What do you think about my Urban Backyard Garden ideas?
Question by james: What do you think about my Urban Backyard Garden ideas?
I plan on clearing out much of my backyard and redoing it. I had planned on raising chickens however decided on ducks. Next to the duck’s house will be a pond full of plants for them to eat. However, the pond will be big enough that we will harvest Tilapia in it. We will be planting duckweed which both ducks and tilapia eat inside the pond. We will be knocking out our old playhouse in the backyard, and planting three honey-crisp apple trees. We will be also planting a peach tree and a cherry tree where out other two trees died. Inside, we are planning on bringing a Meyer’s lemon tree which only grows to be a few feet. Also, around the bamboo we plan on planting some bamboo which we will be able to eat. We added a compost to help make our soil much more fertile. We will also be expanding our vegetable garden. We so far have started our seedlings of: onions, leeks, cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, and a few others. We also have planted Cilantro, Basil, Rosemary, and one other herb I cannot remember. Anyway, I just wanted to know everyones thoughts on the whole plan. If anybody has suggestions on how to improve it or even anything to add I would be thrilled. Thanks again!
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4 Responses to What do you think about my Urban Backyard Garden ideas?
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Sounds like you have a big backyard and LOTS of time. Are you sure you’re not going overboard? You’re going to have to take ever of EVERYTHING, and research the plants you are growing and the trees you are putting in, so that you do things properly.
shiamsleeping
July 16, 2012 at 4:46 am
First off, what you are planning to do wouldn’t really fit into most peoples idea of a Urban Backyard Garden, more like a hobby farm or market garden , a large enough pond to take tilapia with fruit trees plus the rest?
If you have the room why not, just remember that any pond that you have would need to have a pretty good filter system because of the duck’s defecation
Vonstrada
July 16, 2012 at 5:34 am
A pond that will support ducks rarely will fit in an urban back yard. And if that same pond has to support tilapia, you will have a fish farm. A fish farm has to be huge with massive filtration and feeding schedules…..and no ducks. I would rethink the duck pond. And probably the tilapia as well unless you have a huge garden area to work with.
pondlady
July 16, 2012 at 6:27 am
Your garden plan sounds wonderful!
One thing… Bear in mind that ducks catch fish. I’ve seen domesticated ducks wipe out all the fish in a farm pond. Unfortunately, they won’t just eat the duck weed.
So… If you don’t mind the ducks eating the fish…
How large of a pond do you plan to build? A few ducks can completely ruin a small pond, you might need to fence them out, or just allow them access to a small section of the pond… because…. they’ll clean out the pond lilies while cleaning out the fish. Might want to stick with chickens… they won’t destroy the pond… but they will wreck the garden if allowed to roam free…
So… build chicken tractors…
Ducks like water, but it’s possible to raise them on the ground… like chickens…
stone
July 16, 2012 at 7:00 am