Back Alley Garden Renovations

Back Alley Garden Renovations

When we moved into our house in 2014 the fence was in very poor condition. At the time there was a fair sized area south of the garage facing the back alley that was just filled with weeds. There were indications that someone had tried growing things back there the previous summer due to various volunteer vegetable and herbs (especially dill!).

Unfortunately I failed to take picture of the back alley that first year. We basically contented ourselves with mowing weeds back there and keeping the status quo while we settled down. The spring of 2015 we began a rejuvenation project.

In the summer of 2015 we began by building two raised beds measuring roughly 8'x 2'. Along the south side of garage we put four trellis's with different varieties of grapes planted at the base of each trellis (as of 2017, Marechel Foch, Frontenac, Fredonia, & F-130). We put down weed barrier and covered the area with non-coloured cedar bark.

Along the fence line we planted raspberries and used leaves and lawn clippings as mulch to keep down the weeds. There was already a beautiful rhubarb plant back there that kept a large area weed free already.

We were pretty happy with the results of 2015, but knew that we needed to replace the fence as soon as possible. With three dogs including a Great Dane we were very concerned that our fence looked like it could be pushed over with a stern look!

I thought we kind of wasted a golden opportunity with the garden boxes in the first year. They are one of the few areas of our property that get almost full sunlight, and are in an excellent little high heat microclimate. In 2015 we grew mostly zucchini and beets which will grow pretty well in less than optimal conditions.

In the fall we started the process of replacing the fence, but the section facing the back alley was left until the spring of 2016. That spring  we also converted our whole front yard to garden (which is covered in an earlier post). Because of this I was able to focus on vegetables that could really benefit from the sun and greater warmth so



The grapes overwintered quite well, but were still not "taking-off". The raspberries that we had planted along the fence line on the other hand suffered quite a bit, both due to the winter and damage endured while replacing the fence. I decided a better use of the area would be to plant squash. I planted butternut and buttercup squash with about 6' separation. The pictures to the right were taken in about late July. As the summer progressed the squash weaved into the trellis at the top of the fence and looked awesome. Behind the rhubarb what had started as a single wild cucumber the year before became a dense matt of wild cucumbers.

Inside of the fence line I also planted squash and trained them to reach the top of the fence and travel along the top. This allowed me to grow some vegetables within the yard while at the same time not having them destroyed by the dogs.

I was very happy with the yield of the squash for the space that they used, they also made the area look very lush and green. This year I will probably grow peppers in the raised beds as they are probably the crop that will benefit the most from the location. Hopefully the grapes will have overwintered well and this is the year that they take off. Time will tell!