Small yards anyone?

[boysrus]

We have talked abou small houses here, how about small yards?
the house we are moving into is on .13 acre!! It is in an old established neighborhood. The backyard is narrow and deep, and fenced.
It seems most people pine for a big yard, but I am looking forward to easy to maintain spaces. We have a hottub inthe backyard, and a small patio. There is a small shed attached to the garage that I will turn into a victorian potting shed, and we are going to add a covered porch to the front of that, complete with rocking chairs. Also, we are going to have a vegetable garden, fort for the boys, playscape, big sandbox, and some trees and bushes.
Anyone else have a small yard and big ideas?

[MamaBug]

I have a rather large yard and it is on the side. I would love a small yard, with just enough space for a swing set, garden, tree house and a deck. I think that smaller yard with wonderful flowers around the edges look so homey and sweet. I love the idea for your Victorian Potting shed. We would like to fence our yard but right now it is too much $$ because it is SO big.

What we plan to do once we do fence it, probably next year, is to buy Christmas trees with roots and them each spring plant them around the border of the yard so that we have that wonderful reminder to look at. I also want to get a tree for each boy to plant, we wanted to do this when we moved in 4 years ago but somehow that got pushed to the side. I also want to have a cutting garden and plant the flower from each of our birth months. Mine and youngest have lily of the valley and oldest ds is roses which we have already started. Need to find out what dh is, he is an august baby. That is basically it for now, oh yeah I also want a trellis in the front of the house with a little gate just like in the movie, it's a wonderful life! Yes I am Queen of the Saps!

[boysrus]

Yes, we are doing a picket fence with an arbor in the front yard, with a double swiniging saloon style gate. With lots of flowers on the arbor. Also, we are planning on turning the front yard over to all plants and flowers, no grass

[Gidget]

I am interested too. We moved last year and got a new house witha small yard last month(does not even measure in acreage). We have had a garden every year these last few years and we are trying to figure out where to put it where

1. The kids don't ruin it.
2. The dog does not trample it, and
3. The neighbors do not steal our food.

I'm all eyes!

[USAmma]

I wish I had a smaller yard. We bought this house on a larger lot (well by neighborhood standards) and it's been a headache to maintain it. It's only half landscaped b/c we have not found enough money to do the other half yet, there are so many weeds and anthills and stickers.

[reeseccup]

NOPE, I'll deal with an itty bitty house as long as I can have a big yard/ lots of land.

[PikkuMyy]

We have an itty-bitty house with an itty-bitty yard. in 2003, we did a bunch of planting but last year, we let the Calalillies and Sourgrass take over. This year, though...I'm really getting out my green thumb. I swear!

[FoxintheSnow]

The house we are moving into (renting family housing from the school) has a small yard with a wood privacy fence. Im pretty happy that it is small because it will be easier to contain my toddler and take care of. Just out of curiosity what is a victorian potting shed?

[boingo82]

Our yard is +/- 800 sq. ft., about 200 of which is taken up by patio and another 150 of which is taken up by sidewalk. Then there is another 60+ square feet with the shed on it.
We aren't doing grass right now because I think it's dumb to have a mower for <400 sq feet of grass.
We are trying walk-able drought tolerant evergreen ground covers like the ones at www.stepables.com except WAY cheaper. A lot of sedums and we have some wooly thyme too. Unfortunately w/out grass and without the groundcovers propogated yet it's hard to keep weeds in check. Also we have had problems where year 1, my sedum anglicum went CRAZY, grew everywhere, was BEAUTIFUL, then year 2, it all suddenly just *broke off* like the roots were gone and DIED. WHAT HAPPENED? I have no idea.
So yes, small yard here.

[boysrus]

okay, i saw the stepables the other day. They look awesome and I would LOVE to know how to do them cheaper. Hints please!!
A victorian potting shed is a potting shed that is decorated in Victorian style
A potting shed goes beyond the usual shed, and has a sink, work benches, places to sit, etc.It has a nice door and a window. and then, you can make it pretty inside. With lots of storage places.
I actually want to do the inside of with Beatrix Potter artwork. And I want to put up a Dutch Door, so I can shut the bottom to keep the dogs out, but let the nice air in. I want to have it nice enough that the boys can sleep out there in the summer

[melissa17s]

What is a stepable? We have a small yard too. 5000 sq ft. We have a small fenced in section that ds plays in. When we bought the house, their was no grass except the strips near the road that the city requires be maintained with grass. We have had to work slowly at clearing out the jungle and figuring out which plants are wanted and unwanted. We put some grass in ds's play area and have used recycled bricks to make a little patio. My parents think we need a bigger yard, but I find the current one requires alot of maintenance. I have had a garden each summer, and last year I made my garden beds smaller and raised. Ds wants a swing and slide (someday). Luckily, we live 5 blocks from a huge city park, and we go there if we need to run and climb.

[boysrus]

Stepables is a brand that makes plants that can stand foot traffic, to replace grass

[boingo82]

Originally Posted by boysrus

okay, i saw the stepables the other day. They look awesome and I would LOVE to know how to do them cheaper. Hints please!!..

I just used their search to figure out which plants would work for my area and my needs...then wrote 'em down and looked for them at local stores. NO WAY am I spending $30 or whatever it is stepables charges for a 6-pack.

[root*children]

We live in our mountain paradise now, but a couple years ago we lived in Richmond, VA. Right smack in downtown, in this 1930's rowhouse, with a teeny tiny yard. We had practically no front yard, b/c there was already a huge bush that overtook it. The back yard was the bigger part, maybe 20 ft x 40 ft.? There was a tree, and we built a nice lil' sandbox under that with a slide going into it. We had a compost pile in the back corner near the alley.

I tried doing gardens, but the dogs and kids would not permit it. So we lived nextdoor to 2 houses that had been converted to apartments. So their backyard was just a gravel parking lot with a strip of dirt along the fence line (next to our property). Anyhow, they could have cared less about it, and at one time I think it had flowers in it (probably 10 years earlier). so they let me garden in there. It was close enough that I could tend to it, but my dogs couldn't get it, and my kids could only go over if I was with them.

Another plus about a little yard, is you can easily use those old-fashioned push mowers. I couldn't believe the people who wanted to show off their money and actually bought ride-on mowers for those little bity yards!!

[Past_VNE]

I win! I win! I win!

Oh wait. This isn't a contest. :LOL:

Seriously, though. We are closing on our new home next week...a 1922 row house in Bethlehem, PA. The front patch is about 4 feet square and is surrounded by porch, steps, sidewalk and alley. The backyard is fenced and is approximately 15 x 20 feet. 300 square feet on the north side of the house. HA! Why bother?

And I want a garden.

[Silliest]

I love the stepables site, but it's more like an index <LOL!>

It lets me look up appropriate plants to get some ideas, but OMG, the prices!

When I lived in New Zealand, I used to offer to "weed" the neighbors' yards, and carefully dig up the useful groundcovers for transplanting to my own yard <grin> I managed to get the front grass mostly replaced a bit at a time before we moved, and the backyard was mostly patio and veggie garden, so it was nice.

Now I'm back in Texas, and the yards we're looking at seem so tiny and useless in the back, and big and useless in the front <LOL!>

We're almost certainly going to end up with "small", but we have big plans!

We want to do a fence around the front (up to the city easment anyway) with an arbor over the front walk, and possibly some "trellis walls" with "window spaces" so we can see out, but have an enclosed/private feel to it. Definitely no grass, anywhere. I'm allergic to so many lawn grasses, it's not even worth it, and I refuse to own a lawnmower.

Out back, we want a playhouse/climbing structure for the girls, and veggies everywhere.

[Linda KS]

We just sold and moved out of a big house with a big yard and are moving into a medium sized house with a small yard. We are so excited. It will all take up so much less time!

[Marlaina]

I also have a TINY backyard.... It's actually more like a courtyard... LOL! We live in Charleston, SC in a historic townhouse. I have managed to do a lot of container planting and most of my herb garden is in containers. I also have tomato plants and a few other huge containers of various "stuff". I also manage to have a composter, a grill, a smoker, and a table and chairs outside. BUT, it's crowded... LOL!

[kerc]

i have a reasonably small yard. Probably very small by today's standards. My neighbor has a double garage, I have a single garage and a raised bed garden. Several thoughts on gardening...

you can grow lots of edibles in pots. Herbs usually do well, tomatoes, cucumbers, etc.

if you don't have room check with your county's extension service. We have several places in town that you can get a plot on public land that you rent for pennies and they till it each year. There are hassles involved sometimes, but it is an option.

keeping kids out...why not invite them in? give them a designated spot where you can plant easy stuff - sunflowers and peas come to mind. Put the sandbox nearby so the digging you're doing they can mimic.


LOVE the planting shed idea. I'm dreaming of a swingset for my little monkey. Someday...

[ekblad9]

We have a teeny, tiny side yard. I'm struggling with trying to figure out what to do with it. We just planted a "butterfly garden" near the front and I bought a few veggies to plant somewhere. Just don't know where yet. We had a huge backyard at our old house and I really miss it alot.