Hi All! I'm new here and hope you can help
We've moved to a new home (town home that is) and I am DYING to start planing and planning (I'm also getting tired of the snow, not quite but I'm ready to be out in my new garden). Here's a little history: for the past three years I've had a container garden (mostly tropicals, although I live in Z5, but am closer to the mountains so it may be more of a 4) I want to have a veggie or flower garden but I'm not sure what to plant. Our "yard" is 7 ft by 12 ft, with a 6x6 cement pad when you step out the patio door. To the right of the patio door is an unsightly ac unit.
The front of our house faces West and the back is East. Since it is winter I'm not sure how much sun the back recieves. I've peeked over the neighbors fences (I can actually look out the bedroom window and see what is in their yard ) I've looked on google maps, and the picture looks like our yard has lots of sun during the summer, but what does one picture tell you?! Our townhome is 2 stories tall, as are the houses around us. There are about 20 feet between the homes.
Currently we recieve about 3-4 hours of sun in the early-mid morning.
I'd be more than happy to post a picture. Can anyone suggest some great plants? PS I have a pooch and a kiddo so they need to have a small area...
Rachael
Hi Rachael,
Welcome to The Helpful Gardener and congratulations on your new home! Sounds like your yard is very small if I'm understanding you. Basically you have an area 7' by 12' for planting and a lawn, and it faces east so it only gets morning sun. The sun is lower in the sky right now, so you may find a bit more sun as the summer comes along since the sun will be higher in the sky. That would probably be part sun conditions as full sun is 6 hours or more. There are some veggies that will tolerate those conditions.
Your front yard will be getting the full sun, especially in the summer.
With a small garden I have found that most of the plants I put in my yard have to earn their keep. They either need to have more then one season of interest, or have what I call good garden manners - not seeding or spreading all over the garden.
Another trick to extend the amount of plants in a small garden is to have plants grow on a trellis or fence. You might want to check with your neighbors on that as they might not want anything that will hang over a fence into their garden. Still, there are perennial vines that will grow up a trellis attached to your fence and not take over the world. Many Clematis vines usually grow to about 12' and can easily be kept on a trellis.
You might want to include some plants or shrubs that are evergreen for some winter interest. There are dwarf varieties of many shrubs that will give you some structure in the garden in the winter.
You can [url=https://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/rm_electric_a_conditioning/article/0,1797,HGTV_3692_1374605,00.html]make a cover for your air conditioner[/url] so it won't be so much 'in your face'.
[url=https://www.bhg.com/home-improvement/outdoor/installation/build-a-garden-screen/]How to build a garden screen[/url].
You need to be sure of your hardiness zone for plant selection.
Once you are certain of your hardiness zone it would be wonderful if you could post a link to some photos. I would also suggest you look at books about small gardens. There are many in the library. This site has [url=https://www.stadlergardencenters.com/journals/journal.php?article=30]info on small gardens[/url] but I'm thinking some of the plant material might not be hardy in your zone.
Newt
Welcome to The Helpful Gardener and congratulations on your new home! Sounds like your yard is very small if I'm understanding you. Basically you have an area 7' by 12' for planting and a lawn, and it faces east so it only gets morning sun. The sun is lower in the sky right now, so you may find a bit more sun as the summer comes along since the sun will be higher in the sky. That would probably be part sun conditions as full sun is 6 hours or more. There are some veggies that will tolerate those conditions.
Your front yard will be getting the full sun, especially in the summer.
With a small garden I have found that most of the plants I put in my yard have to earn their keep. They either need to have more then one season of interest, or have what I call good garden manners - not seeding or spreading all over the garden.
Another trick to extend the amount of plants in a small garden is to have plants grow on a trellis or fence. You might want to check with your neighbors on that as they might not want anything that will hang over a fence into their garden. Still, there are perennial vines that will grow up a trellis attached to your fence and not take over the world. Many Clematis vines usually grow to about 12' and can easily be kept on a trellis.
You might want to include some plants or shrubs that are evergreen for some winter interest. There are dwarf varieties of many shrubs that will give you some structure in the garden in the winter.
You can [url=https://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/rm_electric_a_conditioning/article/0,1797,HGTV_3692_1374605,00.html]make a cover for your air conditioner[/url] so it won't be so much 'in your face'.
[url=https://www.bhg.com/home-improvement/outdoor/installation/build-a-garden-screen/]How to build a garden screen[/url].
You need to be sure of your hardiness zone for plant selection.
Once you are certain of your hardiness zone it would be wonderful if you could post a link to some photos. I would also suggest you look at books about small gardens. There are many in the library. This site has [url=https://www.stadlergardencenters.com/journals/journal.php?article=30]info on small gardens[/url] but I'm thinking some of the plant material might not be hardy in your zone.
Newt
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