Around the first part of July, my DH shocked me by saying that he was finally tired of renting and that we should start looking for a place to buy. Long story short... after several deals falling through, we are having a house built. It should be done in mid December, so I can't start working on ammending my garden until then, but I'm still getting one!It should be about 14' x 20'... wish me luck!

How wonderful!!! All the very best of luck to you!!!

Yay, Tammy. Can I send you some flower seeds to help you decorate it?

Maggie

If you go ahead and plant bulbs they will be ready for you in the spring.

I think you have to wait a year for the final grade inspection - give the soil a chance to settle after the lawn guys have been by. I had to wait. Dammit.

Congrats on the new house, LFGMO! Welcome to Club Owe, Gee!

Congratulations, Tammy! Can't call you 'longing' for much longer!

Maybe you can make a small lasagna style bed to get you started.

Congratulations!

If I had it all to do over again, I'd spend a year working on the soil before I plant anything.

quote:

Originally posted by Suasoria:
Congratulations!

If I had it all to do over again, I'd spend a year working on the soil before I plant anything.

That's what we did too and we were also able to see the patterns the sun made all year long too. But I also know how hard it was to hold off that first year.

Well actually, it was only half a year because we moved into our place in the summer and we figured the fall sun patterns would be about the same as the spring ones.

Anyway, congratulations on getting a place of your own. Will you be changing your screen name now?

Thanks for all your responses!

Maggie, that sound's great... the property is an area that long ago was a river bed then it turned into a semi-desert area... my basic zone is 7, but I'm not sure about the micro-climate there. My email address is:
davidsons-cnr@clearwire.net
thank you for the offer of seeds!

mgulfgcoastguy - I've got some salmon colored gladiolas in a terra cotta pot that need dividing... hmmm...

Elfie - "final grade inspection"... what's that? I don't mean to sound illiterate, but this is all new to me. The builder is putting in sod (not my favorite, but he's a little picky about making the yard look finished). He is going to let us landscape the front & he is leaving a garden area in back.

Organicbaby & Major - I've been thinking about that (changing my screen name) but so far I don't have any great ideas.

wasrabbity - I like the lasagna garden idea

Sausoria & Major - since this is a semi-desert area, I think I may have to work on the soil for a while but for next summer, we are talking about at least doing a couple of hanging tomato plants like I've seen somewhere on this forum.

The plans put the front of the house facing East on a 62' wide by 80' deep lot with about 20' in front and 20' in back for yard. We want to put low maintanace landscaping in front with a rock waterfall & small pond (this is the part the builder is letting us do ourselves). The back yard will have a 6' cedar fence, sod in the middle, and landscaping with all the watering systems in place around the edges.

Thanks again for all the encouragement

Start cruising the streets on trash day and steal all the bagged leaves. Just till them straight in the garden area or start a lasagna style bed with them.

LFGMO, as I see it, it looks like north is going to be on the right as you walk up to the house? If so, if it was my back yard, I would put my garden up against the north side fence. A couple reasons why are to get southern sun exposure to extend the seasons for you and a wind break from the cold north wind. How about " Finally got my own garden"

quote:

Elfie - "final grade inspection"... what's that? I don't mean to sound illiterate, but this is all new to me. The builder is putting in sod (not my favorite, but he's a little picky about making the yard look finished). He is going to let us landscape the front & he is leaving a garden area in back.

The following applies in an Ontario subdivision, so maybe you don't have to worry about this at all. But here it is anyway:

When a new home is built, in my area anyway, the land is for lack of a better word RAZED. The topsoil is scraped off, the foundations dug, the concrete poured, the frame erected, etc.... Big machines move the earth around, compact it, and do what big machines do to earth.

Then the landscapers come in and drop a minuscule amount of topsoil back onto the area around the house, after the heavy machinery is gone, unroll some sod on top of that, and if it's done properly, everything will be graded so that rainwater runs away from the foundations of your home.

You have to wait a year before you do anything to change that grade so the soil has a chance to settle, so the city inspectors can see that the work was done properly. It's also a good idea to wait a year in general terms because if there is a problem with the house, you don't have to cry over contractors wrecking your new garden as they dig the foundation out again and repair a crack, or something. Building defects, if they're caused by shoddy materials, generally manifest in the first couple of years. If you change the grade before that final city/town inspection, you may have to prove that the problem was, in fact, a defect, and not caused by your own hands and shovels.

In my case, my house was built in a whole new subdivision, and the builders were, kindly put, idiots. When the topsoil was dropped on our ground, it was obvious our soil had been graded too high on the foundation... and I had a flood in my cold room when the sod was finally laid down - fully covering my cold room vent, and allowing the rainstorm water to pour into the house. (Insult to injury: the water took the long way around the cold room drain and seeped under the door to the unfinished area, where it did not spread because I am a slob, and had left a pile of dirty laundry on the floor in front of that door. The cold room drain remained perfectly dry. ) This flood was not my first headache with the builder (snow blowing into the basement behind my fuse box, appliances delivered by the builder were not compatible with the outlets installed in those appliances' locations, interior door to the garage was not built into the frame, as requested and PAID FOR in the upgrade work orders... it goes ON and on...). I dug a window-well under that cold room vent, effectively changing the grade, and the site supervisor had the gall to accuse me of making more work for HIM.

You may want to document the construction of your house with photos - if only to have a record for nostalgia. I started out doing that... and ended up taking pictures to document screw-ups. Gr.

mgulfcoastguy - Thanks for the leaf idea, I'm not sure DH will go for it though - he's not much of a "treasure hunter" - he doesn't even like garage sales but he probably would be ok with collecting from friends & family.

oh2fly - you've got the orientation correct... I was considering the North end of the yard also for the sun exposure due to the 6' fence but had forgotten about the cold North winds... thanks for the new name idea, I'll consider it.

Elfie - Thanks for the info... we already are taking pictures for documentation/nostalgia & we already had to call the builder & clarify how far out the foundation was going to be. We are having RV parking on the North side of the house & were told that it would be 14' x 20'... the way the foundation area is cut it looks like it would end up being only 6'wide - the trailer is 7' wide = problem. He said that the guy he had on the machinery that day got a little carried away & cut the hole too wide & not to worry, we would get our RV parking. We won't have a basement very few houses here do, but a cold room would be nice. We'll have to ask about the final grade inspection - sure wouldn't want to have something like that come back & bite me. The lot is only about 3 miles from where we are now, so it's not too hard to run out there every few days to check on it... right now we're still waiting on final approval on the floorplan from the county before the can actually pour the foundation.

Thanks again,

Congrats.

Dirt