ashleyannphotography.com » Under the Sycamore

the chronic utilitarian - that ‘before’ photo will be your review mirror.
keep it close to your home for easy watering and gathering.

my garden is the second one that i have overhauled. thirty-six tons of rock, twelve tons of dirt later, it is starting to look how i saw it in my head. my wheelbarrow has said no more.

before:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dawnhouser/sets/72157615857571787/

after:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dawnhouser/sets/72157622388186322/

the first thing i did was put a coop behind the garage. you will love your chickens!

happy spring to you and yours.

Allison - If you find someone to just do it all for you….send them my way when they are done! I have the same dreams, but like you, have no plan. I don’t have any idea on even where to start. ill be looking forward to watching your progress!

Jess Z. - You can also search for garden plans, which I’m sure you’ve done though. There are many you can find…again, bhg.com helped me with this.

natalie - hey, lady! we live fairly close & my husband worked in oklahoma for over a year so i am fairly familiar with what you’re dealing with. whatever you do, make sure you tackle the bermuda grass. it will ruin all plans when, instead of planting beautiful flowers & shrubs, your pulling back weeds all summer. also, considering the lack of rain & extreme heat during the summer, i would recommend native perennials for your backyard! they always go on sale during the fall black eyed susans, cone flowers, etc… these plants are also a great buy because each year they grow larger each year. you can dig up parts of the plant & plant them in another part of your yard! i hope that helps

Necole @seriouslysassymama - We rent so o big fancy gardens. We have our small vegetable garden which we are working on. I am going to plant a few vines probably a honeysuckle because it reminds me of when I was a kid. Then just pots and pots of flowers. I will have mini gardens everywhere.

Lacy - Don’t you just miss Cottage Living magazine? I recognize several of your issues pictured from my own secret stash. I still remember when they folded and I got my last issue! Good luck with your garden; you have a greener thumb than I.

Debbie C - Hi Ashley, this all sounds so exciting! A lot of work, but so worth it. I don’t know much about gardening, but I used to work with someone whose wife’s job was to teach kids about it. He said it’s always a good idea to have the soil tested for toxins before planting edible things. I think you can order a kit and do it yourself? If the soil does have toxins, you can use landscaping fabric under the new soil of your raised beds to keep them out.

Jurga - Ashley, I just wanted to let you know that I have been getting “There was an error submitting your comment. Please try again.” whenever I try to comment. I may not be the only one.

Have a lovely day!

LeighP - Dream big but start small. We added a flowerbed to the front facade of our house. We did it in two phases over three summers. I poured over magazines, Sunset.com and BHG.com for ideas. Definitely take advantage of perennial plant sales at the end of the season. We too mixed edible (peach tree, apple trees, lemon grass, thyme, mint) in with a more traditional flower garden. Keep in mind full mature plant size so you don’t plant them too close together; shorter plants in front and mix in some non-flowering plants too. The great thing about cottage gardens is that it’s pretty hard to go wrong. Have fun digging!

Mackenzie - +1 for Gaia’s Garden! It’s a great book. The cover is a picture of Will Hooker’s yard – a professor at NC State University who focuses on Permaculture. His website has distance education videos of his lectures: http://610kirby-permaculture.org/610kirby-permaculture.org/Welcome.html

For more permaculture check out Introduction to Permaculture by Bill Mollison

Steph - My tip – get a toddler/baby carrier for LO . Boba is my favorite, easy in and out and not sweaty or heavy.

mandi@herbanhomestead - Oh, I’m excited! I so wish I could come help you, because starting from ground zero is just one of my favorite things. The husbands could talk ministry while we dig! Ha! So my advice is this- start small. It’s great to have a master plan of where you want to get, but start with what is manageable and move from there. I add a new raised bed or two every year. That helps me maintain what I have and not feel overwhelmed. As far as plants go- native plants are the best bet. They would attract all of the birds and insects your little naturalist could ever hope for! Also- have you considered planting a meadow? That is my dream one day to do! Just scatter wild flower seeds all over the field and you will have a wild scape! So wonderful! Email if you have any questions. I would love to help out if I can. I’ve had backyard chickens for 5 years now and know a lot about that and bunnies. And we’re adding bees and a goat soon. I’d love to help!

Katherine - I’m looking forward to watching the rants formation. Excited to see what you come up with.

Seamingly Sarah - I prefer old fashioned looking flowers and plants, like hollyhocks. But I also wish I had stuck with more native plants in my first garden. I would closely at plants and what they will become after a few years (will they spread too much or not enough, do they develop hard thorny leaves – annoying to garden around and not fun for kids). Plan out your garden/space with room for all the plants to expand as they naturally do. So that means spacing things out and finding out how much each plant will expand (and allow for bigger/taller plants in the back and smaller ones in the front, a good mix of colors and different bloom times for things – maybe draw it all out on a piece of paper to consider all aspects). That being said, just do what you can and try one new thing each year until you start to feel more confident!

Fiona Alvero - Check this out! Her house has been featured fews times on Country Living. She’s got a quite stunning country farmhouse, with farm garden (plus a breathtaking overlooking view. Life sometimes is unfair, you know) and all! It’s pretty much all her and her husband’s labor so I’m confident you will do well too!

http://acountryfarmhouse.blogspot.com/

Hope this helps!

Julien - I live in an HOA in California soooooo my situation is a little different from yours BUT I love my garden! It brings me so much joy to watch it grow and change with the seasons.
My tips would be:
-Install some sort of drip irrigation system on a timer so your hard work doesn’t get destroyed if life gets a little busy one week.
-Pick things that will re-seed themselves. I have Johnny Jump ups, California Poppies, and “love in a mist” (Nigella damascena) that come back over and over again. It’s fun to see what pops up each spring.

And I would totally design and build your garden if I lived remotely close to you.

Jackie Rueda - Ashley, I can’t wait to see your garden. This reminds me of a beautiful article by Molly Ringwald in Martha Stewart Living magazine. Have you read it?
http://staging.failsafestudio.com/molly/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Essay_L0912TREAF-2.pdf

Nora - You may enjoy googling images for “chicken moat”.
We plan to fence an acre of our land, with a fence down. the middle the coop will open onto both halves; during the summer the hens will free range in the orchard half, and through the winter they will have the veg garden side.

Ellen - I am in this stage, sort of. We have an established vegetable garden, though the soil needs help, and a few other random spots, but I would like the yard to look more cohesive and pretty. I’d also like a more established herb garden. That would be very useful.

I do agree with the ‘native to your area’ suggestion. A good way to mix with reliable perennials and exciting flowers is to have spaces that are easy to seed with a whack of nasturtium seeds and that sort of thing. Tons of colour, easy upkeep, cheap.

I also have an advice question for you – I have to decide this week between a great phone with a ‘good phone camera’ (our contract is up and I could replace my very basic phone which is also our home phone) or a DSLR camera. Which would you suggest? We have a point and shoot camera which is ok, but not great and I’m torn. The phone with ‘good’camera would come everywhere with me and I’d likely take more photos in real life, but I’m also drawn to the quality of the DSLR and ready to expand my skills a bit. Only one of the two for now… what would you say?

Karen J Moseley - As I read about how you & your sister took care of your neighbors flowers/garden, I immediately thought about the book “A Secret Garden”. I think your kids would enjoy listening to you read it. : )

When I was little, I spent many summer days in Louisiana with my Granny. She also had a huge yard. Huge trees. One with a wooden swing that she’d push me in for hours…or so it seemed. She had a smallish brick pool with different types of goldfish. I loved that! But, my favorite thing was her clothes lines. She had beautiful Morning Glories climbing up both ends. Still my favorite flowers, the blue ones. And, nothing beats the smell of sheets and pillow cases hung out to dry!

There were so many different types of butterflies in her yard. When she would find a dead butterfly, she would gently carry it into her house. She had a bulletin board mounted on the inside of one of her cupboard doors and she would carefully pin those butterflies up there to dry out. She made very beautiful art with them. She put them on different colors of velvet fabrics, along with dried flowers and then frame them in picture frames. I used to sit on the counter and stare at those dead butterflies and to be honest, though it was very odd. But, now I can see how she captured much beauty in her work.

Looking forward to seeing your Secret Garden! Hugs ~ Jo

Jack - I’m always amazed by the sheer amount of space that American’s seem to have surrounding their properties! Your garden is HUGE compared to our tiny little postage stamp gardens here in England. Your kids must just love all that freedom to run around.

Katie - oh! and Craig’s List: people are always giving away plants or selling them for cheap on there.

Tonpia - Would the chicken predators eat all of your garden edibles? I’d love to have a garden like that but the deer around here would destroy it. Does anyone have any help for natural critter deterrents?

beth marie - i’m positive you’ve been to woodward park before. have you ever went over and looked around in the linaeus teaching gardens and barn on the far s. east side of the park. i don’t really know if this is what you have in mind, but i am always so inspired by that space. they have a little vegetable and herb garden that make me think of what you are talking about. it would be good visual inspiration i’m sure.

Shannon - Hello!
We have a fairly large backyard for Vegas standards, and we did almost all of it ourselves. So I wouldn’t get overwhelmed at the lot of dirt we purchased, the first thing I did was to draw out a tentative sketch of our overall plan, with paths, areas of plants, patios, etc. Next I planted the trees so they could get a head start. Then the best thing I did was to start on the left side of the yard and work toward the right. It was too overwhelming to tackle the whole yard at once, but starting on once side focused me on one spot, and I made adjustments as I made my way to the opposite side of the yard. The whole thing took a year or more, but it ended up great!

Stacey Ball - I come offering no plant advice, I kill every plant I touch. HOWEVER, I seriously have jumping on a train on my “bucket list” so if you ever need a buddy on your picnic you just let me know.

Tina - You have to check out Houzz if you haven’t already.

http://www.houzz.com/potager-garden

You can search for anything you want…I searched Potager Gardens for you and waalah…58,000+ photos appeared. You can save these into your own ideabook, ask questions of experts, and find local help in your area! Everything you need…at your finger tips! Largest home remodeling site on the move…and my daughter works for them so I know they are a great company created by a couple whom themselves posed question just like yours at one time when they were trying to remodel and then decided to create a site for folks {like you} to get information! Really, try it! You’ll be hooked and you won’t need those Cottage Living magazines anymore (those I still like the real thing too so maybe you will!)

Tina Pelletier - And awesome articles!

http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/1781658/list/Chicken-Coops-That-Rule-the-Roost

Okay…hope I’ve sold you now! Your website is beautiful, your photos are beautiful, your children are beautiful…you are inspiring and I so look forward to your blog posts! Just saying! Just hoping maybe I can inspire YOU a bit as you give so much to others!

annie Page - The best advice is to be patient – plants take time to grow, much like families. You are better off with little plants and allowing them to grow into your space, vs. trying to make your garden exactly the way you want it now. It’s expensive and chances are you’ll want to tweak along the way. Every year I add a couple of plants, move and divide some and eventually, when I’m old and gray it will be exactly the way I want it, for now it’s just perfectly growing.

Jacci in Ohio - Okay… Well… I’m probably just repeating everyone, but I can’t go through all the wonderful comments left by others tonight… I’m going to offer my 2 cents as a mama of five, like you. First things first – you want to mess with your soil a TON. Till it, deep… And amend, amend, amend with organic matter. It seems so unrewarding to deal with the dirt for so long, but it’s pretty foundational. Test your soil or have it tested. You’ll want to know acidity & nutrient levels as well as what kind of drainage you’re working with. Good soil = strong, healthy plants = less time and stress from pest & disease problems.

Also, I know you’ll choose your plants carefully for the sun & water conditions you want… But I’d also recommend trying hard to keep a high percentage of your plants to those that are native to your area AND drought resistant. There are some super easy care native plants here & I can’t imagine it would be much different there. I use native grasses for height & movement… They take almost nothing from me. As a mama, you want a lot of plants that are low care or no care.

This is making me eager for spring! maybe I should just drive over for coffee and a jump on the trampoline & we’ll chat in person

Irene - Since i know you like books with pictures, have a look at this one ) http://www.amazon.com/New-Self-Sufficient-Gardener-John-Seymour/dp/0756628989/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1364452213&sr=1-3&keywords=John+seymour

Crystal - I love gardening and when we started with our first house I knew nothing. The beauty of gardening is that it’s not really permanent. If you don’t love it, you can move it, or rip it out and compost it.

1. Ditto the comments about native plants. Find a good local nursery, they’ll help you tons. Ask for plants that bloom for a long time and are hard to kill.

2. Plant the “structure” of your garden with trees and flowering shrubs. They usually fill out quickly, add scale, and if native, should be easy. Look for shrubs that that will mature to right size so you won’t have to prune them. Don’t forget some evergreens.

3. My favorite flowers are easy ones. Purple coneflower, coreopsis, lambs ear, catmint, peonies, knock-out roses, daffodils (by the thousands!) hostas, perennial geranium etc. Do you have deer? Don’t plant it if the deer eat it. You won’t win.

4. While you’re waiting for perennials and shrubs to mature, fill-in with zinnias and cosmos for tons of color.

5. Sometimes mistakes are the most beautiful things. Enjoy!

Tina - Have you contacted your local Extension agent? There should be an office nearby. You can probably also get on Ok Sate’s website to find one in your area. They are experts at what grows in your area!

Karen - Make sure that you prepare the top of your chicken coop for invaders as well as the bottom. We came home one day to find that the raccoons had eaten through the top and killed all our chickens.

Also leave spaces for future endeavors. We did not and had to take out fruit trees to make way for a outdoor pizza oven and remove a section of concrete when we added a vineyard for wine grapes along the back of the garden lol

Carrie Anne - I moved from the city to a farm about 5 years ago. I think not being afraid to try things and being easy on yourself when something didn’t really go as planned (aka- my goat milking season…oh so hard).

As far as plants, we have really different climates, but my one advice is if you are planting herbs, put them close to your house if you can. There is nothing worse than having to trek out (or send someone out) when you need something for cooking. I just replanted all of mine in a bed just outside our house and put some in pots.

I don’t know what vegetables you like, but I find kale, beets, and carrots in loose soil pretty easy to grow. Potatoes are really fun too for kids because of all the hunting for them.

I can’t wait to see the transformation! Enjoy it.

the inadvertent farmer - Hey Ashley, here is my bit of advice on gardening. Grow what you love…sounds simple but start with what your family loves to eat and the flowers they adore. It is much easier to tend a garden when it overflows with what you find delicious and lovely! Raised beds rock for simplicity and ease of use. Start small, hard for someone with your personality I know but if you start too large you might get discouraged. Give each kiddo their own garden area to tend, you can never start too young with the love of real food grown at home. Make if fun (remember the KinderGarden series?) try a bean teepee, sunflower house, tunnel…or a maze!

Here are couple links to the winners you chose for KinderGardens

http://faithbuss.blogspot.com/2010/09/kinder-gardens-entry-week-24-wrap-up.html

http://sippinlemonade.blogspot.com/2010/09/kindergardens-week-24-re-cap.html

We garden in a big field too and frankly it was overwhelming but we have expanded and improved every year, have a master plan and slower implement it…and don’t for get to have fun, to stop and smell the roses…and eat the tomatoes!!! Kim

Sarah J. - i’m no garden expert. in fact, we bought our house a year ago and i’m in the process of trying to do something with our little yard. but i live right next door to a botanist and his green thumbed wife. they share many tips and she is adamant that gardening is not as stressful as people make it. she is always moving plants around and planting something new where something else died, and she thinks nothing of those plants that croaked. so give it time and don’t think that if things die you’re doing wrong. a garden is ever changing!