Rearranging the Yard

Now that I have lived in this same place for a couple of years I have been trying to come up with new ideas for the way my yard is arranged.  The biggest thing I want to change is the placement of the perimeter fence.  I want to keep a fence around my garden to keep the critters out, but now that the chickens have their own yard that I can keep separate from everything else it adds a new dynamic to how I use the space in my yard.  I want to keep moving the chickens around the outside of the garden area to help control weeds and bugs.  I am thinking about just taking the fence down to make moving the chicken pen easier.  Without the fence in the way it will be easier to mow the perimeter of the garden which will help control weeds a bit too.

Another thing I want to change in the yard is the location of the compost pile.  Currently it lives close to the house and near the middle of the garden.  It is a bit of an obstacle to maneuver around when I am doing things in the garden.  Moving the compost pile will clear a direct path to the garden and make working there a bit easier.  I am going to move the pile behind the house next to the shed.  There it will be close to water and still be out of the way enough that I have room to work in the area around it.  While poking around in the pile I learned that things have not broken down much the way I was composting before.  I think the pile itself was far too dry so once the pile has been turned I am going to make sure that I water it frequently to facilitate the composting process.

The yard is starting to look more organized since I have started this large undertaking.  I have removed all the large rocks that were scattered around and piled them in one place next to the shed.  I figure that if I need them I can just cart them to where I want to use them instead of tripping over them as I walk around the yard.  They are used to weigh down the edges of the hoop houses and keep drip lines in place, so I am sure they will find new homes in the garden as the season progresses.

I am also taking up all the drip line and hoses to see if I can come up with a more efficient use of my irrigation system.  The soaker hoses will be re-purposed into my new arrangement and I will reuse as many lines as possible.  The garden hoses were starting to develop multiple holes last fall, so I may not be reusing them again this year.  I may just invest in new hoses to make sure that I waste as little water as possible in this dry climate.

The garden beds are still in the process of being turned over.  I was finally able to remove the trellises from the tomato and cucumber beds so I can work in that area next.  Once the fence is moved I will likely make all the long beds the same length to make planning future crops easier.  I may even add a couple more beds to the end of the garden if I am feeling really ambitious.

Other things I want to add to the yard are more perennial crops like asparagus and different varieties of fruit.  I know this is a rental property, but I might be here for a couple more years so fast growing fruit like grapes and more strawberries would be good additions.  I have also contemplated getting a couple of plum trees, but trees are an investment that I probably won't see any return from while I am here.  Perhaps I should plant them anyway and consider them to be an future investment for someone else.

The only thing that isn't really changing is the central flower bed and herb garden that grows around the central tree in the front yard.  I did add daffodil bulbs in areas throughout the bed and look forward to their appearance in a few weeks.  I am hoping that the wildflowers have reseeded themselves but I will likely try throwing a few more varieties into the mix once the weather warms up a bit in the spring.  My goal here is to get enough perennial and vigorous annual flowers growing in the bed that they out-compete the weeds.  I also hope that the herb area comes back again like it did last year.  I think there are still a few bare spots in that corner that I will fill in here and there when spring gets closer.