As promised....

Base: Happydale

Home of the Future, a Picasa web album I put together back in 2013 when we were looking at/moving to Happydale.

So that's what we started with.
And now....

I took these pictures last year, a few things have changed, nothing too major, though.
The pictures with snow I took 2-22-2015.






Places we can plant...



Next too the barn.  There's traffic around here.  Don't really want to attract the chickens and other birds to this location.  It's rocky.  Anything planted would have to compete with the Mulberry bushes, which need to be killed....

Out behind the barn.  Home of the Bunny Gods.  Again there's traffic here.  But, There's space too.  We need to finish cleaning out behind the barn.  Thinking more ornamental.  Not really good for food production.  The Bunny Gods do live here and would be very happy to eat whatever we plant.
Also, Mulberry bushes that need to be killed....



The burn pit.  We could plant here, but....
We like the burn pit with the potential of large, whomping fires.
There's a huge pile of mulch there.  There's the issue of traffic, being the driveway and all.
The ground around the fire pit needs some serious leveling.  Right now, footing is rough, with the potential of face planting in the large, whomping fires.
And there are Mulberries that need to be killed...

.


Of, course here......

Is where we put the main vegetable garden...

The Blueberries and Strawberries run along the back row closet to the field.  We put a pallet down in the green space last year.

Kathy wants to transplant the Strawberries to a box/raised bed.  Which is a good idea.  We'll have to have chicken wire or some such for the Blueberries.



They've almost out grown the milk crates.  Something really enjoyed nibbling off all the leaves last year.  Would like to avoid that this year.

I think we should till what we tilled last year.  Get a couple more Blueberries, or some other bushy plants, and use the green space left from last year for pallets and container plants and raised beds.  The potatoes did not do well in the heavy soil last year.  One of the box schemes might work better.  If we could lay our hands on a couple of cheap straw bales, I'd like to see how they work.

Right now, thanks to Kathy and the girls, the garden has the beginning of a fence.

We've been talking about using some of the pallets for the fence.



I'm thinking, set them in a shallow trench, run re-bar, or some of the metal poles we have, down through the middle to help them stand up to the wind out here.  We can fill them with dirt and plant shallow rooted stuff in the slats or get hooks and some more window boxes to hang on them.  Also, ready made supports for peas and beans, and nice tight fencing.  Dogs and birds would have to go over it.  We could grow vine melons  making slings on the pallets would be easier.
Should we paint the pallets, or leave them as is?

I know we're planting a lot of peppers.  Need to decide what and how much.  I have seeds for banana peppers that I'm going to start.  Last year we had green peppers, jalapenos, and what we came to call the screaming mimis, something called a Hungarian carrot.  You got one of those and you knew it.

The peppers didn't produce well last year.  I know part of that can be chalked up to weeds and critters, but they should have done better than they did.
We should plant onions and potatoes.  Couple of different types of garlic would be nice.
I have seeds for peas and beans.
I'm gonna try to start some tomatoes.
We need to decide what kind of cucumbers.
But, I've side tracked and all this can be a later post....

We have space on the other side of the out building.  It gets a mix of sun and shade.  I think it would be a good space for a cutting garden.  You won't be able to see it form the house or yard, but with a cutting garden you could bring it all indoors.







The Back yard has lots to offer....

There are some Daffodils near the out building.  They should be moved, cuz the wood pile is there now.  I think that's a good place for the wood pile.  Not too far from the house and it gets some direct sun.
Re-stacking the wood pile is on the list.

There are 3 beds out the back door
















 And



And

 There's a long alley between the house and the tree line that gets a mix of sun and shade...
Several little nooks along that line have potential for benches and shaded seating...

There are Mulberries that need to be killed all over....

Some things have changed in the last year.

There's a tree here now.

The chicken coop got moved.

There are some flowers here now.
There's a rose bush under my window.

I'm going to get a couple of cuttings from the the bush at the Granite house.

It's a nice, healthy bush.






There are flowers by the light pole.



The front pasture is mostly fenced.

We have a long run of full sun along the pasture.

There's still a bit of room at the end of the pasture.



Kathy and I both like the idea of Sunflowers out here.  I would like to plant some Lavender.  We need to move some of the Day Lilies out this way.
Really would like to see Happydale as a bee, humming bird, butterfly magnet.  So a Butterfly bush or three would be neat.  Have to ponder the idea of a Trumpet Vine.

And finally we have the area by the mail box.

Can't get too wild here cuz of the corn/bean field behind it.  But a couple of Day Lilies would be pretty.  It does get some direct sun throughout the day.

Well that's pretty much it, from end to the other.
If you've got ideas of suggestions, leave a comment.