My yard is a baron wasteland!

[offgridhermit]

aubreynoramarie

Interesting thing that you pose. Just because there is only sand around your home doesn't mean that you can not build a Garden of Eden in your run, front yard, back yard and the areas you need foliage. Here would be how I would address an issue like that. I would draw on a piece of paper your property. The at my front door I would put a pot on each side of the door. Between each window I would put a pot for plants around the sides I would put in a diagram of a strip of sod for that area. Then in the back I have a patio and a deck and around the patio I would put hanging plants and against each 10 posts I would put a post to grow something in. Continuing we have a chicken run fenced in and its 60' of length and 12' wide and under each window again I would put a pot. Now you at least have an idea of how your home could be designed with foliage.

Now to part 2. You can now write what type of plant or tree or vine or bush you want. You have 2 choices in how you want to place the pot. #1 it can be above ground or #2 it can be above ground. You need now what to decide about how big you want your plant, bush, tree or vine. Large pots support larger root systems and larger bigger plants or vines that need a big root system to survive. Then continue around the home and decide those choices for each and every area. If you are concerned about the goats eating the plant plan for that plant to have protective wire around it and the root system so it case not be destroyed by that type of animal. You may even have to electrically charge each planter they try to eat and train them to stay away from it. Once they have been zapped a number of times they will more than likely never go near it again.

Now to the watering system. You need to design a water system that will give the plants in the pots with out watering the desert sand. I would recommend a drip system bc it is the easiest to maintain and the easiest to set up. Simply saying start with the source by digging a trench around the entire property PVC, PVC cleaning solvent and the PVC glue and run it around the property and set it up (DO NOT GLUE ANYTHING TOGETHER YET) and put couplers at each pot and continue doing that so the water will be drown to each plant. You want to use thicker PVC with walls that will last the test of time so you never want to do it again. While you are the run a section of water to the kids Coop so you can set up a water system and put drip nipples for the kids. No more filling pans up just clearing the nipples from the hard dessert water.

Now for the chicken run. You want a water system that goes all around the run so it can be planted heavy with plants, vines and grass. I have the window boxes that are 12" high X by 4' long X 12" deep. I filled them with great grass soil mix and put hardware cloth over the top by bending it around the perimeter and having it 3" off the top so the kids can not get to the roots and pull it out or scratch it out and the grass grows through the wire and the kids eat there hearts content and keep it trimmed only to the wire. 1 planter box per bird or so. I have 5 birds and 7 boxes. Along the other side of my run I have the vines growing with awning kind of wire for the creeping roses (they love to eat the flowers) in the pot other variety of seasoning they love to eat including broccoli cilantro etc.

Hope this helps a bit turning your barren property into a more vegetative and more of a Garden of Eden.

I wish I could do that. My land is nothing but sand and juniper trees and we have to haul our water. (we live off the grid). I envy all these people with lush green yards and trees that actually have leaves.