November Decks and Gardening

November has been a productive month. With help from my dad, I designed and built a deck and raised garden in the yard. The previous owner did an impressive job at maximizing the gardening space in our 20’x20’ back patio. She also went overboard on planting trees and shrubs, effectively blocking out light for the fruit trees and making the yard feel very small. I began planning how to maximize the usefulness (outdoor living space/party space) of our yard while still preserving space for my vegetable garden over a year ago. By transplanting the 2 citrus trees to pots and trimming the espaliered (trained fruit tree to grow horizontally into a vine or bush) apple tree to train it back into a tree, I cleared an area for me to build a deck. I left the 4’x6’ area where I did most of my gardening to build a raised vegetable gardening bed.

The major chore of building the deck was getting it level. It is detached and essentially rests at ground level. The backyard slopes toward the garage for drainage. The Deck takes up less than half the yard so as not to block the drain. I bought concrete blocks for the posts planted in the dirt and thin bricks for the posts over the concrete. Once I got one joist straight, getting the others should have been theoretically easy, but of course it wasn’t. I think I dug up every post 3 or 4 times before getting it close enough for government work. Each joist is two pressure treated 2 x 4 bolted together laid across the posts. For decking, I used 32 – 2x6 boards screwed to the joists.

I ran water lines under the concrete to the vegetable garden and replanted my artichoke plant. Today, I planted Peppers and will soon plant Swiss Chard.

I am looking for 2” black polished stones to cover the dirt under the apple tree and bamboo. Eventually I will line the fence will 3” wood strips to complete my Japanese Spa theme in the backyard. In the summer, I plan to string lights and lay down carpet for my outdoor living room. I may string canvas runners over the deck to further build a feeling of an extended living room. I am currently planning how to build a portable solar generator that will power my entire backyard electrical needs