Trying to do a garden in the back yard but need some opinions / ideas

[contoursvt]

Hi guys, I want to do something simple to 1, reduce grass which IMO is kind of a useless plant and 2, to get some color in the back yard. I'm thinking of doing some kind of a garden between my tiny birch tree which is only 3' tall right now and my 10' tall Lilac tree. I might be putting some assorted flowers in there, maybe a big rock or two and some green leafy plants.

Feel free to use the blank picture to modify and re-upload if you want. Any ideas are welcome. I did one but I think its kind of big and not sure if I can make it look good.

http://powerthings.com/pics/garden/ideas.jpg

http://powerthings.com/pics/garden/1.jpg

[mbg]

Give it time and Rehan will come on here and tell you to go and consult a garden centre because they have expertise in this kind of thing.

[red 5]

put a small vegetable garden in the middle...

smaller lawn and lots of fresh vegi's!!!

:)

[contoursvt]

Actually I am a fan of hot peppers and am growing about 7-8 kinds of peppers in small pots on the deck. They are small at the moment. I wonder if i can somehow mix them up with the flowers and have it look good. I do like the look of the red, green and yellow hot peppers hanging off the plants. Almost like flowers anyway :)

put a small vegetable garden in the middle...

smaller lawn and lots of fresh vegi's!!!

:)

[red 5]

Actually I am a fan of hot peppers and am growing about 7-8 kinds of peppers in small pots on the deck. They are small at the moment. I wonder if i can somehow mix them up with the flowers and have it look good. I do like the look of the red, green and yellow hot peppers hanging off the plants. Almost like flowers anyway :)

cool.. I am thinking about doing the same thing (I have a much larger yard though 1/3 acre).

Is it too late to plant peppers now?

[contoursvt]

I think it might be late to plant them from seeds but I see that home depot and canadian tire still carry Jalapenos, Cayenne and hot yellow banana peppers. They are about 6-8" tall so those would work for sure :)

cool.. I am thinking about doing the same thing (I have a much larger yard though 1/3 acre).

Is it too late to plant peppers now?

[Si98]

You can probably reduce grass even more by bringing your cedars another foot or two away from the fence. Doesn't seem like they have much room for expansion at the moment.

[contoursvt]

Thats true about the cedars. If I bring them out, I would be able to cut the amount of grass but I think it would look a bit odd. See I was told when I purchased these cedars that they are the kind that dont get much taller than 8-10' and it will take them some time to get there. Its hard to see from the picture but there is still about 12"-14" of space between the widest part of the cedar and fence so I'm hoping that by the time they get to about 10' tall, they'd be barely touching the fence.

[CaptSmethwick]

What's the orientation to the sun and how deep and high is the deck? Are all fences easily visible from inside your windows?

(BTW, I always think it's a good idea to hire professional designers as I prefer save the money on the build, not the design. YMMV of course)

[CSK'sMom]

I think part of the problem is that it's boring right now. It's very linear with the straight beds along the fences and perfectly spaced cedars. It also needs color as you said. It's only going to get worse as the cedars grow and look "flat" with it being all the same color and same texture. Evergreens like cedars are typically used as backdrop plantings, with shorter plantings in front. I'd re-do the beds to a different shape, with some curves and get some annuals in for this year. I'd plant some bulbs in the fall for next spring and look for perrenials this fall as well.

I agree with Capt about using a design service if you're not confident or an experienced gardener. Many, many places do them for free if you buy a cert. for the nursery. This year in fact many places are just doing them for free trying to sway business.

[Si98]

Thats true about the cedars. If I bring them out, I would be able to cut the amount of grass but I think it would look a bit odd. See I was told when I purchased these cedars that they are the kind that dont get much taller than 8-10' and it will take them some time to get there. Its hard to see from the picture but there is still about 12"-14" of space between the widest part of the cedar and fence so I'm hoping that by the time they get to about 10' tall, they'd be barely touching the fence.

I've seen Emerald Green cedars grow up to 4 feet wide but they were grown in ideal conditions with lots of sunshine. After looking at your photos again I've noticed your backyard doesn't have much direct sunlight (time of day perhaps?). I guess your cedars are safe from getting too big afterall. Since your backyard has a nice shade to it you might want to consider planting Japanese maples and add a few limestone rocks and boulders to turn your yard into a zen paradise.

[contoursvt]

The deck is between 10 and 15' deep as its not just a regular rectangle and I'd say its about 12-14" high. The fences are easily visible which kind of sucks. My plan was to put the cedars there and at least block out the fences and maybe a little bit of my neighbours. If the cedars grow 1-2' higher than the fence level, I'd be happy.

I think my lilac tree will or can get to 20' or so eventually so that will look nice. The birch tree will be nice when it gets bigger as well but its the stuff in between (or lack of) that I need to do something with to get some colour at least.

There is the one plant that was there when I moved into the house which gets these large cluster of flowers which form a globe shape. Flowers are a creamy white. It looks nice but I think at some point I want to move that away from the fence which is where it sits now.

As for going with a service, I guess I could do that. I dont mind doing the work myself but getting a good idea is hard. There is a nursery not far from my place. Maybe I can talk to them too.


What's the orientation to the sun and how deep and high is the deck? Are all fences easily visible from inside your windows?

(BTW, I always think it's a good idea to hire professional designers as I prefer save the money on the build, not the design. YMMV of course)