Looking for the smallest possible "christmas tree" for backyard
B T
3 years ago
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B T
3 years agoRelated Discussions
Reserarching Backyard Nursery, need advice!
Comments (79)My original business plan was to publish a gardening newspaper for this immediate area. I spent years compiling all the data. I worked up samples and walked them around to local garden themed businesses. Plenty of people were impressed (I was shy of my goal, but close to half of those approached supported the idea of a newspaper). After a few months of investing heavily into it the interest from the businesses waned. They weren't making much money selling such a low priced item (and it featured ads from their competitors). Within two years I was shutting it down due to lack of distribution points, not intrest from the public. I had to have places to sell it to the public in order to stay in business and every month or so I would lose another distributor. I might add that I was doing all the work - so even if little money was being made, they weren't extending any effort (I stocked, delivered, collected, billed with a S.A.S.E., heck I even dusted the counter tops). Another disappointment was that the gardening publics interest was insatiable during the spring but non existant during the heat of summer. In addition to the newspaper I had printed up a gardening calendar with week by week advice on what to do in your garden. I had a truckload of them to get rid of and hated to just throw them away. So I got a "drop in" spot at the local flea market and tried selling them. They moved a little but my bigger success came from selling the plants I had brought along to decorate the booth! So my business name stayed the same but I shifted gears into plant sales instead of publishing. In my fantasy world I would rather be the garden guy at the market with edible food crops for backyard farmers. Seedlings, rooted cuttings of herbs, fruit and veggies from around the world. But the market that is the most convenient for me to sell at doesn't have enough of those types of customers. The result is that I sell a lot of ornamentals and not many functional plants. I believe it will change and that it will only take time. The one component that no one told me when I started all this was the amount of time it takes to build up a clientele. You have to be patient, there are few overnight success stories....See MoreI need help with a completely shady backyard!
Comments (18)get inspired with a book on japanese gardens. They are the masters of shade. Some large rocks and a water feature along with ferns and shade tolerant bamboo. Add some seating and you will feel so relaxed everytime you go out there. My friend did an all green shady space and its so calming. Also it feels cool and inviting. Water is the key. The great thing about japanese design is that you can just do a small part of your yard and get big results. The rest of the space you can use to have a patio or build raised beds or mounds and grow some fantastic plants and flowers. I think having different levels in a yard makes it seem much larger. We have ours flatter and more open near the house for entertaining and built some little hills using big rocks in the rear. People get drawn back to the more wooded section where the water is. The sound of the water just reaches the rear door of the house. The great thing about gardening is that you can always change your mind later. I have seen more charming shady spaces than sunny ones. Grass isnt everything....See MoreBackyard Back to (New) Normal--- Finally! (many photos)
Comments (46)Not at all, that's what we are here for :-) On your feet--- fine! Many people tried to dissuade me from using this surface for that reason, but done properly it feels just fine on the feet. Because we have snakes and spiders I usually wear garden clogs when I am out there working though. Stones are more in a range from a quarter inch to inch an a half. There is no epoxy, the process is this:. Concrete, at least two inches, is poured over your existing surface. Then pebbles are dumped in it and mixed with big spreaders (squeegee looking things) until they are pretty evenly distributed. Then they kind of disappear. Within eight hours (I may have that wrong, mind, my memory...) someone comes back with a pressure washer and "knocks down" the top crust of the drying concrete to expose the aggregate just under the surface. Then it just all dries in place. They come back and make construction cuts for expansion after it is all hardened. I'll be honest---The draining concrete slurry off this project is a huge mess, it has to go somewhere and if it gets out in the yard and solidifies you'll have little chunks of porous concrete everywhere, so you have to further denature that liquid concrete by watering it down even more wherever the slurry ends up. A lot of it went down our existing drains and caused damage that then had to be repaired (see above). However, the contractor who did this job was a complete idiot (in addition to some things he did wrong and underestimated, he knocked down one of the brick pillars on our bridge because his truck / trailer combination was too long to make the turn off the bridge to continue on the drive and it was perfectly obvious that would happen to anyone observing the truck and turn radius with the most rudimentary knowledge of physics and geometry, not from books but just from being alive) and I would hope your contractor in Fla would be much better at this!...See MoreManaging Wooded Backyard
Comments (55)romeisburning 16 years ago (I was 57 then) I purchased a home in a retirement community - I KNOW I KNOW but it is lovely. The property had some crepe myrtle, some overgrown evergreen shrubs. I got rid of those overgrowns. Hard work but rewarding. Patience can be your best friend. I really do love the idea of a boardwalk path. You just blow or sweep the leaves off onto your plants and it is free food for them. I saw a picture not too long go of Annabelle hydrangea in a woodland area - beautiful -- I would stick with your landscaping friend. On this property, there was a beautiful rhododendron just outside my sunroom - I had trees removed and you know what happened to that rhodo? big mistake. Now I have two rhodos under the 8 long needled pines and they are very happy there. Deer - oh yes they usually leave rhodos alone but they ate the BUDS. Grass in the pine barons is possible.. Just some advice. I paid lawn service to help me with my grass - feeding the grass just made happier weeds in the grass. So much for that. I told myself I can learn how to combat my grass problems - and here goes, Had great success with fertilizer coated grass seeds - then covered the seeds with a little topping of compost with manure on the seeds - and watered between rains -.came up in one week and still going strong.. Also compost all your new plantings you will be amazed at the results. I would forgo any hosta because the deer love them. But check with your friend he/she would know. Oh yes on youtube ther is a great deer inhibiter - fishing line on small posts surrounding your garden attached to empty cat food cans on top of a bucket. When the deer trip the line the can fall off the bucket with a racket and scare the deer off. Check that one out - I am trying it - saves money for more plants and is harmless to deer. Good luck. When I learn how to upload a picture I will upload one....See MoreB T
3 years agoB T
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoB T
3 years agoAddison in VT z4a
3 years ago
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