Blog by Melinda Nestlerode
In July of 2020 we had a huge pool removed from our backyard (see Under the Solano Sun Blog Post “New Beginnings”, August 21, 2020). The kids had grown up and moved on, and we felt that there were more productive uses for our backyard space. Naively, we believed we would have the backyard of our dreams in about six months. Fast forward to May 2025, and, sadly, we are about two-thirds of the way there.
We’ve gone through approximately 30 iterations of what our yard should look like. Our hopes and dreams continue to evolve as we actually do the work. Example: The original plans called for Arizona flagstone covering all the pathways. After installing the flagstone over the rose garden paths (Figure 1; Rose Garden), my husband and I agreed to alter our plans. Flagstone is HEAVY. Each stone comes in a rough 2’ x 3’ rectangle, and in order to achieve the look we were after, we had to pick up and cut each stone five to six times. Then, we had to pick each one up again in order to apply mortar underneath. This project definitely has us feeling our age.
One of the backyard components that we have finished, thankfully, is our raised beds (Figure 2; Raised Beds). While the pool occupied our yard, I squeezed a small raised bed garden in the planting strip next to the fence. Since 2020, the chaos and construction in the yard has precluded my growing vegetables. I am thrilled with the opportunity to plant again! Our original plans included six raised beds, but in the end, we have three 9’ x 2’6” beds. My husband designed and built the forms, and together with our son, we poured the concrete (Figure 3; Raised Bed Forms).
I started seeds in February: tomatoes, Swiss chard, hot peppers, cucumbers, basil, thyme, oregano, sage, arugula, eggplant, zucchini, delicata squash, sugar pie pumpkin, cantaloupe, and honey nut squash. Everything thrived except for the thyme, oregano and sage, which I replaced with starts from Morningsun Herb Farm. My exuberance at having a place to grow vegetables had gotten the better of me, however, as my allotted space is too small for all the veggies I planned to grow. My two solutions were, 1) use a modified version of square foot gardening, and 2) grow vertically.
The two zucchini (one yellow, one “grey”), two squashes, pumpkin, cantaloupe and four cucumbers all require significant growing space. I bought a “squash tunnel”, which consists of metal tubing and nylon netting, and planted the Delicata and Honey Nut squashes, Sugar Pie pumpkin and cantaloupe at the base (Figure 4; Squash Tunnel). Each day, I carefully train the plants, direct their tendrils, and tie their wandering vines to the trellis with Velcro® ties – my preferred plant-tying material. I already owned a couple of metal A-frame trellises, so I planted one cucumber at the base of each one. Underneath the A-frames, I planted the arugula and Swiss chard (Figure 5; Cucumber Trellis).
This is an experiment, as I’m not sure the manufacturers of the squash tunnel expected it to be used for four climbing plants. So far, all is well. The Sugar Pie pumpkin has reached the top of the tunnel, is starting the stretch to the other side, and is already setting fruit (Figure 6; Baby Pumpkin); the other three plants using the tunnel are still relatively small. I intend to use nylon hammock sacks to tie the developing fruit to the tunnel.
The work in the backyard continues. We’re currently building a shed and greenhouse, and still have some more concrete work, pathways, a pollinator garden, and a petrified wood water feature to complete. However, the end is in sight; we think we’ll be finished in about a year and a half. In the meantime, we’ll have all the healthy, organic, homegrown vegetables we can eat to fuel our efforts!