My friend Megan and I discussed the idea of getting rid of the circular driveway and came up with an alternate plan, and I think I like this plan better.
- Get rid of the circular driveway and make it the animal pasture
- Line the straight driveway with trees (love this part)
- Keep the orchard to the north of the house
- Put the garden in the North West corner of the property (I worry a little about the wind)
- Fill the South West corner of the property with wild flowers, native grasses, and herbs
Any suggestions on this plan?
I have a library hold for the book The Backyard Homestead
This book has great ideas on how to set up your homestead, and even has different options for different size lots. Hopefully I will get even more great ideas on how to set up our property.
I have a library hold for the book The Backyard Homestead
"The Backyard Homestead" is an awesome book. I purchased it last fall. I don't have the property to put into place a plan in the book but it has given me many ideas about what want to accomplish in my smaller backyard. I highly recommend the book to anyone who is building a homestead library.
ReplyDeleteHave a great homestead planning day.
I love the idea of having your animals out front and it looks like this idea would give you more gardening room. Would you be able to plant a natural wind border (trees/shrubs) if that's a concern? Planning is my favorite part :)
ReplyDeleteThis is a great book. It was the best wedding present, hands down.
ReplyDeleteI love the straight driveway lined by trees too!
~Andrea~
Kim, I love the planning part the best too.
ReplyDeleteThe pasture in front along with a single driveway is a great plan.
ReplyDeleteConsider switching the location of your garden with the wildflowers. Your house can be used as a windbreak plus the garden will get the most southern light.
"The Backyard Homestead" is a great book! Lots of wonderful tips on where to plant things, what to plant with what and after what to maximize the nutrients in your soil without depleting them, and it also has nice livestock information.
ReplyDeleteOf course, the only opportunity I have for agriculture is what might grow on my partly sunny apartment patio, but I find it a useful reference for future use. I do want to have my own backyard homestead someday. :)
The only concern I would have is making sure the garden has enough sun per day.
ReplyDeleteGreat book, that.
Maybelline had a very good comment on the sun exposure for your garden.
ReplyDeleteWe also have a circular driveway. At first, I too wanted to get rid of the "circular" part. Instead of getting rid of it, we planned our outbuildings (horse barn, goat shed, machine shed, and chicken coop) outside the circle. This made getting bedding materials, feed, fuel for machines, etc. a breeze. Just drive to the appropriate building and unload. If you won't be adding outbuildings, then go for plan #2. It looks awesome!
ReplyDeleteI'm not worried about the garden being on the north side, as long as I don't plant tall trees or anything south of it, the area will get full sun. Thanks for the concern :)
ReplyDeleteI just have to say, you need to buy a copy for your own library you will love this book. It is totally worth the purchase.
ReplyDeleteMelissa
I love circular driveways! Especially the one in "What about Bob". I'm trying to talk Matt into letting us have one at the new house. I would put flowerbeds, a seating area, lots of trees, and a flag pole there. But I realize that they take up alot of space. Happy planning!
ReplyDeleteYour plan looks fun! Remember to put your animal housing where it's not too much of a schlep to get to every day - when it's cold and raining you don't want to have to walk five minutes to go feed the chickens! On the other hand you don't want to smell the animals all day either. :) I can't wait to see what you come up with!
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of getting rid of your circular driveway. I think it is a waste of space and that would make a great pasture. Lining the driveway with trees would be beautiful. A pasture instead of the circular driveway would make your property look much bigger with that expanse of pasture in front of your house.
ReplyDeleteYou could extend your three rail fence around your pasture by putting electrified high tensile wires on the inside of a rail fence to keep goats or sheep in. This is what I did. The fence is beautiful and you don't notice the high tensile wires.
As you are planning for your vegetable and flower garden and orchard, remember that you will have to mitigate your deer problem. You probably don't want an 8 foot high deer fence so you will have to go with a baited electric fence or a perimeter dog fence with a good deer dog. I think deer will be one of your biggest problems.
Do you have a source of irrigation water? If not, how about keeping your eyes open for a large used tank, 2,000-5,000 gallons, that you could put on the northwest corner of the house? It would be out of eyesight from the front of your house. It would provide the head pressure for drip irrigation in the orchard and garden and would be filled from your well/public water and augmented by the sparse rains that you get running off the roof of your house. You could redirect most of the gutters to flow to it.
"The Backyard Homestead" is an amazing book, but I would recommend buying it rather than borrowing it from the library. It's more of a reference book...I've made tones of notes in mine!
ReplyDeleteI agree with anonymous the book is a great addition to the home garden library.
ReplyDelete