Steps to Planning Your Own Backyard Garden

Home Gardening

Remember that gardening project you always wanted to get done when you have downtime… As a local real estate leader, McEnearney Associates is invested in more than just helping our clients buy and sell houses. We want our clients to really love and enjoy their homes. We are always happy to refer home-related businesses and contractors who help make your house a home. We are excited to have Patrick Moran, Owner of TLC Design, contributing to our blog this week with some guidance for planning your own backyard garden.

Hello Backyard Junkies!

Today, we are going to be talking about the joys of creating your backyard paradise and bringing the farm to you. Gardening is a fundamental need in our fast-paced modern life. It creates a sense of balance, and tranquility found nowhere else. Trees grow forever upward and outward, cradling nature’s creatures within. Flowers bloom and fade. Leaves turn green, fall and turn to mulch. Certain times of the year bring our favorite fruits and vegetables to the table. It is this recurring cycle that breathes depth and contentment into us. Building your own slice of backyard paradise allows you to bring your own sense of flair and individuality to your personal space. Home gardening, at its essence, is to bring calmness and satisfaction to your life.

At TLC, we are committed to offering our insight, creative design, and love of nature to making your space unique to you.

Vegetable Garden

Having a home vegetable garden is such an empowering tool in times of hardship. Humans have been relying on sustainable agriculture since the earliest notions of civilization. Bringing this ancient, time-honored tradition into your backyard is so incredibly gratifying. It is the ability to provide food for you and your family at such a primal level that no other pastime activity can compete. This past summer, Nickolas Barylski of TLC had the opportunity to manage a 5-acre organic farm and shared this about the experience, “Farming, at its core, brings you back to nature in such a humbling way. Relying on my own hands to bring food to my table made me feel as if I could take whatever the world threw at me.” Statements such as this remind us how strong we all can be in the face of adversity.

At-home gardening may seem like a daunting task initially, but with the right guidance, anyone can do it. Depending on what you’d like to plant in your garden, there are three main factors that you must take into consideration: location, water, and soil.

1) Location

The location of your planter or garden bed(s) relies heavily upon the sun. Misjudging the amount of sunlight your garden receives is a common pitfall with new gardeners. Before installing your garden, watch the sun. Where does it rise, where does it fall? Most edible plants, including vegetables, herbs, and fruits, need at least 6 hours of sunlight to thrive. A helpful tip, whether you are doing your gardening in a raised planter bed or a greenhouse, is to orient long-ways facing south with any obstructions, such as fences or trees, directly to the north. This will ensure your garden gets the sun it needs!

2) Soil

Soil is the growing medium of choice for most home gardeners. The ideal growing medium is rich in organic material, and the most popular way of constantly replenishing this organic material is by composting. Leftover plant-based table scraps are your best option because of the speed at which they decompose and release carbon, nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus into the soil. Popular compost items include banana peels, apple cores, potato skins, etc. For those who aren’t ready to maintain a compost pile, there are many great organic potting mix options that have compost already mixed into the topsoil. By mixing in a layer of organic soil conditioner seasonally, you can feel confident that your patch will have he nutrients it needs to thrive.

3) Water

Plant your garden near a water source. How frustrating would it be to realize only after you’ve installed this beautiful garden that it isn’t convenient to water? Lugging a heavy bucket of water to and from your garden isn’t optimal for you or the plants. If you’re unable to plant near a water source, ensure that you have access to a hose that can extend to the garden. Many of our clients will ask us to install a drip line irrigation system connected directly to your backyard hose, or a rain barrel that collects water from your downspout. Regular watering is critical, especially when your fruits and vegetables are young.

Other topics of interest for gardeners include pollinators, optimal fruits and vegetables for our region, and the right maintenance schedule.

We at TLC are here to help! When you buy your new home with McEnearney Associates, think: where’s my garden going to go?!

Sincerely,

Tactical Land Care

Tactical Land Care is net-zero to help protect our world and environment for all of us. We specialize in sustainable construction, conservation landscaping, and stormwater management solutions, including permeable hardscape and rain gardens. By working together, we can maximize the ecological benefit of your property.

Please give us a call at 703-879-7091, or email us at info@tacticallandcare.com, where someone from our TLC team will develop a plan with you to help enhance your yard or property for many years to come.

Patrick Moran, PMP, LSC, HIC, LEED | CEO Tactical Land Care

Patrick utilizes his passion for the outdoors along with his professional skills as a licensed Landscape and Home Improvement contractor in Virginia and Maryland, as well as a Project Management Professional (PMP) and LEED Green Associate. Patrick has a BA from Yale University, where he studied climate change and its impact on society.