Midwest Gardening 2024: Yard Projects and Vegetable Gardening for Seniors.

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Projects and the Vegetable Garden, June 3, 2024

We are still in Catch Up mode from all the projects that didn't get finished last year.

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These wood 'boxes' were used on the East side which is now all planted in Perennials and they are waiting for a new location?

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Hubby finished the back porch, again we are using the carpet for safety, wood stairs are very slick with ice or even rain. Safety is a theme here at our home now as we age and todder herea and there.

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This ledge was built for planters...and soon will just have are garden refuse cans underneath. 

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Speaking of Garbage...here are all our cans lined up for one week (minus two more for yard waste). Cleaning sheds and all the projects in the yard has really kept our garbage collectors busy...every week. 

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Five of our Seven yard waste cans!

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Hubby has been replacing our wooden walkways with cement squares. All the new wood along the railings are reinforcements and replacing. Sometime this summer all the wood will get stained.

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We have a gentle slope on this lot across the back yard, so the step downs are here and there. Hubby is laying block for here.

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Inside the new service patio, We raised this bed with new and compost soil added. I planted Asian long pole beans in here and some squash. The old gates are going to be perfect for trellises.

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Between laying 'stone' in the greenhouse, here and the walkway, we are done this year. Next year we will do in front of the greenhouse and along the other side.

Starting in the small patio in the garden...that I hope is a Holly Hock...it's going bonkers in that small planter. Lots of birds bath in this old birdbath we have had forever.

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Our Silver Maple trees have actually grown since the severe trimming two years ago. and this area has some shade. We've moved the Pepper plants we usually had here into the garden, but the Peas are thriving and this week are starting to blossom.

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The back stairs did get done late last year...but the decking and the siding is fighting with molds. We are planning on pressure washing everything when the planting is done.

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Above the back pond, where I really hacked back the roses, they are beginning to bloom. Unaltered photo---so bright.

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This was our woodpile area, which we cleaned up as most the wood had rotted. We severly pruned back the Lilac, but they are hardy and will definitely recover. 

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This is our infamous compost pile, the stuff to the right is our neighbors. All kitchen waste, most grass cuttings, leaves, trimmings go into here and get tilled up with some compost starter. We couldn't do what we do---if we didn't have this.

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Early last week...all the construction still going on.

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Top down... 8 Broccoli plants (now only 6) someone was chewing on them. 

Strips  of Chard Fordhook and rainbow.

Walkway

Wide Carrot bed 

Lines of Beets

and 4 Brussel Sprout plants. 

 A bit of empty space to the right waits for flower transplants. 

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This area was the holding spot for all the planting containers. 

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Much of that is Mint that I wintered over in pots inside of a plastic bag we buried in the compost pile. MINT has to be potted or it will invade everywhere. We use it to control the bees where we sit, work or by entrances. 

This is about $120 worth of plants that are on their third year....a big REDO savings.

Behind this area are the railing containers.

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These were actually planted in the Greenhouse...and are producing great onions, lettuce, spinach, radishes and some flowers. This one has a vine on one end...waiting to see what it is???

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I had to add extra dirt to this pot to get the radishes going to radish?? Or however you say it.

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I planted two types of spinach, and it is very successful when there aren't critters chewing on it.

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I have 5 of these mixed planters from the greenhouse.

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 I've started three more with more Lettuce/greens,  greenhouse Hot Peppers and some greenhouse flowers.

The box planters below are for shady plants, I can move these around where I need a little character later.

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We had to 'weed' kill the Morning Glories under the trellis...they have been an issue for twenty years or so. They just ruined the beans and pickles last year. 

We have pallet wood, an old bedspring and some 4x8 trellis frames upright here. Hubby made a raised shelf now for pots...so the Green Beans have a chance to survive up off the ground. 

I have our Peppers in pots here also on the right. 

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Another raised bed has Bush Pickles, several Squash (for the trellis on the fence) and Bush Beans. This will help our senior backs. I may have to add more dirt later.

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I have only 8 Heirloom Tomato plants this year, grown from seed and kept in the greenhouse this Spring. Honestly they were starting to blossom in there.

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I grew these bush Pickles in the greenhouse...! 

Critters seem to leave larger plants alone.

We are designing the garden for Seniors as we are on the long end of our  70's now.

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I have Trellis Pickles in here. We filled all these pots from the compost pile and added new potting soil also. These pots will all stay in the garden year-round and be fertilized with new soil added as needed. 

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The potted Carnival and Green Peppers look healthy and HAPPY!

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I planted Zucchini, only three this year from the greenhouse.

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This is an ornamental Corn plot---but I think the bird/chippies/moles/mice have eaten every sprout that came up. I can still do something else here if that is what has happened.

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Along the back fence, we have beans, squash, sunflowers, but they have been chewed on also

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My neighbor has some sort of bamboo like grass that gets 12 feet tall as a privacy screen. 

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Beans are having a hard time here, Kentucky Wonder.

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More Squash and some Marigolds.

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1 sprout making it from 6 seeds. and a hole from some critter chewing on them?

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We banned the family away from here until Father's Day so we can get all the  areas FINISHED. 

Still, everything seems to still be a work in progress.

We had to take a few days off because of all our heavy rains, but, I will be out in the yard all day today.

I'm sure everything is going crazy out there!

How are your Vegetables Doing?

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Midwest Gardening: Back Yard Clean UP and Projects

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Late Fall projects and Backyard Cleanup!!!

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This is our side stairway off the back kitchen door. It was one of the first things we did back in the 80's to improve the house. The original stairs were concrete underneath, crooked, and without railings...hardly to code. We covered it with wood, but it was poor quality and warped, split, and got ugly---the reason I never showed photos of it. 

Originally the stairs curved, but Hubby redid the bottom base in concrete and ripped out all the old wooden steps and replaced them with higher quality (safe for ground/water contact) wood now in a straight line.

 We also have had issues here with nesting animals and wasps...so lots of wood later, insulation, caulk and this is the result so far. 

The railings are still missing, but the wood is sealed and tight now. He is also going to remove the vent as we no longer have a dryer in the basement...again trying to critter proof.

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Before: The adjoining flower bed was shortened to expand the stair base and straighten them and new boards added on the side. We switched out the dirt here, replanted the Iris, Sedum and small Del Oro Lilies. In Spring I will probably add a new vine to this bed. This area is on the East side and is very hot with blasting sun until 2pm each day.

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AFTER: Just a little tweaking and some nice light on the space! I've always wanted to do something with the concrete? But, then flowers fill this area up anyway.

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Onto more clean-up. Our lot is a bit over a quarter of an acre, and we use every inch of it. When you are both in the mid-70's---120 feet back and forth is a lot of work. THIS is my 'workhorse'. This is our second garden wagon---the other one disintegrated. Just a little yard cart that the sides come off of...nice tires and just the right length handle to pull.  I couldn't do all my pots/decor without it. Back and forth to the compost pile a million times during Spring and Fall. 

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Before: The East side of the house was still a disaster...the beds to the right have been basically cleaned out. I pulled out the last of the old stump below the Dragonflies. We needed to add fresh dirt to there. I will plant some 'transplanted' Iris in that spot...should be pretty in Spring. 

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AFTER: I did get all the leaves blown into the backyard late yesterday and Hubby cleaned up all the construction mess. This concrete is beginning to need a facelift---maybe next year!

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Today I planted 5 Iris roots in new dirt. It will be odd not to have a pot or a chair for annuals here next year. I will plant some taller plants or a vine in back.

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Crazy marigolds are still going strong---even after at least 3 frosts? 

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Glaring sunshine, but our Fairy landed here along the fence. The bushes had swallowed her by the porch and she may need another more permanent home again. Perhaps in the front yard? The Zinnias here and there have escaped the frosts.

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Four-feet from those Zinnias are the Giant Hosta and you can see the frost results. We will let the leaves stay until Spring---for the bees to have some protection.

There are so many trees surrounding our property and we have two large Silver Maples, which we had severely trimmed last Spring. So leaves should be about half of normal.

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This is today, while yesterday we had chopped them all up with the lawn mower and then the lawn vacuum sucked them up and bagged them. Seven huge bags went into the compost pile, and this is just from the backyard. 

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With all the garden waste the compost pile is already more than half-full. It was down to under a foot deep with soil this summer, we used so much for projects. I've already dumped 80% of our pots into here. It's work, but really 'free' soil and free fertilizer...one of the reasons all our pots produce such great flowers and veggies.

A totally GREEN thing to do. 

We never burn any yard waste.

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These stairs were blown off twice yesterday...LOL.

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I managed to get the garden almost totally stripped. I rolled up the fabric and collected the stakes for next year. Much of the ground up leaves from the yard end up in here, and then Hubby will till them in later this Fall. We have a forecast for good weather for at least another week or so.

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Once Hubby is done with all his other projects, we need to tackle the inside of the Greenhouse, make it more critter proof and change to a thick foam insulation. Apparently regular fiberglass insulation is just a HOME for mice. 

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Amazing, last of the Roses...9' in the air, and tufts of bedding oozing out of the birdhouse. We have a myriad of birdhouses everywhere on the property...I love all their chatter, and sparrows will land very close to us if we actually sit still. 

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Meanwhile, this flamingo does look out of place amongst so many leaves from our trees.

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This old bird bath was our first backyard purchase in 1984. The birds love it!

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The last crops that are frost resistant, our two types of Swiss Chard and Broccoli.

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Both these were stunted in the unrelenting heat this summer, but have gone nuts this Fall with growth and production. We will have at least one more fab pick of broccoli despite the bugs having their way with it. 

We organic garden---so the bugs just take their share.  I douse my produce in lightly salted water when cleaning and that makes sure we aren't getting any extra protein.

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Hiding along the fence are the tomato cages. Normally, I sort by color---LOL, this year I realized I hadn't---so we have a pastel photo-op for Fall.

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I harvested many blossoms for seeds, but these I left for the birds. The Zinnias here are pretty much done.

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Our giant Marigolds are still blooming strong and the bees were still busy!!! These were all planted from saved seeds.

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We are getting there...how are you doing?

Happy Fall Clean UP You All-

And this is just the BACKYARD! 

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 Sandi Magle

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