Re: Bananas.org Members Yard Photos
 

Thanks Randy,
The only problem with a continuous season, the work never stops either. I came home this month to weeds 1' high and all the plants had pups everywhere. It took the better part of 2 days to clean everything up and mulch!

Re: Bananas.org Members Yard Photos
 

Backyard Pics!!!

Re: Bananas.org Members Yard Photos
 

I just moved to Central FL 4 years ago and 6 months ago I bought my very first house with my partner near Cocoa Beach!!!! This house was TRASHED!!! :islandsharkbanana: It was a foreclosed home. But we own an interior renovatoin business and we've been fixing it up. Most of it on the inside is done other than a bathroom (and one isn't just quite finished yet) and tiling the floor of the entire house (that'll come in a year or two). We're sticking with the terrazo for the moment (I HATE IT). Not my flooring of choice, but it'll do for now. It has many pot holes in it from carpet tack strips. There wasn't one room in the house that didn't need TLC, and we're talking more than the human society needs! This includes the yards!

I currently have: Dwarf Cavandish, Pisang Cylon, Dwarf Puerto Rican, and Puerto Rican Plantain.
I have purchased and attempting to be patient with the USPS for Jamaican Red, Williams Hybrid, Orinoco, Manzano, and Saba (all from MediaHouse, Check out his auctions/classifieds!!! Thanks a bunch Jarred!)

This place has been great and inspiring!! And VERY addictive!

Here's pictures of the back yard and break down of what's going on back there! Hope you all enjoy! It is a mess now, but one day, it'll be a dream come true!


Aug. 2007 This was the yard the first day we looked at the house!



This is the yard currently featuring the hammock in the soon to be xerscaped section of the yard!



This is the seating area. The grass has already been removed, the rest of the grass will be removed throughout the rest of the yard in months to come!



A better picture of the soon to be xerscaped area of the yard.



This is how the "banana forest" looks currently, under construction. Close to the end of porch is going to start a rather large (for this yard) kidney shaped pond going from the fence to the wall of the back porch. There will be a bridge going over the pond and a small white picket fence on the other side to enter the veg. garden! Bananas and bromeliads with be the focus here. There will be a path leading to the bridge and along the path will be bird baths filled with herbs!



This is the veg. garden section of the yard. I just tilled up the ground and removed the grass and today trimmed the pine tree to allow more light an to keep from having limps falling on my power lines. There will be a white picket fence added just in front of where the picture was taken for access to the garden.



Here are my seedlings already starting to sprout after 2-3 weeks for some of them just waiting to be planted in the veg. garden.



This is the shower area so that you don't track dirt (or sand from the beach) into the house. Yes, it has hot water!!!! Just in case some of you are curious, the blue and red pipes are called PEX, they're what you replumb houses with now days (and also in some new construction) and they're VERY durable... much better than PVC (can break), Copper (lighting can cause pin holes, I've seen it happen with devistating results if you don't know about it), Polybutyene (grey pipes, no longer made anymore, there was a HUGE class action lawsuit over that one), or better than anything else you can think of!!!!

Re: Bananas.org Members Yard Photos
 

this is one of the flowerbeds im renovating. i made it 2 ft wider then it was.(less grass to mow,yeah!) i still have to get the tree roots out of it and get good dirt and manure to put into it.

Re: Bananas.org Members Yard Photos
 

Most of my backyard is shaded under two huge maple trees. So I have to pack in the plants in the few spots where the sun peaks through.

Early on in the summer:









Late in the season:















As you can see, my garden was a little out of control last year. I was probably experimenting with too many plants. Lots of big plants, not enough sunny spots.:D

Re: Bananas.org Members Yard Photos
 

Chris, that all looks very nice, but have a question, what is that florwering plant fourth photo from the last?

Re: Bananas.org Members Yard Photos
 

Thanks!

That's Kniphofia caulescens in its second year.

Looked terrible after winter, but came back strong! I bet it would grow even better if it wasn't in the shade most of day.

Re: Bananas.org Members Yard Photos
 

I really enjoyed to see all the pics of your gardens!!:D

Re: Bananas.org Members Yard Photos
 

Chris, your mixture of plants is really great. It's a beautiful yard!

:woohoonaner:

Re: Bananas.org Members Yard Photos
 

Richard, thank you so much for the wonderful comment! I really appreciate it, especially coming from someone who lives in a beautiful place like San Diego!

I'm anxious to see which plants made it through this winter. Hit -4 twice this winter. Once with very little snow pack. Can't wait til spring!

:0490:

Re: Bananas.org Members Yard Photos
 

i dont have new pics yet.... about 400 lbs of clay was removed where you see the chopped up clay, this was done all by shovel.and the rosebushes were removed today.

400 lbs of organic top-soil, 200 lbs of organic compost and manure went into the new flowerbed. all the daylilies( all but one big huge clump) were moved to the front of the flowerbed,this part was done today. i will plant ee's caladiums, dalhias, and cannas tomorrow if the rain holds out. if the rain dosent hold out i will be replanting my peace rosebush on the side fence row. will be putting in 200 more lbs of organic compost and manure in the middle part of the flowerbed to get it ready for nanas come the 1st week of may.( there will be 2 d. oroniocos and 2 high color minis in the front flowerbed) even with daylights savings time there wasnt enought time today. oh well. hopefully it wont rain all day tomorrow.

Re: Bananas.org Members Yard Photos
 

Industrious! Now that's my kind of gardening.

:woohoonaner:

Re: Bananas.org Members Yard Photos
 

Sam I'm speechless. Congrats for getting all that done in one day!! How's your back? LOL

Re: Bananas.org Members Yard Photos
 

my back is fine, its my knee i screwed up a year ago thats bothering me. lol. it will be ok when the swelling goes down. i like to feel the dirt in my fingers. i like the smell of dirt.

Re: Bananas.org Members Yard Photos
 

ditto.

Try taking 4 Alleve pills -- the generic version for your knee.

Re: Bananas.org Members Yard Photos
 

You go girl!:dreadlocksnaner:

Re: Bananas.org Members Yard Photos
 

backyard project underway!!

before project....


after project-"patio area" with new tile and inserts.BBQ and new patio furni., soon!

Re: Bananas.org Members Yard Photos
 

Really nice!!! Did you put the tile over the existing cement or did you tear that out?

Re: Bananas.org Members Yard Photos
 

CookieCows,I added the tile on top of the old cement slab.Thanks for the nice comment.

Re: Bananas.org Members Yard Photos
 

What a difference some new tile can make! It looks Beautiful. Is that a pineapple hiding behind that large pot with the plant that I can't spell?