Hello friends
I need your help figuring out some ideas
I had a vegetable garden in my side of the house.It is around 25 by 12 wide
The main trouble I always had with this is WEEDS I just get too many of them.So this year we decided we don't want to plant anything there.
We are going to put the weed barrier and no water supply for season.
Now I need to know what can I use that space for. My patio and grill is close by that area.but I don't want to add extra patio pavers
We entertain a lot and we have kids ranging age of 4-7
So what is best way to use the area without breaking my bank
One ide we had was making a place for kids to play games like sandbox,toss a ring
any other suggestions please.
What a coincidence, I also hate weeds! I LOVE love love to garden, though. Have you heard of square foot gardening? Same amount of crop, less space, no weeds. We built a BIG box for about $150 which is how much you will spend on a patio or anything anyway, so if you still want to garden, look into it!
JUST IN CASE you decide to change your mind....weeds cannot penetrate newspaper, plus it helps keep moisture in the soil. Churn soil so it is all mixed up, plant your plants, then water and cover the rest of the entire area in newspaper. You can add mulch on top of that as an extra moisture barrier. No weeds! My grandpa (with THE greenest thumb I have ever known!) used this trick every year. No chemicals needed. Best tomatoes EVER. Good luck!
We also hate weeds in our garden. A couple of years ago, my husband rigged up a drip system for our plants. That way, only the plant gets the water, not all the dirt around it (hence the weeds). It was fairly inexpensive, but a little time consuming figuring out where to plant, how long to make the drip tubes, etc. But, it has been worth it. We even did a little "map" of our garden, so we know how far apart to plant the veggies so that we can use the same drip tube system each year. We have had great success with that. Sometimes there are a few weeds that pop up because of rain, etc, but they are few and far between. I would also second the response of having your kids help plant. It gives them a sense of accomplishment, and will help with their work ethic. Our daughter (just turned 5), has been helping us in our garden since she was 2. We will be letting our 21 month old son help us this summer too. What kid doesn't love to get dirty! Good luck & enjoy whatever you end up with!!
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Have you concidered letting the children plant flowers? This would be a wonderful opportunity to teach them how to nurture and care for a living thing as well as responsibility for keeping up with something they themselves have created...and kids don't mind pulling weeds much :)
if you haven't already started a veggie garden somewhere else in the yard, i also suggest a Square Foot garden in part of the space. just put the box(es) on top of the weed barrier. weeds are not much of a problem because you fill the box with new soil, not your existing soil which is full of weed seeds. also any weeds that do grow are easy to identify because they don't look like what is supposed to be in that particular square. check out the book "All New Square Foot Gardening". you could also fill the box with flowers if you don't want to put veggies this year. good luck!
dodge ball court, bad mitten, volley ball, gold putting, my kids would love this cleared out spot to play games. croquette is another one..the games are cheap easy set up easy take down and nothing is permanent there. Good Luck!
A 3-4 inch layer of a kid-friendly (non-splintering) bark mulch and a few above-ground planters would make the space usable now. You can even brush the mulch aside, cut X's in the weed barrier, and plant directly into the ground, which would allow you to grow some veggies and/or flowers this year, without weeds, if you want to.
