Spring Clean-Up

Once things start greening up in spring, it seems like our place goes from bare to out-of-control in a matter of days. With planting and haying going on, it's hard to keep up with it, so some areas only get a once a year clean-up. Such is the case for the herb and flower beds in the front yard. Here's how it looked before we got started.

The "bush" is a tangle of wild rose, nandina, ligustrum, and honeysuckle.
The herb & flower beds are sprouting various grasses & saplings trees. 

Here's how it looked after.

This year, Dan dug out the whole mess, including the roots.
Remaining in that bed is yarrow, butterfly weed, and chicory.

Just a different kind of messy! Usually, I only try to make it look neat, but this year we have plans. The rough circle of bricks you see is going to become a keyhole garden. In the bed in front of the porch, we're going to transplant a couple of our volunteer blueberry bushes. They're attractive, will provide shade and privacy for the porch, and more blueberries! On the trellis (where I've tried and failed to grow hops for the past three years), I'm going to try a cherry-type tomato called "Matt's Wild Cherry Tomato." It's a native of Mexico and reported to be vigorous,  disease-resistant, and self-sowing. It's indeterminate, so the trellis is a good place to try it.

I've also been working on my other herb beds. The problem with them is mostly wire-grass takeover.

I have two currently rather undefined herb beds growing echinacea,
lamb's ear, spearmint, and thyme (front). Oregano, sage, lavender, &
bee balm in the back bed. Dan has plans for new borders for them.

It's always rewarding to get these beds neat and tidy. Unfortunately, by the end of summer they will look wild and unkempt again!

Dan's keyhole garden is underway, so I'll have more about that soon.

Spring Clean-Up © April 2020 by Leigh

at http://www.5acresandadream.com

Ten Years

Ten years ago, Dan and I bought the property that has become our homestead. A decade seems like a true mile marker and a good time to take a look at then and now.

House and front yard then.

House and front yard now

Driveway then.

Driveway now.

Outbuilding #1 then: storage and Dan's workshop.

Outbuilding #1 now: goat barn and milking room.

Outbuilding #2 then: became our first chicken coop & goat barn

Outbuilding #2 now: 1st a goat barn, now Dan's workshop

Behind the outbuildings then.

Behind the outbuildings now.

Fig tree then (shrub on the right)

Fig tree now (as tall as the barn)

Garden then

Garden now

Back pasture then.

Back pasture now.

Road front then.

Road front now.

West pasture then.

West pasture now.

East pasture then.

East pasture now.

And then there's the house. To see what we've done in the past ten years to our 90+ year old bungalow, please visit my remodeling website blog, Our Old House.

It's still a work in progress! We've had ups and down, successes and failures, done a lot of experimenting, a lot of learning, and a lot of wishing we knew then what we know now. Do we ever wish we'd chosen to do something else? Never. We're both very thankful for the life we are blessed to live.

Thank you to those who have followed our progress over the years. You've been both encouragement and inspiration.

Ten Years © May 2019 by Leigh 

at http://www.5acresandadream.com

Progress in the Herb Garden

Last month I told you about the problems I was having in designing our front yard herb gardens. This month, I have a little bit of progress to show you. I ordered quite a few more herb seeds, and had a small sprouting tray in action, so the task at hand was to make another herb bed. For the new bed, Dan decided to try a modified double dug, Hugelkultur type approach.

The "double" (removing two layers of soil) will help loosen the clay under the top soil. Hugelkultur makes use of our wealth of tree limbs and branches.

On top of a layer of small branches, he added a good layer of mostly decomposed compost, and then covered it all with the removed soil.

While he did that, I weeded and bordered the two beds we made last year. I've never been real keen on bricks as borders, but we have a ton of them from tearing down the chimney and fireplace! Sure beats having to buy anything, so I'm deciding I like those bricks better than I thought.

Since I have perennials already established in these beds, I raked back the wood chip mulch, pulled pesky weeds, and applied a layer of dried comfrey leaves on top of the soil. Then I raked the mulch back over the top.

The paths in between the beds will give me fits this summer, I know. We made them a lawnmower width, but grass and weeds will grow right next to the bricks, where the mower can't get them. Eventually we need to do something about this, but with so many other projects on the list, it will be awhile before the paths become a priority.

I actually took these photos a couple weeks ago, and am just now getting the post written and ready to publish. I'm amazed at how much everything has been greened out since then. Last year's plantings are doing well and starting their spring growth: lavender, sage, thyme, rosemary, oregano, yarrow, echinacea, hollyhock, butterfly weed, rudbeckia. I have high hopes this year's plantings will do as well.

Progress in the Herb Garden © April 2011 by Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/

Something I've Been Avoiding

What might that be, you ask? My front yard. To be more specific, a goal that's been hanging over my head, namely, a design plan for my front yard herb garden.

If you look at our longterm (needing to be updated again) master plan, you will notice that the entire front yard is designated "Herb Gardens." I made a serious analysis for this project, Planning The Herb Gardens, after our first summer here. That fall, we prepared two small beds....

November 2009

I planted a few dye and medicinal plants in one, and some culinary herbs in the other. I planted petunias and zinnias as fillers. In an existing bed to the right of the front door, I planted echinacea purpurea, hollyhocks, and more zinnias.

Rudbeckia, calendula, petunias, & zinnias

July 2010

The goal is no lawn, and our front yard is perfect for sun-loving herbs and perennials. However, when I try to visualize the entire front yard planted in herbs, small shrubs, and flowers, I can't see it. I, who have a squillion ideas when it comes to things like remodeling the bathroom or designing the kitchen, have been stumped.

Butterfly weed, calendula, more petunias
July 2010

So what's the problem. I have herb books with lovely plans for small herb gardens; The New Encyclopedia of Herbs & Their Uses and The Complete Book of Herbs are two of my favorites for that. The library has numerous others. My front yard though, is huge, 45 by 108 feet plus. I could borrow ideas from various books and create a series of small gardens, but I couldn't visualize how to connect them as a whole.

The first break-through came from Edible Forest Gardens , I think it was volume 2, Ecological Design And Practice For Temperate-Climate Permaculture  (the one that's missing from my library.) In creating permaculture pathways it said, one idea is to mimic the roots or branches of a tree, with smaller, narrower paths coming off of main ones. That appealed to me because I tend not to go for the formal, symmetrical look. Deciding on a main path around the garden may not seem like much, but it was a major first step for me.

You can click to enlarge if you want

The secondary paths which shape the beds will come off of this. Though I don't have all of that figured out yet, at least I have the backbone.

The second really helpful book I found (also at the library) was Ann Lovejoy's Organic Garden Design School. As I read it, I began to understand some of the problems I was having, and why it's harder to design a perennial garden than a room in a house.

When remodeling a room, one can experiment with picture or furniture arrangement. Color schemes revolve around a limited palette. A permanent garden however, is multi-dimensional, multi-seasonal, polychromatic, and changes as the plants grow. The final result isn't realized for a long time, and if the design isn't pleasing, it's no small task to change it.

Rosemary, sage, thyme, oregano, lavender & pink petunias
September 2010

I've had haphazard looking flower and herb gardens in the past, and don't want another. As I've worked through the exercises in the back of Ann Lovejoy's book however, I find that I'm worrying less and enjoying the process more.

Slow progress on a project doesn't bother me, but a standstill does. I'm just relieved that it finally feels like we're getting somewhere, and I can move forward on the herb garden again.

Something I've Been Avoiding © March 2011 by Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/

We Found The Old Swimming Pool

Last summer one of our neighbors came over to tell us about the blueberry bush that grew in the field next to the house. Of course we were delighted to learn this, and spent a little time talking with him.

He had grown up in the neighborhood and remembered swimming in the swimming pool at our house when he was a kid. Well, a swimming pool was news to us because none was ever mentioned as coming with the house. Not that we particularly wanted a swimming pool, but still, we wondered about it afterward and assumed it must have been an above ground job.

Well, I was clearing out a pile of brush last week (I have lots of brush piles around the place), and found this...


It's located behind the carport and clothesline. It's not particularly large, and it must have been filled in with dirt quite awhile ago, considering the size of the bushes that have grown up in it.

Dan plans to have it dug out and we are considering what we might do with it. No telling how deep it is . This is the area we want to put a tank or cistern for our eventual rain catchment system (see our master plan in this post). Doubtful it could still hold water but if it did, or if we could line it, it could become our cistern. If not and if deep enough, maybe it could become a root cellar? I guess we'll have a better idea once we remove the dirt and see what's what.

We Found The Old Swimming Pool © March 2010

by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com

'Tis The Season For Transplanting

When the weather cooperates that is. And we have a lot I'd like to see transplanted!

When we first moved here last May, the yard was very neglected and overgrown. I did a lot of clearing around the house, and discovered some things I'd like to keep, even though it means relocating them. The dormant season is the best time to do that, so for the past couple of months, I've been working on transplanting as much as I can.



One thing I'm relocating is hardy hibiscus. I have a lot of them around the place, including several large bushes that someone must have planted years ago. Now however, saplings are coming up all over the place.

I didn't have to think long about where to move them to. My idea is to plant a row of them on the road side of the row of Leyland Cypresses we planted last July. I'm putting them in front of and in between the cypresses, in hopes that they'll give neighbors and passers-by some pretty color to enjoy with an evergreen background. This will also serve to as give us more privacy while the Leyland Cypresses grow large enough to do the job themselves.

The little hibiscus saplings are leafless now, so you can't see them very well in the photo below, but they are there surrounded by little piles of mulch in front of the evergreens...

I'm not planting them in a very straight line am I! Obviously my eye-ball measurements aren't so good. :)

I've also been finding what looks like irises scattered around the property.

I'm gradually moving them closer to the house where I can enjoy them.

Also in the process of being moved are these azalea bushes...

They were hidden behind the house and are too close to the foundation. To move them I pruned them rather severely in hopes of keeping the above ground part of the plants about the same size as the root ball.

They're being moved to the side of the house, behind the spot where we had our summer garden. In the photo above, you can see three that have already been moved, a hole for the fourth, and two bricks designating where the last two will be planted. Since we don't have a backyard behind the house, I'm hoping these will define the side yard under the big old oaks. This area will be recreational, and will serve as our back yard. The only downside to transplanting them is that I had to prune off the flower buds. That means I'll have to wait a whole year before they can blossom.

I also have some forsythias I'd like to relocate (I took this pic before they lost their leaves) ...

I'm just not sure where, yet. They offer nice color in both spring and fall but these are in the area being fenced in for the goats. That's one reason I'd like to move them, but also because I don't think they're getting as much sun as they like to bloom well.

Then I have this bucket of bulbs that I picked up when we first tilled next year's garden...

I'm hoping these are daffodils, so I've planted them to find out. Along with these are the daylilies I found blooming last summer ...

I replanted some of these last summer, but there are tons more which are also in the goat field. I took both daylilies and mystery bulbs, and planted them in the roadside triangles of the zig zag fence...

On the garden side, I've already planted two elderberry bushes, and plan to plant more blueberries, some red raspberries, and a rugosa rose bush as well.

All this seems like a lot to do, but we do love being outdoors. I'm not sure how many plants we'll get moved before spring arrives. Rain was the deterrent in November and December, though we got quite a bit transplanted. Our forecast for the next several days promises nightly lows in the teens and daytime highs in the mid 30s, so if the ground freezes, digging will be out for awhile, for both transplants and fence posts!

'Tis The Season For Transplanting photos & text copyright 

January 2010 by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

Planning The Herb Gardens

For awhile now, I've been working on a plan for my herb gardens. When we developed our master plan, I put them in the front yard, with a long term goal is no lawn! I know that I want the entire front yard to eventually be filled with culinary and medicinal herbs, dye plants, and probably some fruit and vegetables as well. Since the majority of these will be perennials, I need to plan it out well.

These photos give you an idea of the area I'm working with:


The front yard measures roughly 46 by 108 feet. It's pretty good size, so obviously I'm going to have to plant in stages over the next several years. As I consider an overall plan, there are three elements that are key to my final design:

~ Privacy
~ Shade
~ Visibility

Privacy is a personal preference. We love sitting on our screened in front porch, but also like the privacy that the present bushes afford. These ones are kind of ugly however...

.... so I want to replace them with something more aesthetic. The one keeper is the bush on the left, which is nandina. Bettina tells me it is a dye plant, so it will stay. I don't know what the tall scraggly looking things in the back are. Probably something intended to be kept trim and shaped. No matter, they are soon to be goners. My current thought is to transplant them (and a few other things) to along the property line of field #2 (see master plan for that.) In their place, I would like to transplant some of the azaleas that are hidden at the back of the house.

The zinnias in both beds ....

....were basically for color this year. BTW, these are the beds I mulched with cardboard. Two and a half months later I can report that the cardboard did an excellent job; not only for keeping weeds out, but for keeping moisture in.

Since the house faces southwest, we need to shade it from the late afternoon summer sun. A deciduous tree would do that, plus allow for solar heating during winter. In addition, I'd like to leave the majority of the front yard sunny, to accommodate sun loving herbs and flowers. My plan at present is to plant a ginkgo biloba tree where this year's garden is (to the left of the driveway). I've been keeping a eye on the path of the sun this summer, and have a fairly good idea of where to plant it, in order to shade that side of the house. Eventually this year's garden will become a shade garden.

My studio (right hand windows in above photo) needs shade too, but I'm thinking of something smaller there, perhaps a dwarf peach tree? Another option would be a vine, but that would mean putting up a trellis or pergola. I'm less certain about that however, because another building project would not be very high on the "to do" list at this time!

Visibility is an issue when pulling out of the driveway. Because of the rises and dips in the terrain, it is difficult to see anything that might be in the road. This year, I discovered that my sunflowers and green beans hindered visibility somewhat, as they were planted closest to the road. I've realized that I need to keep low-growing plants toward the front of the yard, getting taller closer to the house.

So. After all that ruminating, how is my plan coming along? This is my current tentative one -

Click to biggify

This is just a sketch, and not to scale, but it will give you an idea of what I'm hoping to accomplish next year. The green areas are in the plan to develop. Notes below:

• A ginkgo tree (male cultivar, Autumn Gold) will be planted to the left of the driveway (not in the above sketch). Hopefully it will shade those windows and the porch without shading the rest of the front yard too much.
• Azaleas (which can also be used for dyeing) will be transplanted from the back of the house, where they are currently hidden from view. Azaleas do well in shade, so shade from the ginkgo won't be a problem. They will provide privacy while sitting on the front porch, plus lovely spring color. Another bonus - we already have them!
• Nandina tolerates partial shade, so it may be okay there too.
• Bed #1- At this point I'm planning echinacea there as it can tolerate some shade. Possibly with yarrow, liatris, and/or coreopsis. These have medicinal and dye qualities.
• Bed # 2 - Possibly hollyhock, dahlia, monarda, butterfly weed, though these may eventually need to be moved to a sunnier spot. Another option is a couple more azaleas.
• Dwarf peach trees are possibilities to shade the windows of my studio. I had a dwarf peach when I lived in Texas, and it was more of a large shrub than a tree. Their height (8 - 10 feet) and spread (about the same) make them contenders for this job.
• The walkway will be extended in from of bed #2 and then split curve into the front yard as well toward the back of the house. Currently all we have are large cement blocks going from the driveway to the front door, but plan to replace them with leftover bricks as pavers.
• Bed #3 - culinary herbs and lavender, which like similar soil conditions. On the list are rosemary, oregano, thyme, basil, and sage.
• The Beauty Bushes (right edge of the yard) were planted as a privacy hedge long before we got here. They bloom most of the summer, smell wonderful, and attract bees. They are under a pecan tree, which shades this side of the yard in the morning. I need to keep this in mind as I develop my plan.

Of course, all of this is subject to change, but with cooler weather here, I can begin transplanting some of the bushes and prepare to plant new trees soon. Very exciting.

Planning The Herb Gardens photos and text copyright 

September 2009 by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/