Help with late summer garden planning?

[kittywitty]

We will finally be moving in to our new house in about a week. Our yard is not big. The lot is 200' x 64' and about half that for yard. The house is east facing, and there are few places for full sun. There are tons of ornamental trees in the back yard and a few overrun bushes and dead trees we will need removed, too. I plan on doing a SFG/Lasagna mix on the south side of the house with raised beds to keep my dog out. We are in zone 5/6-right on the border.

So here are my questions:

Is it too late to plant potatoes? I have sprouted Desiree seed potatoes I forgot to plant in our container garden.

Should I wait to plant fruit trees-peach, apple, and cherry, until fall or can I plant them soon?

Can a chicken coop and run go under trees and fruit trees? Our yard is very very shady.

Will my blueberry (didn't flower or bear this year-my first to have them) and strawberry container plants be ok to plant in the ground, or should I keep them in containers or wait until next spring?

When is a good time to plant blackberries, currants, gooseberries, raspberries, etc.?

Can I use bricks to make raised beds? We will be pulling up a brick pathway that cuts diagonally through the yard for some reason. Any other things I can do with them?

Anyone know a good way to calculate how much it will cost to put in a fence? The 8' picket panels are $22 each without posts, but we've never put a fence up before.

I'll probably have more questions, but this is our first real yard of our own, so I'm excited! :

[tuansprincess]

Ok, I only have thoughts on a few questions. This is only my second year gardening!

My dad brought me some of his volunteer thornless raspberry canes in June of last year I believe and it looks like we will get some berries this year!

I used old brickes to make my free garden border. I dug down to make them flush with the ground so that we could mow right up to the edge (we don't have a weed eater - wait that would be my job! )

I'm : for info on fruit trees as I want some very badly too!

ETA: we are in Zone 5/6

[Greenmama2AJ]

Is it too late to plant potatoes? I have sprouted Desiree seed potatoes I forgot to plant in our container garden.
It's not too late for potatoes. If you're really worried, try container planting the potatoes, see the thread on here.

Should I wait to plant fruit trees-peach, apple, and cherry, until fall or can I plant them soon?
you can plant fruit trees in late summer. Its warm enough to help them repair from any stress of the planting, they might even generate some late new growth. I live in a warmer climate and we plant fruit trees throughout the year.

Can a chicken coop and run go under trees and fruit trees? Our yard is very very shady. This is the best place for a chicken coop! In my chicken run there are two apples, an orange, a lemon, a banana and fig (told you I was in a warmer climate, lol) a passionfruit vine and a wild sweet potato vine. I also have a lot of native bushes towards the end. Chickens wont dig up established trees. To protect new plants (like the banana that I just planted a few months ago) I just make a 1m high cage out of chicken wire and posts until they are established, even then, my chickens broke into the cage to steal some peas growing in the mulch and they didn't even look twice at eating the leaves.

Will my blueberry (didn't flower or bear this year-my first to have them) and strawberry container plants be ok to plant in the ground, or should I keep them in containers or wait until next spring? When is a good time to plant blackberries, currants, gooseberries, raspberries, etc.? I'm not sure for your climate. I always grow blueberries and strawberries in hanging baskets though - no slugs or pests to eat them and no mould issues caused by fruit on the ground

Can I use bricks to make raised beds? We will be pulling up a brick pathway that cuts diagonally through the yard for some reason. Any other things I can do with them? Sure you can

Good luck!

[kittywitty]

Thanks you two! And Mel, I am dying in jealousy of your fruit trees!