerners and the trees are just beginning to leaf out ;-)
Mickey

[Pamela]

That is going to be beautiful ! Lots of work, but worth it. I would like to see it when it fills out too.

[ronbre]

i promise more photos as things start growing..sometimes i feel like i'm in a mess all the time. Since we had our housefire in 2002 I've been RE DOING everything anyway..but now i'm getting farther and farther out from the house. All of my gardens need work but at least i have a good headstart this spring on this area..I put some seeds in yesterday in the newly done beds (i know way too early in Michigan but i'll put cloches over them if it turns cold, we are having an incredible spring with 83 degrees yesterday)..also we got a wonderful thunderstorm and rain last night..soaker..so that will help to settle in the newly done beds, wet the manure and get things growing ..i'm very excited

[ronbre]

they shouldn't allow me to go into stores..i bought way too many plants today.
I got 4 climbing roses to go with the grapevines up over the arbors, the one there and the one i'm building..and a perennial salvia.

and then to go on the pond north edge..i got a large blue spruce and 8 potted shrubs..2 Dakota Goldcharm spireas, 2 rosy Barberries, 2 tricolor euonymus and 2 gold coast Junipers (to add to the ones i bought last weekend ..and last year..)

they are all planted and i'm thinking..i'd better quit buying plants for a while

[Pamela]

I have the same problem ! So far I have kept out of the nurseries, but I'm planning to go to my favorite one this coming weekend for their Mother's Day specials!

[ronbre]

i went like 30 miles out of my way on Sat to my favorite nursery and was so dissappointed..they stopped selling trees, shrubs and perennials..all they sell now are annuals..i won't be returning

[wyld thang]

I can't wait to see it grow and evolve! love your swing, sure wish I had one. like 7 YEARS ago now my hubby promised me a swing if I could figure out how to get the rented bulldozer unstuck from a mudhole he buried it in. I did, still no swing(grrrrrrr!!!)

[shanzone2001]

Any updated pictures???