Raised bed garden of Lewisburg

 

One of the things that was hard for me to give up 

was the raised bed garden in Lewisburg 

11 concrete beds with water to each bed on timers. It took Eric 4 summers to build. 

We did bring the fountain with us. It needs a new water pump. 

We left the arch behind that currently has a chocolate vine growing on it. 

I would spend hours in the garden it brought me great peace. 

Ceil Brunner climbing rose and steel arch support

 This is at Lewisburg 

My dad gave me the rose and I planted it. the original wood arch broke in a winter storm. My brother in law Fred built us a steel arch and welded my grandparents and dad's garden tools on it. 

When it came time to down size and move we had to leave this behind along with the 11 concrete beds and water to each bed that took Eric 4 summers to complete. The hardest thing we left behind was a 18'x18' research greenhouse. 

I know the new owners appreciate what we did with Lewisburg. It now belongs to a 3 generational family.

I have the memories of this place and inspiration to start something new at Park Terrace 

Raised bed garden

 

Eric built 8 raised beds out of corner blocks and lumber. 

We still need to put the topper boards on. 

We brought in good soil to fill the garden beds and put wood chips for the pathways. 

We brought over the plastic tool shed from Lewisburg as well as the three plastic compost bins. 

We planted 3 blueberries from Lewisburg and 2 current plants 

I bought a fig bush from a garage sale in the neighborhood. 

Eric dug trenches to move the water line in the raised bed garden and extend it to where we had a green house built. 

He took out part of the chain link fence to have a larger entrance to the raised bed garden so we could get the orange wheel barrel in the space. 

I put the patio umbrellas in the garden last summer when it was too hot for some of the plants to create some shade. 

We transplanted the purple asparagus the previous owner had into one of the raised beds. Last week I found a dozen strawberry plants that were in a wine barrel that was falling apart and planted them around the border of the asparagus bed. 

I planted Trudy's purple morning glory seeds at the end of one raised bed. I'm hoping they will grow. 

I also planted some garlic, and shallots in another raised bed. 

The three composters are filled with maple leaves that fell in the front yard. 

We put leaves on all the raised beds over the winter. I recently took the leaves off and plan to move them elsewhere. 

The leaves kept the weeds out of the raised beds. There were a lot of fat worms on the surface of the raised beds that were under the leaves. 

There were some iris in the raised bed garden area we dug up and I haven't re planted them yet. I was thinking of planting them in containers for now. 

We've fixed the wooden gate to the raised bed garden. 

Park Terrace

 A new beginning. Starting over after working on Lewisburg for 21 years was difficult. Lewisburg was finally turn key. Just how I like it and was in maintenance mode. It was difficult to give up my researcher greenhouse, concrete raised beds, and chickens. 

Park Terrace has a lot of potential and it will take time to get it where I would like it to be. Thankfully we are working on it aggressively and won't take 21 years to do it.   

We spent last year 2025 remodeling the inside of the house. This year we plan on improving the outside of the house. 

We put in a smaller greenhouse and 8 wood raised beds. For which I'm grateful. The lemon tree, the kumquat tree are doing well in the greenhouse. 

We spent 5 hours pruning the old apple tree in the backyard. Who knows how old that tree is? I should measure the diameter and make a guess. 

We have a guy coming to grind all the branches on Thursday. 

I spent two hours mowing the weeds down in the backyard last week they were a foot high. 

Last summer I canned 80 quarts of applesauce, froze 24 pie fillings, dries some apples, gave away 10 boxes of apples. I don't know how many quarts of juice I made. I stopped counting.

Spent some time weeding the rose garden. 

Eric had planted 4 roses in the rose garden. Two were from Lewisburg. The Charlotte rose and the Olivia rose. The other roses were from around the yard in other places. We decided to have all the roses in one spot. 

I noticed that there are hellebores blooming in the back fence area. I thought I would dig those up and transplant them into pots for now. 

Because we plan on taking out old drip lines and adding compost to rototill in to amend the planting beds. 

I planted a persimmon last summer by the back fence because I wasn't able to bring the one over from Lewisburg. I love eating persimmons. 

In the raised bed garden we planted 3 blueberry bushes, a fig bush, and a couple of currents. 

We transplanted the purple asparagus that was in the raised bed garden into a raised bed. 

There are purple asters by the small garden shed 

A hydrangea behind the family room and Shasta daisies 

The previous owner planted a few dogwoods in the backyard. 

We planted a small maple in the side yard after taking out two trees. 

Just recently I had Eric take out two Rhody's that were in bad shape and an azalea. 

Last year we took out some sad looking heathers that were on either side of the driveway entrance. 

What attracted me to this garden was the light and the 1/2 acre. I was use to an acre. Eric loved that it was flat and not on a hillside. 

He loves a big lawn. 

In the front yard are 4 maple trees in a row in front of the house. On the side yard there is a large maple tree and the small one we planted. 

Where there was a dog run - we placed the raised bed garden. Eric took out a section of the chain link fence and gate to make the entrance larger for the orange wheelbarrow. 

I hope to get an arch structure to the entrance sometime and plant two grapes one on each side of the arch. 

I brought two grape vines from Lewisburg, that are still in the containers. 

We had a large shed built and put it in the backyard to store a lot of garden stuff. The little shed we moved to the back corner of the garden. I hope to turn it into a potting shed sometime.

Current front entrance

 The steps are steep and not easy to walk up. So we plan on building a ramp to the front door, and a deck to the right. 

My friend Larie gave me some daffodil bulbs last summer as a house warming gift. I planted them in terra cotta pots and they are now blooming. 

A gift that keeps on giving. I'm thinking I'll plant some iris bulbs in pots and when the daffodils are done blooming and the iris are blooming I can switch them out. 

Back patio off Master bedroom

 The deck is in decent shape, needs to be sanded and re stained. It is set up for a hot tub. Some day that might be a nice idea, just not in our budget this year. 

In the mean time it's a nice set up for relaxing when working in the garden. 

I left the two olive trees outside over the winter. Sadly one of them seems to be dead. It was pushed back in the area of the deck under the eves and didn't get the water it needed. I don't know if I can get it to spring back or not. 

The other olive tree I ended up putting in the Living room for now. 

Looking forward to when the deck is refinished and the house is painted. 

Where to start?

 

We took out two trees that had ruined the driveway. Then we took out the old heather that was on either side of the driveway entrance. 

We brought in a load of compost to amend the soil before planting a few plants. 

We had Eager Bever landscaping fix the front yard sprinkler system that wasn't working. 

We feel good about taking out the two trees. One was leaning towards the house, the other was tearing up the sidewalk. 

Now the driveway is safe and no longer a tripping hazard. 

This summer we plan on putting in a dry river bed by the street, New garden beds along the driveway. Re doing the backyard and garden beds. 

Last summer 2025 our backyard was torn up putting in a new drain field and septic tank. 

In June we plan on building a ramp to the front door and a front deck. 

Later this summer we plan on painting the house. 

Blessed with a backyard patio and outdoor fireplace

 Lots of potential the backyard brick patio with outdoor fireplace and cable lights makes for a fun atmosphere. 

We hope to paint the house this summer and fireplace 

There are weeds now in-between the bricks that need to be dwelt with. The patio furniture can use some spray paint. 

We hope to put some sort of shade over the patio, like sail cloth. Haven't figure out yet how that would be done. 

I can imagine some fun outdoor gatherings here. 

Planting Lavender

 

Last Summer I planted lavenders along the fence after weeding the area 

I bought a couple of flats at the Peoria Garden sale after July 4th 2025 

There is so much work that needs to be done at Park Terrace.