Update: I described my vision for yet another new bed to my cousin, and she *really likes the idea!*

So, Yay!

Toward the end of October I'll get the stuff to lasagna that bed too. We also talked about getting a butterfly bush, which is something that needs to be here.

All systems go, proceeding as intended.

Kyla, I started with one perennial bed in 2007 where I had removed a lot of brush and weeds and didn't want it all to grow back. I now have very little lawn left - gardens all along the west side of my yard, all along the south side, covering all but a little strip of the east side, covering both sides of the hill on my corner, and all across the front. Since I have run out of room in my yard, I am now helping friends and neighbors put garden in their yards. It all started so innocently, and might now qualify as an illness....

No, not an illness. A movement!

Not an Illness but Therapy!!!!!
Having a bad day, take it out on the weeds & overgrown plants!!!

Definitely...great book "Tending the Earth Mending the Spirit," totally explains the serenity you feel after spending time in your garden (or any garden).
Nothing like whacking some weeds to get that tension out!

A little progress on my project:


Seen from the back porch.





Seen from the gate into the backyard from the front.

Calling this new oval the Butterfly Bed and intend to plant a buddleia there, for one thing. Every thing I do, I start seeing the next steps, which is really nice! but keeps me huffing and puffing. Figuratively speaking.

One step after this is some kind of paved (not poured but using pavers of some kind) walking section between the bfly bed and the gardenia, that fans out in arcs on either side into the lawn. The area just beyond the bfly bed, at its other end, is a very sweet spot that could happily hold a small cafe table and a couple of chairs. Or some kind of seating.

I am also seeing how I want to screen and section off my work area, I think.

Having fun!

See...it all starts out innocently. You got the bug now, and there's no going back

I originally looked up this thread because I wondered how other people design a garden. I have been working on my current project since September. Always thinking once I finished it, I would take some pictures, and show off. Well, I give up. Need some help. Soooooo.........
My current project:
I wanted to fix a 15x20' spot in my front yard, that grows only weeds. Weeds being the only thing my chickens won't eat.



So I've been digging up the weeds. Every day, new ones would grow from the broken roots, and I would dig them up too.





Moved the stepping stones, water garden and birdbath.




Moved about 1000 wheelbarrows of compost, and spread it out.




Reset the stepping stones.




Repot my plants, and set them where I think they should be. You have to try to ignore the air compressor, wheelbarrow, tools, weeds, etc, as I didn't have the energy to move them before taking a picture.




All of these (now small and goat chewed) plants should get 6x6'. This works for me as they are taller than the chickens can eat, and will eventually shade the soil so weeds won't grow.
Still to be done:
Sow wildflower seeds
Cut wire to put over seeds so chickens can't dig
Plant potted plants in the soil come spring
Paint pieces of old siding and set in front as edging
Finish pulling out weeds



So, my question is one of the flower pots is setting in my great great great grandmother's laundry pot, in which for years I've been trying to grow a water garden. Nothing survives but the mosquito larvae. OK, the flower pot does not fit nicely in the laundry pot, so I need some suggestions on an evergreen plant that will drape over the sides, and hide it. I think it looks tacky, but I want to use it for something. I don't scrub clothes in it.

Cascading Rosemary "Irene" is rugged as they come and would look lovely draping over that pot. All the photos are from the last couple of years. My yard gets mid-afternoon shade, has clay soil, and is given little to no supplemental water--particularly none for this plant. Edible, fragrant, a bee magnet, and minimal maintenance. Gets my two thumbs up.

I agree! and was going to suggest the same though I don't know that particular type. And I also don't know how hard it would be to acquire a large plant; I think they grow pretty slowly?

It looks like it will be a very lovely inviting space! Thanks for sharing the "in progress" pictures.

They may grow fairly slowly, but I don't remember exactly when I got it. I know it has been in-ground for at least three years and was grown from a standard four inch pot.

Maybe GreatGreat Granmother's laundry tub has room for three or four plants!

Sure, fill in around it with annuals until the Rosemary, or a similarly shaped shrub/plant comes to maturity. Good idea.

OK local nursery didn't have rosemary, so I got a few violets, just to make the area a little cheerier. I finished laying down wire. Put wire around the plants, to keep the chickens and goats off them until they grow a bit. There's an old saying, "if you throw a bucket of water at your fence, and it goes thru, so can the goats". Seems to be true.





BUT, this 3" tree stump has been my enemy for the ten years I've lived here. Can't tell you how many times I've tripped on it or stubbed my toes. Can't cut it, saw it, or pound it flat. It's a garden iceberg stump.








So, I was thinking what I could put over it to block it, and found out my birdbath has a 3" hole in the stand! So, there you are:





Its not where I would have chosen to put a birdbath to look attractive, but that's where it will stay.

TK, the vast majority of my landscaping projects have been for the purpose of problem solving. If you apply some thought and creativity, you can turn an eyesore or un-maintainable area into an asset. I think what you have done so far is great...keep going!
Debra, I LOVE that rosemary

Texas Kitty, I love what you're doing and look forward to seeing more as it progresses!

Today I did another thing. I extended the existing bed to surround the fig tree that was moved in August, so there is growing space along the full length of the fence down there. It's an area that gets full sun, and it's a low point in the yard so it gets all the water and nutrients drained into it, and all that's been happening down there is the wiregrass grows very lush.

It's hard to photograph because of its position, but it adds a lot to the space and will give me plenty of room for all the things I want to have against or growing along the fence. I have a cherry tomato mix and a pole bean and more flowering vines than I know what to do with (still in seed, mind you) as well as hollyhocks....



And, true to my process so far, soon as I had this shape in place, I got the inspiration for what to do with the other side of the yard, but that will have to wait til next year.