We have always liked gardening, grow veggies and flowers, with the goal being to eliminate as much grass in the yard as possible and replace it with flowers and veggies, but with kids, and grandkids needing a place to play we never really attacked the whole backyard.

Well that changed in 2024. Once I figured out I was going to grow more blueberries, a project I started in 2023, we decided it was time to transform the backyard into what we want it to be.

In July of 2024 we started the transformation. I had already started a new blueberry patch but now we wanted some flowers so we built a Wildflower Garden. We started with Cone Flowers since they self-propogate and we have had lots of luck with them in the front yard. They are low maintenance and the bees and butterflies like them while in bloom and the birds like the seeds in the Fall.

We designed it to compliment the new blueberry patch that is going in.

Once we had the basic design done I planted the Cone Flowers and then covered the grass with cardboard and then Cedar mulch.

Now we had to figure out how to keep the mulch in and the weeds out of the beds. We didn’t want edgers around everything so we went to Menard’s to see what their options were. We decided on a metal edging by Colmet. It comes in 8′ pieces which was perfect because our beds were 16′ long. Just a happy concidence! You simply tap it into the ground and use the supplied pins to hold it down.

Once we had the edging in place it was time to build walking paths. We had also added some Speedwell Veronica to the bed since we have had great success with them in standalone planters.

We also moved the 4 metal raised bed from the North side of the house to the back yard, as you can see on the left side in the picture above. 3 of these are going to be used for my strawberry garden.

Completed one of the walkways, now on to the second one. We used bags of gravel for the walkway and retaining blocks to keep it in.

We completed the second walkway and then decided we would use the retaining blocks around the outer edge of the garden to help keep the gravel in and give it a nice finished look.

I ran a drip irrigation system for the blueberries and a soaker hose for the wild flowers. They are linked together so we can water both beds at the same time. We use a timer to control how long we water. We also have a rain collection system that I want to add a solar powered water pump to so we can use the FREE rain water we capture in the garden and cut down on our water bill.

In the foreground of the above picture is another flower bed we are working on for 2025. Laid down cardboard and dirt to kill the grass. Not sure what we are putting there yet.

On the left side of the picture you can see a bare spot. That is where our pumpkin patch was this year. In 2025 we are going to expand this and grow multiple varieties.