Our Homegrown Park Progress: Our Private National Park is Registered and Here Is Our Progress in Pictures

Began prepping the ground and setting plan in motion end of January / first of February 2023:

Description of our steps  

• first we marked off the space, 65 x 25 ft (1,625 sq ft) at the top of our backyard, just in front of the property line of big pine trees
• next lay down cardboard to kill the grass (hint: furniture stores have big boxes – for free – they already flatten for recycle and are glad for you to haul off for them)
• lined up irregular rectangle boulders to form a border and to keep the mulch and soil in place (as the yard is about 45 degree slope it could wash down)
• we brought in some compost from a neighbor (again free) and spread it out
• mulched up leaves on top and water it down so it stays in place when the wind blows
• then we had 24 tons of soil and mulch delivered
• several days of shoveling and raking to spread it out
• added an archway and planted grapes to climb over it
• installed a worm bin and added a bee bath (shallow dish with stones near the ground)
• created the pathway through the center with mulch
• began planting ONLY plants native to Virginia
• Bought a metal bench and pulled out an old wheelbarrow and our granddaughter helped paint them as rainbows
• planted more plants, and more plants
• expanded by another 28×25 ft = 700 sq feet, moved the boulders to the outside edge
• placed cardboard to kill the grass then topped it with soil and mulch
• planted the fig trees and Yucca Plants in the new addition
• butterflies, birds, praying mantis and bees are showing up
• the side of the house converted to garden area 6×22 ft = 132 sq ft
• created compost bins out of pallets (5×15 ft) and another on ground compost pile is (5×22 ft) for a total of 185 sq ft (2024 this expanded to 6×40 ft on the ground)
• front flower bed is 3×17 (51 sq ft)
• the front hillside which is actually steeper than the back is marked off and planted with wildflowers 25×65 = 1,625 sq ft
• the pictures below were the result we were aiming towards – only flowers native to this area in Virginia, tall flowers nearest the pine trees then shorter flowers near the front edge, we added a walkway winding through the middle. We made it perfectly and have 4,318 sq ft of pollinator gardens and 515 vegetable gardens. We have converted a total of 4,833 sq feet from “lawn”
  

Update to both vegetable garden#3 on December 3, 2023 expanded by 186 sq ft and an additional Milkweed Garden on front hillside on December 26, 2023 of 121 sq ft – we now have a total of 5,140 sq ft converted from lawn to garden and we planted 110+ bulbs in the new section of Pollinator Garden.

February 2024 preparations begin

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By way of interest, the history of our vegetable gardens since 2019 as a single small front garden then doubled in size to 13×8 ft in 2020 and covered as a greenhouse in 2021. In 2020 we had a 4×5 small garden #2 which then increased to 15×15 ft in 2021. We added garden #3 as a 12×15.5 ft in 2022. Making 515 sq ft of vegetable garden space plus additional flowers beside and in front of the house. Garden#3 on December 3, 2023 expanded by 186 sq ft and an additional Milkweed Garden on front hillside on December 26, 2023 of 121 sq ft – we now have a total of 5,140 sq ft converted from lawn to garden (701 sq ft is vegetables)