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| What would you use it for? I have a decent size plot to work with (90x150) but not a lot of sun. I love my shade garden though and do have a good size part shade garden. If I had more room I would try veggies, would love to have a cutting garden, and would add some of the sun lovers I cannot grow now but keep trying to. I would also add a few more flowering shrubs and..............the list could go on. What would you do with more room? Trying to envision my next garden when I retire in a few years, can't decide if I should go larger, smaller or stay the same (of course funds will dictate some of this but I am thinking perhaps a tiny house on a larger lot). |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by pam_whitbyon 6 (My Page) on Thu, Sep 29, 11 at 14:23
| 3 years ago I moved from Toronto to a small house/large yard, with many dreams of garden paths, huge flower beds, massive areas of colour, oh yes, the pictures in my head were unbelievable. The reality is that I still have a property that looks a lot like a soccer field. In the first year I created two new flower beds, each about 5 ft by 15, and they're ok, but I haven't done much else in the last two years at all. My main stumbling blocks are: 1) I'm intimidated by the large expanse, don't know where to dig next. I have to get used to the whole scale of this property, because one of everything just looks like a mess. 2) The hard work of digging new beds or paying people to do it... I got hubby's help the second year but he overdid it and ended up on his back for 2 weeks and in a wheelchair for the next 2 weeks, lol) 3) Probably the biggest problem of all, time and money to make it look like it does in my head. My old property was just about a quarter of an acre. And it just seemed so easy to handle. Crowded and the grass in the middle was becoming less and less, but I really enjoyed it. It wasn't too time-consuming to weed, and I had quite a variety of different plants. Sometimes I go back to visit as it's now owned by a friend of the family, but no-one's paid any attention to it and most things are covered in weeds. I know it's just a garden but it breaks my heart to see it like that. I have to stop thinking of it as mine, I guess! Anyway, that is just my experience, of course. Thanks for the opportunity to express it - it's actually been cathartic. I feel a new inspiration. The lack of heat helps too! Good luck in your decision-making!
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- Posted by tgs.ontz5a (My Page) on Thu, Sep 29, 11 at 15:56
| Hey Pam I am just north of TO now. We are mulling over moving further out of the city in a few years. I have thought of what you are describing. Would I be lost in a lot more space? I picture great swaths of things (ornamental grasses!) but in reality I am not great at design and do like the intimate feel my gardens have now. As for creating new beds, try the no dig method, it works, we just created a entire new garden at my sister's new house last year using this method, took one Sunday afternoon to create two huge beds, soil and mulch, the beds this year look like they were established years ago. It is amazing in one year. Of course she has planted nonstop! With me enabling. This is the perfect time to do it too. Good luck with your space. I am sure over time you will manage to fill it up, you have not really been there that long. |
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- Posted by wren-garden zone 5b/6 (My Page) on Thu, Sep 29, 11 at 17:01
| If I had more space of the size you have I would have a living green fence of evergreens. All sizes,colors and forms in a meandering pattern. Then old garden roses of the large size and intense scent for the next row in, with a few Japanese maples and flowering shrubs mixed in. Then the inner rows would be perennials in graduating sizes in a color themed pattern down to a tidy border of groundcovers then stones.Here and there in this perennial border would be pillars with clematis and more roses, large stones as sculpture and a bronze life size great crane.Right in the middle of a modest sized lawn would be a spreading shade tree with a bench built right round the trunk. I would sit on that bench in wonder at the beauty. In my dreams. Most of our gardens evolve season by season. Fall in love with a plant, stick it in the ground. Next season you look for something that would look good with it. On and on we go until the beds are twice their original size. Not alot of thinking. More loving and just doing. Enjoy. |
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- Posted by purpleinopp 8b AL (My Page) on Fri, Sep 30, 11 at 12:00
| I have tons of space, too, but like Pam, it's not the easiest thing to convert it from grass. I've dug up grass, had grass tilled then picked the roots out, lasagna'd, and smothered. I'll tell ya, unless I move and need to get started immediately again, I'm going to stick with smothering. I've gotten my hands on a few pieces of sheet metal, and I'm just going to smother spots, one sheet at a time, then cover them with the material from the lawnmower bag, until I don't feel like having any more non-grass areas. Is this just the most lazy lasagna of all time? IDK. I have plenty of patience but not so much strength. Meanwhile, in the front, where I hadn't planned to kill any more grass, grubs have decimated about half the lawn. Do you like irony? Well I do and find this hilarious, even if it's kind of ugly. If I thought anybody in this town would challenge a front-yard veggie garden like some of the recent news stories, I might feel like it's a divine hint to "join the cause." In any case, it's good for a chuckle and reminder that mother nature's ideas aren't always congruous with ours. But back to the topic at hand, in these new spaces I plan to put a few more flowers, but mostly edibles. Even if we were more affluent, I just like knowing where the food came from and how it was grown. I like going outside and letting the garden help decide what's for dinner. And I like the challenge of, "what am I going to make with 1 okra, 1 bell pepper, 2 tomatoes, a banana pepper, and a cucumber?" I like having extras to give people who aren't gardeners. I will also be adding more host plants for butterflies and nectar plants for them and hummers. And my son likes to make gardening decisions, so I thought I'd give him an area to put whatever he wants. |
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- Posted by coolplantsguy z6 Ontario (My Page) on Fri, Sep 30, 11 at 13:35
| If I had more room, I plant more of the big, bold and beautiful perennials, e.g. Silphium, Inula, Eupatorium, Rubeckia maxima and R. nitida 'Herbstsonne', Miscanthus 'Giganteus' and Saccharum ravennae. I'm tired of "compact/dwarf" plants. |
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| If I had more space, I'd plant an arboretum. |
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- Posted by christinmk z5b eastern WA (My Page) on Fri, Sep 30, 11 at 13:59
| I feel the same as CPG. If there were space I would plant a lot more 'large scale' plants, along with large ornamental grasses, shrubs, and trees. I would want to have lots of unusual trees and conifers especially. Variegated Ginkgo! Pink tinged variegated Beech! Cedars! Cornus florida subspecies urbiniana! The list goes on. Sigh... CMK |
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| If I had more room I would have a forest of brugmansia. I am trying to make room for the ones I have by removing some of my perennials in the back to make places for them next spring. I would also have a row of evergreen trees, firs, spruce, etc., and rock walls and huge expanses of grass. A small orchard, apples, cherries, plums. |
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| I actually do have enough room. We own 36-acres, with about 7-acres clear. It's time. I refuse to add another bed unless there are plans for its maintenance. That said, we're adding a huge, long border next year, full sun, and a bed of daylilies. There are plans for extending every hosta bed. We have the plants, we have the compost, we have the mulch - now it's just time. |
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- Posted by buyorsell888 Zone 8 Portland OR (My Page) on Sat, Oct 1, 11 at 12:51
| If I had more room I'd plant more Japanese maples and more conifers. I'd also plant ninebarks, viburnums, paniculata hydrangeas, witch hazels, elderberries, rugosa roses and other big shrubs I don't have room for now. |
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- Posted by christinmk z5b eastern WA (My Page) on Sat, Oct 1, 11 at 15:17
| Oh...can I add more?? I've been thinking about it and I would also love extra room so I could have theme gardens of all sorts and some for experimenting with just color combos. Then enough room to have trial gardens for all the new plants that come out. CMK |
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- Posted by crackingtheconcrete 7aNY (My Page) on Sat, Oct 1, 11 at 18:18
| I always love branches or branched forms that arch over and create a sheltered tunnel or other little private space for musing/reading,etc. , and I once saw a frame for a vine hut for children, where you stake it into the ground and grow vines all around it to create a fort. I would love to create something like this OH!!! OR, years back, I read this article about a lady who had this huge metal tiered tower on her property and somehow pumpkin seeds got into it and a vine grew dangling down with pumpkins, like a chandelier, so after that, she purposely added dirt, planted seeds, and had all these hanging pumpkins. So cool!!! :) |
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- Posted by terrestrial_man 9 (eyuracleo@hotmail.com) on Sun, Oct 2, 11 at 3:24
| It is nice to dream but isn't being pragmatic more important when you are starting on the road to retirement and your later years? Believe me, you really do not want to have more room. You will discover that LESS IS BEST! Unless there is simply nothing else going on in your life other than digging about in the yard. But then you will find out that on some days that just does not sound like the plan! It is important to consider not only the time costs but the overall expense of caring for a large or larger garden, especially in areas subject to drought and water rationing. Minimizing your overall care costs while utilizing plants that will liberate you from caring for them can really give you that time to pause and just sit back and enjoy the garden rather than having to plop down and wonder just how you are going to get it all done! For me it is whenever I get around to it. I am the master here not the plants! |
Here is a link that might be useful: Care free garden design
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- Posted by tgs.ontz5a (My Page) on Sun, Oct 2, 11 at 8:16
| Yes, tman you make a good point. Although the garden is a large part of my life (no kids, so no grandkids, but family, friends and other interests), I do not want to be a slave to it. In my present garden I already have moments in the Spring and Fall where I "plop down and wonder how I will get it all done", but I do work full-time. So many good ideas on these posts, but I guess we can't do it all! |
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| I think I'm fortunate to have what I consider to be close to the ideal space, and the challenge is really using it in such a way that it lives up to its potential. It's a small house (modest 3 bedroom cape) with a larger lot - about 9 acres. (House size is fine since we do not have kids.) Most of the land is wooded, with old stone walls criss-crossing it. The area around the house (side yards and back yard) is maybe an acre... I'm not great at estimating acreage. Fortunately it's set up in such a way that it is not just a big expanse, like a soccer field. The only thing I don't like is that since they basically cleared forest to make room for the house less than ten years ago, there are no old shade trees in the yard. At least we have the woods around the house, though. I'm not really touching the woods right now, but there is the potential for woodland gardens, and trails. The house was new so I attacked it by starting with foundation plantings... probably the most obvious place to start planting. Then I moved outward, to other shrubs and then flower beds, and a vegetable garden. It seems that the more I plant, the more obvious a "plan" becomes. At first the space was a bit overwhelming, but once you plant in one spot, other spots become obvious choices for "balancing" the look. And, once you wait a year or so after planting in one area, you get a better idea of how the plantings will look when mature, and then that can guide you to other spots. I'm also looking for natural features which might guide me in my choice of planting spots. For instance, this year I planted around a rocky outcrop. The big issue I have is worrying about spoiling the look of one area by planting in it. I have a nice narrow sideyard on one side, edged by the woods. I did plant one small bed, but I've thought about doing more, but then worry that I won't like it as much as I like it now, but it will be hard to return it to the way it looks. Likewise, the back of our backyard slopes down and meets the woods. It's hard to get grass to grow right up to the woods, so right now it is mossy, with some scrubby plants at the edge of the woods. That transitional area gets a lot of sun for much of the day, and I keep thinking it would be a good spot for flowers and ground coverings, to tidy up the area a bit. But then I think about how much I like the naturalistic and lush "all green" look that's there now. What if I ruin it? I guess how much space you will realistically want to care for in your old age depends on you, and your location. My grandfather was gardening extensively up until his death at 95, but he was very into it, had a full-scale green house, etc.. He was in a suburban area outside of Boston and didn't have a huge lot, but it was larger than most - an acre or so in an older established neighborhood, with a small house, and he made the most of it. Where I live, everyone has larger lots, and I have many retired neighbors who seem to live for their flower and vegetable gardens. We do not live in a drought area, but we do live where the soil is extremely rocky. I suspect these people were way into gardening even before they retired. Maybe the "trap" some people fall into is romanticizing the whole endeavor, and imagining they'd love to tend a huge yard, if only they had time, but then they find they really don't have the energy, interest, or inclination to do so. And of course, unexpected health problems can derail even the best laid plans. |
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- Posted by tgs.ontz5a (My Page) on Sun, Oct 2, 11 at 17:54
| Wow Lizzie what a wonderful post on your space. I love everyone's ideas on what they would do with more space but it is very helpful to hear from those people who are 'living the dream'. Certainly has given me food for thought. |
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| Thanks! I'm living one "dream" but it was not actually my dream... I have lived in very urban areas for most of my adult life, and did NOT want to move, but finally moved to a much smaller city in NH. I very quickly met my husband, who owned our current house in a rural area. Given that carrying on a relationship in this area is different from a relationship in a big city - you have to drive 45 minutes or so between residences, rather than popping from one place to another - I fairly quickly moved in. And it was a culture shock!!! There were a lot of drawbacks, but one big benefit was all the space. It is a luxury to be able to do pretty much whatever kind of garden I want, and we cleared an area for a fire pit, too. We're considering building a small cabin just to have a more rustic space than the house, and maybe also a sauna. Of course you also give up a lot living in a rural area, too. (Or at least if you're used to and like urban areas, you feel you're giving up a lot.) But, I have embraced it and really enjoy gardening. Next up... I want chickens... except I fear I would never be able to go on vacation again! |
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| Vacation is not your biggest problem when you have chickens. It is the neighbors who have nothing else to do than listen how much noise your birds are producing. If I had more room I would make a separate bed for plants blooming in September/October for maximum 'explosion effect'. I like my flower beds exploding in colours. |
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| an explosion garden ... I like that! More room would mean an arboretum for magnolias, beech and a bunch of other trees. I'd have a bulb meadow and bunches of naturalized daffs and a prarie area. A peony garden might be nice too. When I get too old I'd let it all go to pot and if it bothered me I'd just run it over with the riding mower. I think I'd like the run down secret garden look though. On a nice day I could grab the cane and totter amongst the rapidly growning trees. A pond too. I'd need a pond. |
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- Posted by tgs.ontz5a (My Page) on Thu, Oct 6, 11 at 18:17
| Oh, oh everyone has great ideas. A pond, would love a pond. And Japanese Maples, and more fruit trees, maybe some woodland. Just when tman had me thinking less is more I have all your ideas dancing in my head. Maybe less is not more? Or I might need some staff to help. Maybe the next post should be 'if you had less space what would you include/exclude'. Good thing I still have a couple of years to figure this out, or the way the world economy is going I may have a little longer then that! |
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- Posted by dandy_line 3B-Mn (My Page) on Sat, Oct 8, 11 at 1:08
| I had the space but sold it last year. Looking back, without that garden demanding all of my spare time for the past 10 years, I don't know what I would have done in my retirement. I experimented with just about everything possible in a Z4 garden, but mostly prairie wildflowers. All from seed. And starting my own strains. I now have a Joe Pye weed to die for!. Now starting over and hope the next ten years are as enjoyable. |
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| I have two gardens - my home garden is totally minuscule but we live in the middle of Cambridge, a lovely city. However, I also have a couple of allotments, half a mile or so from home (A few minutes on my bike). Basically, a long strip of public land, rented from the city council, I cannot do hardscaping and there is a limit to how many mature trees I can get away with. When I took the allotments on, 8 years ago, I was thrilled with the extra space and launched into insane plans to try out numerous different planting ideas - the fruit gardens, old roses everywhere, gravel gardens, late summer gardens, spring borders and so on. And, growing mostly from seed, I chopped and changed continually. Now, I am at the limit of what I can actually do without falling into despair and neglecting areas. Also, the many whims and fancies are not low-maintenace and as it is a public space, weeds are always and ever present (not every plot holder is a garden obsessive like me). So, there is a balance between money, resources, time and energy which I have reached. In fact, vegetables, being quite labour intensive have decreased over time while roses have increased in number. As for the wild fantasy, with no basis in reality, it would have to be an arboretum. |
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- Posted by finchelover 5b-6 (My Page) on Sun, Oct 9, 11 at 16:40
| Keep this in mind one day you will get older. I am now 81 and all sudden it hit me in the back and it kills me to bend or work only about 10 -15 minutes at a time. It got so bad I couldn't do any weeding for 2 weeks and guess what weeds,weeds and more weeds. So really think it over how big you want that flower bed |
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| It was my dream to have lots of land. I found it and in the process of landscaping. It has a lot of mature trees. It is 4 acres of the 4...2 acres are woods. I am having fun. I will retire for good soon and it will be gardening fun for me. I am living my dream. As one of the poster said my dream was different garden themes. I have finished my Shade Garden and a "Meditation Asian Theme". Next will be the "Pond". I am slow but sure getting rid of all the grass for the perennials. I have an orchard with 3 apple trees, Cherry Tree, Pear Tree, and Berries, and Grape Arbor. These were on the property. Later I will put the trail back in that leads to a 10' tall outdoor fireplace in the woods. As you can see some of the work was done already but it was overgrown and in poor shape. But it only took 2 years to get everything looking healthy again. I cannot imagine getting up after I retire and sitting all day in front of the TV. or.... No hours, hours and hours of me time in the garden. Working in the garden is fun for me it is not a chore. I have lots of friends and entertain a lot but that is in the evening. I want to garden in the day. I do need someone to do the blasted housework. Now that is slave work. LOL |
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