Does anyone else find themselves doing landscaping or gardening projects in stages that are dependent on the amount of $$ available?

I put in two tiers the first year & the 3rd tier the next year to get the 3 tiers in the garden, because I couldn't afford all the lodgestones at once. Doing it that way left me with less garden space than I needed the first year when $$ was very tight after we moved, & I still have one tier that doesn't have as much "good dirt" made as the others.I can make great garden dirt with a little bit of icky dirt, aged manure, fall leaves & grass clippings, plus kitchen waste, but I have to have a place to put it!

Since the steers are eating the strawberry bed again, I am moving it, but I can only afford about half the number of lodgestones that I need.  So I moved half the bed.  That means I still have this project "in the works" next year, & only half as many strawberries as I wanted to move.

In the front yard with landscaping, "North Side Project, Phase One" is completed, but Phase Two should have been done this year & wasn't, due to $$. Instead of completing the enlargement of the bark bed to make a triangle along the house & short front fence instead of a wide rectangle next to the house, I replaced 2 bushes that died.  

The prune-plum tree I ordered from Stark Bros & planted in a new front bed at the end of the driveway died. They will replace it in April of 2010, but now that tree is a year behind, fruit-wise.

It seems like everything takes twice as long as it needs to.  Does anyone else have this problem?  Has anyone found a solution?

It seems like my gardening efforts are always in progress. If everything works out, most of my back yard will eventually be used for growing food of one kind or another.

For instance, my daughter bought me a strawberry plant one year and after three or four years, it really produced well and had many offshoots. This year, I moved them all to a corner of the yard where they'll have room to spread. I still need to block or brick around it to keep the lawn mowing guy from cutting too close to them.

I want to use an entire southwest corner of the backyard to grow more permanent things, but so far, all I've been able to put in is rhubarb and Jerusalem artichokes. There's room for a lot more.

It's not only the money, but time and energy that holds back plans. One of these days, I'll have it all together. Then I'll probably move and start over.

This is something I'm thinking about in 2010.  I have been so busy with school and work that I haven't made any progress at all with the garden/landscaping.  DH has managed to start several projects that he's given up on and our front yard is partially dug up from one of these projects.  Part of the problem is funds to buy the stone, etc., needed but the bigger problem in my opinion is the lack of a plan.  School will be finished for me in six weeks!  I plan to work a bunch over the holidays, redo the budget and start to make some plans.  I can't wait to get started!

My yard was a show place when my step-father was alive. He did the yard in stages. Then Mom did her thing after she became a widow. The result is that I have some very unusual varieties of Holly trees plus we have a lot of other trees. Step-father planted 40 Red Maples in the 8 acre yard.

Did I mention that the Red Maples were free ? They were on property that Dominion Virginia Power had. Step-father got permission to take these baby trees from some right of way. It helped the power company plus it helped us.

There are some days when I wish that we had some fruit trees (pears, crabapples,,and apples), but I do not feel like paying for them to be planted.

As I recall, we didn't get all the gardening supplies at once either.

zohnerfarms:

Since the steers are eating the strawberry bed again, I am moving it, but I can only afford about half the number of lodgestones that I need.  So I moved half the bed. 

Friday I used the last of the Lodgestones I have to make an end cap so the bed at least looks finished, even though it only goes half way.  DH helped me gather  a bunch of leaves to dig into the garden Friday evening.