How would you design these spaces?
Hi, I’m a new homeowner with access to a relatively huge backyard for SouthCoast Mass (0.33 acre parcel in zone 7a). I’m currently in the starting phase of making a permaculture food forest, though this house was my grandparents’ and I’d talked about buying it for years, so I grew up here and have a good idea of its properties. The entire backyard faces south, by the way. There’s a lot of different areas so I’ll just post some pics and describe what I plan to do with them.
Two nature strips in front of the front door. Was thinking to put some pollinator gardens on these two nature strips only, contained by some kind of fence. The property spans a corner so I have to not worry about the rest. There’s also a guy with a pickup truck and “truck nuts” so my secondary goal is to dissuade him from parking in front of my house.
Front and side gardens. These are very close to the house and need to be pruned anyway. My main ideas for the land immediately touching the foundation were to scorch it: heavy applications of insecticide and herbicide. Dunno what else to do here besides add ground cover. By “ground cover” I usually mean removing ivy and replacing it with strawberries.
The front yard. This faces east so I want to put a pawpaw tree pair in front of the Japanese maple (closest to the street). No other real plans here beyond widening the maple tree into a guild, fixing the incorrect mulching, and generally keeping it kind of clean. I could also put a raised bed in front of a small access deck to the left side of where this image was taken. That’s the main entry door.
Side garden. This is one of the few areas I want to hardscape in the form of a brick patio with container plants. This sits is front of an enclosed porch, and I have massive porch and balcony envy. The patio would be behind the garden bed, however.
Massive, circular garden. I have no idea how old this garden is, but it’s horribly overgrown. I pulled up ivy as thick as my wrist around a central bird bath, and cut down as many sedges as I could access. I’d like to preserve this historical form factor as it’s likely original to the property itself (circa 1880). I’d also like to dedicate this to my grandmother’s memory when she is no longer with us. There’s also a small circular garden immediately next to it that may be a good location to drill a well after the giant tree is removed.
Monstrosity of a tree. I need to remove it, which will take professional help and will be completed in several stages. I was just gonna fill it up with oyster mushroom spawn to decompose it, although I don’t even like the taste of oyster mushrooms.
Monster tree at entrance to the main garden
Baby compost heap in a keyhole cut into the main garden. This is a small selection of my current yard waste, but it seems as good a place as ever for a heap of rotten stuff. I need to harvest the ashes from the bottom of the fireplace and invest in a wood chipper.
The back section of the yard with a subtly marked access path cut into it. I was gonna turn this region into a food forest. It can probably comfortably support 7 fruit tree guilds for a “full permaculture” setup here. Again, more of the ivy has to go. The ivy is endemic to the property.
Wild brush area to the right of the last pic and to the left of the garage. Not sure what to do here beyond kill vines (and ivy) and throw a ton of wildflower seeds.
The Garden of Saint Francis, so named for the concrete effigies and the fact that he was my grandfather’s favorite saint. I will revive this as a shade garden in his memory, with at least some of the concrete statues intact. Concrete is a perfect material for a statue of Saint Francis; it’s cheap and it degrades over time. The ivy left noticeable damage on the garage and another vine destroyed the gutters.
Garden behind garage (facing north)
Possible shade garden or animal run area. This area is heavily shaded. Not sure what to do or what animals to keep, if any. Quail are a possibility, chickens or ducks are likely not. There is ivy infesting the fence via the neighbors’ yard.
Back garden, facing south. Already has a good tree stand so will probably leave it as it is and plant a couple bushes and ground cover at most.
Backyard area. Once I can process the huge pile of debris, I wanna keep this as the only “lawn” area and maybe add a fire pit or other domesticated outdoor recreation stuff. I also wanna put at least 6 raised beds to the left, on the border between the lawn area and the future food forest. The fire pit wouldn’t be hardscape, by the way; I was thinking to bury morel spawn under mulch, as morels thrive in disaster zones.
Backyard with massive pile of debris
Footpath going north to the area behind the kitchen. Did you think I was done yet? I’d like to remove the rest of the leaning cedar tree and replace the gravel with something a bit more useful. The buildings to the right and left have no foundations so I’d be looking to nuke the area underneath both. Good candidate for some kind of rainwater or animal storage.
Shady garden area that actually gets decent dappled light. The neighbors’ building was covered in ivy and I’ve removed several foundational roots as well as a massive collection of pavers and bricks. The building to the left is mine and I need to rip out the floor. There’s a huge ivy and bamboo infestation underneath that’s better nuked. Not sure what to put here besides ground cover and something much more gentle than ivy or bamboo or even sumac, I think fiddlehead ferns.
Shady garden with outbuildings behind the kitchen, facing north
Hardscape patio area just outside the kitchen (back) door. I’d like to put a grill here.
Kitchen patio for a small charcoal grill
Weird little area behind an old addition that I absolutely need access too. For here, pulling the weed bush stumps and planting ground cover only. Something else I wanna do here, and around the foundation more generally, is nuke it with a strong insecticide and herbicide.
Thanks for taking this tour of my property and for any recommendations you can make. I’ve got a lot of different areas to tie together, and a lot of time to do so. I never intend to move again.
submitted by /u/old-homeowner
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