Gardening and Horticulture - Garden design

We started our gardening four years ago and need to advance our gardening both perennials and vegtables in the back of our house which is 10 acres. What is an easy way to build raised beds on a hilly site (with an underground stream running through it) and what hardy plants (flowers and veggies) can we grow that can deal with a short growing period and early frost/late planting seasons? Also, we are working on a backyard patio wherein I would like to add some interest with cute gardening pictures I obtained from an old calendar. Is there any way to place pictures outside during the summer that can handle the condensation so the picture doesn't get ruined? I know how to handle the frames but the calendar pictures I'm not sure whether to cover them in plastic or is there some type of outside framing utility I can use?:)

Hello Chuck & Cindy (and Scooby, too)

There are a number of building (precast) systems available by different manufacturers for small walls like what it sounds like you want. They all interlock together and are flexible enough to make curves as well as straight sections. Some are solid, while you can put soil inside others. Your local Build-all or Home Depot should have the manufactured product that THEY deal with on site, or you can try the links below.

You could also use pressure treated timbers (4"x4" , 6"x6", etc). Just make sure that you stagger the joints between courses and at any corners before you spike the courses together. I believe there are also some metal fasteners also availabe that you can slip 2"x materials into and form raised beds like the ones used for strawberries, etc. It has been my experience that the sales associates at HD, the Building Box, etc are kept current on consumer wants and needs and could advise you of the best system for you and how to put it together... :)

Or if you have a lot of field stone on site, you could build a wall from them using gravity to hold everything together (I think this is the most aesthetic, but it it also the most work as you have to 'jigsaw puzzle' the whole thing together from what's available). If you go this route, just remember to use bigger rocks as your foundation and key stones and fill in with intermediate sizes before you lock everything together with the smaller stuff...

The most important thing with all wall systems is to build a good foundation (first buried course) and make sure that it is level and has a good solid (compacted) base. With the precast systems, it often looks better if you make the courses level and run them in and out of the topography as each course meets it's particular ground level.

For your pictures, you could try using the clear plastic lamination available at most office supply stores on both sides of the pics to protect them from the elements. As long as you left a margin where the top, sides and bottom sealed together, moisture should not be able to get in and ruin them.

Here's a page from Lee Valley Tools' website that has some of the wall building fasteners I was telling you about - They should be available elsewhere, but this page will give you a better idea of what to look for.

http://www.leevalley.com/garden/page.asp?page=44664&category=2&SID=&ccurrency=2

Here are some 'stone' wall mfg's:

http://www.risistone.com/systems/dh/dhc.htm

http://www.unilock.com/walls/

Good Luck

Howie

Howie:

Thanks so much for the garden bed ideas. I think we're going to try the treated lumber and flat flag stone especially since we have so much available to us. We have a total of 110 acres of a 300 year old farm so many of the old stone walls are still in tack, or if not, we can use some that have fallen down the mountain due to weather and age.

The picture idea was also extremely helpful since now that we have all this available land we want to make garden rooms and nice walkways through the land so we can make the most of our property.

I know we'll probably be asking a lot of questions with this amount of land since we don't want to use the whole thing as agricultural or for animal space. And, being so new at this game we have learned a lot over the past 4 years but there always seems to be so much more to learn.

Thank you so much once again.

Chuck and Cindy Newman
"Ye old Oliver Farm"

Chuck & Cindy,
I'll only comment on the pictures. If by chance you are able to keep water out, the sun will fade them in one summer.
Why not go for the real thing! Use potted specimen plants, climbing plants, hanging baskets, etc. You may even find some old rusty tools or other farm items to hang. Or start a wind chime collection. Keep the pics inside.
fred

Ur right, Fred...

Never thought about UV

Chuck & Cindy - the man knows of what he speaks!

H.

Thank you for all your replys to both Howie and Fred.

But Fred, we have a collection of old iron machinery parts along with antique farm equipment, wind chimes, old store signs and also a collection of Brockway tractors with old antique wood stoves and gas pumps. We've passed the idea of decorative varieties including modern, natural and antique.

What I may have not included in my request is that this patio is going to be covered with a awning with screening around it. The placement of it is behind our house with two walls connected together in a corner, so not to be rude because I agree that wind chimes and other iron and antique decorations are nice, but Howies recommendation so far has been the best.

Thank you both.

Cindy and Chuck Newman
"Ye Old Oliver Farm"