Front Yard Corner Garden

I have a new sitting area in the front of my house surrounded by my garden. It is starting to cool down, so believe I can spend more time there.

Front Yard

I created a sitting area in the front of my house and surrounded it with beautiful plants.

Some beautiful flower arrangements my wife prepared for the entrance of the house.

Dracaena Garden.

Citrus tress (Shikuwasa, Kinkan, Mikan, Orange, Grapefruit), plus Canistel, Papa, Guava and Strawberry Guava. Some of the tress are fruiting.  

Front Yard

All these plants are in containers, so I rearrange them on occasion as some get too tall or too wide or the color changes. 

A lot of the plants in this section are also in containers, so I rearranged them. I'm trying to add more brighter colors into the mix and still working on it.

It's December and the Tsuwabuki (Leopard Plant) is in full bloom. I was looking at this corner of the garden from last year and see so much change. The Grapefruit tree on the left is much larger, the Papaya tree is gone and there are more plants.

Side view

Plumeria Tree

Front Yard / Driveway

Everything in the front of my house is growing well, but starting to get crowded.

I built these barriers/walls to hide the planters. I'm growing Beets, Carrots and Onions in containers behind this section.

I'm growing Beni Imo and Satsumaimo Sweet Potatoes behind this section. You can see flowers on the Satsumaimo vines. They are nearly identical to Morning Glory flowers, because Sweet Potatoes are in the same family.

 

Front Yard

I planted some Cherry Tomatoes in the front of my house. I have many regular Tomato plants, but they are not doing well due to the humidity, so I've been fighting blight. Cherry Tomato plants do better during the warmer months and tend to be more resistant to deceases like blight.

I've tried many ways to fight blight, but I settled on plain soap and water. I use a wet rag and dish liquid and wipe down each leaf I find blight. This may not be practical for someone with hundreds or thousands of plants, but I only have about 50 plants. If you do this from the first time you see the fungus, it is not as demanding as you think. I remove the leaves and branches that are too bad, but take a few minutes everyday to clean the leaves I notice. Also, I cover the soil with straw or grass cuttings to prevent the fungus from splashing on the leaves when I water, as well as maintain moister.  

Front Yard

I really do not have an actual front yard, but rather a large parking space. It has a lot of direct sunlight and I wanted to use it to grow stuff, but did not want a lot of ugly planters sitting around, so tried my best to make them look presentable. Here is what I have so far.

Containers:

   Top left: Japanese Pumpkin (Kabocha Squash)

   Top Right: Watermelon

   Center: Tomatoes

   Right Planter: Guava Tree

How I construct my planters: I use plastic containers I pickup from the recycling center for free. They are different sizes and colors, but perfect for planting since they are generally long, wide and about 2 foot (61 cm) deep. I fill them about half way with mulch I also get from the recycling center for free. Most plants do not use more than a foot of dirt and most use less than that. I drill holes on each side about 1/2 inch (1 cm) from the bottom. Since the containers are so deep, it is good to keep a little moister at the bottom. I fill the rest of the container with good potting soil and add nutrients based on what I will grow in the planter. The mulch at the bottom will break down in about a year giving you great organic material for the next year. Next I build a simple frame around the container (no base). I simply use 2x2 beans and staple black gardening fabric inside.  

This planter contains Passion Fruit cuttings. They will take about a year to grow, and I plan to train them to grow up my fence railing. 

I cover the cuttings until they start to grow, but remove the cover when there is no direct sunlight; otherwise, the humidity and lack of airflow will wilt and eventually kill the plants.