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Thread: Outdoor space

  1. #1
    Euphoric ! bright sparks's Avatar
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    Outdoor space

    So ladies, I was just browsing realtor.ca during my kids naptime with a hot brew doing a bit of fantasizing lol and it just got me to thinking about back garden space.

    Does anyone have a really large back garden? Like super big? I have a large back garden right now, but it is a relatively new property and there is no kind of shrubbery or flowerbed so I have perfect visual of all my kids if I just sit on my back patio and watch them get their outdoor play on. My last garden was much larger and I used to have space down each side of the house too. Not a little bit, like 15 feet either side and it drove me nuts that when I was dealing with one child, another could have high tailed it innocently round the side of the house, causing massive stress for me lol I ended up placing temporary fence and had we stayed there I would have had the chain link fence moved to be in line with the end of the house so no more disappearing act. The garden was however fully fenced.

    I've just seen the most beautiful house, and have to keep telling myself, you're doing your degree, not moving house lol, why oh why do I do this to myself!?! But it really made me think about how I could possibly do daycare with the garden. It is extremely big and has lots of flowerbeds and is an absolute beauty. Does anyone ever partition an area off or do you just train your kids not to wander off? I think as a kid, wandering and exploring in a safe environment is important and exciting, but watching 5 kids go in all different directions in such a space, even after nearly 10 years doing this, has me feeling a little WHAT!!! little kids can disappear into a flowerbed so easily that I'd be a nervous wreck if I couldn't confine them to at least a controlled amount of space where I had clear sight of them every second of the day.

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    Euphoric !
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    In my ideal world, I would have a huge garden. Being able to have the kids help and learn what to do and having fresh fruit and veggies would be so nice

    In reality....I have no clue what I'm doing and don't really like the work that comes with a garden LMAO!! Last year we planted peas, cucumbers, tomatoes and carrots. We got 4 tomatoes and a couple handful of peas, that's it! lol. Not sure if we will do a garden again this year or not. I have a smaller back yard and we did container gardening. The kids loved it and enjoyed helping water but lost interest (can't blame them...it wasn't very fun to have nothing grow!)

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    We put up a gate - in your case would need a fence piece and gate it sounds like but the gate goes from the corner of the house to the fence with a small piece of actual fence about a 7 foot area. That keeps the kids in the back yard - the gas meter, vents for furnace, hot water tank, dryer, water tap and air conditioner all down in that area. We have a gate at the other end too. Parents enter that gate, walk along sidewalk to join us in the back yard for pick ups in nice weather. They know to close the gate tightly behind them. We have a deck on the other side even with the house with a gate at the opening to the yard so when closed they are contained. Solved all the worrying I was doing trying to count heads of kids I couldn't see. Well worth the costs.

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    Euphoric !
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    I take it you are referring to your yard as your garden?

    I have both a huge yard and a huge garden (for veggies). I have 3 acres and the kids are allowed to play in a 1 acre space. I do not have it fenced but the kids know their boundaries!! They learn quickly where they are allowed and where they are not. I also don't allow the kids in my veggie garden!

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    Euphoric !
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    Never, never look over the fence! It is always greener in other peoples yards and you realize what you are missing when you start shopping around!! I say this, but admit I always research our neighbors when their houses go up for sale...and we often check out their houses when they have open houses! Just to see!

    We have a pond. We bought garden fencing (about 3.5feet tall) it all links together. We circled it around the pond. It looks weird but it keeps the kids and toys out. If it were just our daughter we would have left it open and trained her to stay away. But once you add other kids and more than one kid that just isn't an option. Would something like that work?

    I do believe the kids would learn to stay out if you made it clear...but it would likely drive you bonkers to get them trained.

    We don't have a large garden but we do have 9 smaller garden beds throughout the yard. This year I plan to do container gardening with them. Plants that are known to grown well in containers. Over the coming years we are completely redoing the yard and eventually will have a dedicated veggie garden but I don't feel like trying to get it going now.

    My grandparents had a MASSIVE veggie garden in their yard and I have fond memories of helping out in the garden and eating endless fresh veggies. I would LOVE to do the same but know it would never fully happen. I hate bugs. A garden like that has more creepy crawlies than I care to handle!! I stick with easy care plants!!

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    Quote Originally Posted by bright sparks View Post
    Does anyone have a really large back garden? Like super big?

    Does anyone ever partition an area off or do you just train your kids not to wander off?
    We live in what used to be fishing cottage with small garden but a previous owner bought little piece of land that was part of old farm so we have just over 5 acres.

    We not fenced in but we have cleared area of about 3/4 acre which is back garden and then some wooded area. We have big play equipment with climbing wall and 2 slides and swings and covered higher up area. We have picnic benches. We have lot outside toys like Little Tike Playhouse - one look like cottage, one look like log cabin.

  8. #7
    Euphoric ! bright sparks's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by mickyc View Post
    I take it you are referring to your yard as your garden?

    I have both a huge yard and a huge garden (for veggies). I have 3 acres and the kids are allowed to play in a 1 acre space. I do not have it fenced but the kids know their boundaries!! They learn quickly where they are allowed and where they are not. I also don't allow the kids in my veggie garden!
    Garden to me, being English, is green space so lawned area, flowerbeds etc. A yard would literally be a concrete space. Still considered a "back garden" but often referred to as a yard, at least to me. My vegetable garden is my "veggie plot" just an area of my back garden within the whole space. I have a veggie patch at the back of my garden now that is 30 x 15 so a huge lot for growing goodies, and the other 80 ft is patio with BBQ, conversational, dining set and umbrella and then grass with a wooden play structure, my kids trampoline and a small shed full of outdoor daycare toys. All is fully fenced.

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    Euphoric ! bright sparks's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lee-Bee View Post
    Never, never look over the fence! It is always greener in other peoples yards and you realize what you are missing when you start shopping around!! I say this, but admit I always research our neighbors when their houses go up for sale...and we often check out their houses when they have open houses! Just to see!

    We have a pond. We bought garden fencing (about 3.5feet tall) it all links together. We circled it around the pond. It looks weird but it keeps the kids and toys out. If it were just our daughter we would have left it open and trained her to stay away. But once you add other kids and more than one kid that just isn't an option. Would something like that work?

    I do believe the kids would learn to stay out if you made it clear...but it would likely drive you bonkers to get them trained.

    We don't have a large garden but we do have 9 smaller garden beds throughout the yard. This year I plan to do container gardening with them. Plants that are known to grown well in containers. Over the coming years we are completely redoing the yard and eventually will have a dedicated veggie garden but I don't feel like trying to get it going now.

    My grandparents had a MASSIVE veggie garden in their yard and I have fond memories of helping out in the garden and eating endless fresh veggies. I would LOVE to do the same but know it would never fully happen. I hate bugs. A garden like that has more creepy crawlies than I care to handle!! I stick with easy care plants!!
    lolol

    I flipped houses for 10 years with my husband so I always get the itch to buy and move to renovate versus envying what it would appear others have that I don't. This is the first house we haven't done major renovations too but are at a point where certain things need to be replaced and we have entertained, likely stupidly, the idea of buying something already done. Current space NEEDS kitchen and appliances due to water damage and swelling of cabinetry and goodness knows what the previous owners did. Also a new furnace and we would like to finish basement so I have a place to be separate from our teenagers so I can study in peace come September.

    Likely won't move though. I shuck myself out of that idea pretty quickly lol

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    Quote Originally Posted by bright sparks View Post
    lolol

    I flipped houses for 10 years with my husband so I always get the itch to buy and move to renovate versus envying what it would appear others have that I don't. This is the first house we haven't done major renovations too but are at a point where certain things need to be replaced and we have entertained, likely stupidly, the idea of buying something already done. Current space NEEDS kitchen and appliances due to water damage and swelling of cabinetry and goodness knows what the previous owners did. Also a new furnace and we would like to finish basement so I have a place to be separate from our teenagers so I can study in peace come September.

    Likely won't move though. I shuck myself out of that idea pretty quickly lol
    That's what we used to do also. But with this current house, we have plenty of things to keep us busy, so I shouldn't get the itch for a long time! (I say this as we just finished a flip as a side project, lol)

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  12. #10
    Euphoric ! bright sparks's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by superfun View Post
    That's what we used to do also. But with this current house, we have plenty of things to keep us busy, so I shouldn't get the itch for a long time! (I say this as we just finished a flip as a side project, lol)
    It's addictive isn't it lol. And pretty sad that I am most comfortable and happiest in a high paced and stressful environment. If I can refrain from doing anything till school starts I'm pretty sure I'll be more than snowed under with all that being a full time student and parent entails

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