landscaping work so far. some new photos

[tomf]

We moved into our new home 4 years ago and have been working to get it in shape.
The past owner was a bit of a red neck in that he let all but 2 acres go and dumped junk in places. I have one more dump to clean up and it is not be that big of a job.

For the most part after you got away from the house and into the woods they were in bigger trees and in good shape. There are still a few black berry and thicket patches here and there to be cleaned up. The land just past the 2 kept up acres was a mess; you could not even walk through most of it. I am making good progress but it has been a lot of work. I have been putting roads and trails through the property. I still have to put roads through most of it yet. I want to put a small bridge across the creek when I get a road to it, the creek is a long way from the house so it my take another year.



The rhododendron garden was a thicket full of brush and black berries and is now in its 3rd year. I got most of the rhododendrons from a local farm for a very good price and I will be adding more this fall.

The tractor has been the best yard tool; with out it I could never do this work.

The photos are only a small portion of the yard and I have yet to even walk on some of it.


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[rainbowgardener]

Wow! Wow! gorgeous! And you actually get to live there? You could make a little money on the side giving tours....

[Morningstarlet]

Wow! Wow! gorgeous! And you actually get to live there? You could make a little money on the side giving tours....

I agree, that is just stunning!

[tomf]

Thank you, I have been putting a lot of love and work in to it.
As time goes by things will get nicer as the become more established.
I went for a walk and here are some more photos.

This is one of the roads I made last year at the bottom is a new road I just finished.

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A more established road I made 3 years ago.

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One of this summers new roads.



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An open spot at the end of that road, I will grass this in.

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Another meadow not shown in the last photos, I want to put a kind of small hut to camp in at the end of this meadow as there is a view of a small valley I own full of big trees and ferns.

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Road in some woods near the house.


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I am putting benches to sit on on the trails and roads, a friend gave me a flatbed worth of glue lams I am using for things like this.

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More trails.

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Another view of one of the lawns.

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Some more glue lam stuff, a picnic table and benches with a bench in the back ground.

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I am putting art and interesting things around in places so there are things to look at. This is my first chain saw carving I did it the other day.

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I put some more ferns around this hay hook so as you see from the photo of it above I am working at it. I got the ferns from the roads I am making.



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Another view of a lawn on the other side of the trees is another lawn surrounded with rodies .

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My wife planted the flowers.

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The vegetable garden.

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The berry garden.

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This is the first year for the vegetable and berry gardens, I put in a drip system and valves so I can water what I need to. I had to put up quite a fence to keep the animals out and on the berry garden I made it a cage to keep out the birds.

[tomf]

I am working on the house inside and out as well as putting up some out buildings. This is a Photoshop image of what the house may look like. I am thinking of putting an out door kitchen on the side just to the left. The part of the house behind the deck runs the the length of the 2 floored side.
I may put stone on the house wall around the deck, what do you think about that? I am still thinking of what landscaping to do around the deck that will be an out door room, do you have any ideas or things I could look at for this project?

The house was an orphanage of sorts and has 7 bed rooms and is 4600 sq', so I have a bit of work on it also. It is a good thing I am enjoy fixing this place up or I would be over whelmed with the job.

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[GeorgiaGirl]

*sigh* Just amazing... You're living on my dream property... love what all you've done with it so far! Thanks so much for taking time to share all these great photos; you're giving me a ton of ideas for my own little acre!

[tomf]

Thank you GeorgiaGirl, it must be a good place to garden in Georgia as the summers are long and it does not get to cold.

Here are some flowers from the flowers around the gardens.


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[tomf]

This is the deck that is going to get a roof over it and become an out door room, I want to spill the indoors into the out doors. The first view is what is there now and the second view is an idea I have for the area in front of the deck.I was thinking of making the top of the wall a flower planter or a waterfall. I may just extend the deck and put a border of hedges along the edge of it. Any ideas or comments would be appreciated.

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[tomf]

One of the plant eatters.

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[rainbowgardener]

What you have there is the absolute dream place for a lot of us. So beautiful and goes on forever... I'm sure it could get overwhelming at times. Maybe you need to hire some help? I would bet there's several people (myself included) who would be willing to come lend you our gardening expertise and willing hands at the work for not too much more than room and board! Heck, I imagine there's people who would pay you for the privilege! (In fact that is totally possible, if you would hire one person with the credentials to be a permaculture expert, then people would pay you to come work for the summer under the guise of an internship to learn how to do all the things you need doing.)

In the meantime re what to have near your deck, definitely a water feature. The only thing that could possibly add to what you have is the sound of running water. And a fire pit of some kind, so you can have outdoor fires. My little patio, I have both and there is something so primal about sitting outdoors with trees around you, with a fire and the sound of running water.... I can almost forget that I am four miles from downtown instead of some place like yours.....

[tomf]

Thank you rainbowgardener, we love living out in the country.

I like the idea of a water fall or some thing, the sound of water is nice and it brings in lots more birds. We have a creek but it is a long way from the house and I do not have a road to it yet, I do have a hiking trail to it.

[taylor910]

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What kind of flowers are these? They are beautiful!!

[tomf]

They are Rhododendrons, they flower in the spring. I have been planting quite a few of them and will plant more.

[a0c8c]

Ah, you are lucky. My wife and I want a nice country home, but here in Texas we're not going to get the nice green lush place ya'll have. Maybe we should move to north Texas, lol.

[tomf]

Has it been very dry in Texas this summer?