Do you love hobby farming or homesteading but not always love what it’s doing to your yard? Put the charm back in the farm with these simple and cost effective tips to clean up your yard and enjoy your outdoor space as well as sustain your family from it. Don’t forget to sign up on Helping Homestead to find reliable care for your hobby farm when you travel.
Big Project? Start Small
Is your property a bit of a fixer upper? It can seem a little daunting when the amount of projects seem endless.
Prioritize Major Issues
Some projects will need to be done before others. Leveling uneven terrain before putting in garden beds, replacing broken fences or other structures, and cleaning up overgrowth are good places to start. These may not be the projects you look forward to, but it will probably help other projects go more smoothly down the road.
Our home is from the 1950’s and I’m pretty sure that was the last time the yard was tended to. The fence was hideous and falling over, weeds in old garden beds were taller than I am, and piles of dirt, branches, and just poor maintenance left bald spots in the grass everywhere. These were the projects we tackled first. We saved some money by getting a natural wood fence and staining it ourselves. We also grew grass by seed instead of sod - it required a lot of tending to but definitely cost less. Between this and taking down overgrown trees and brush, we had already made a pretty substantial impact in the look of our yard.
Planning and Organizing the Layout of your Hobby Farm
If your hobby farm includes animals, where they are kept can likely have an impact on your entire yard or property. If you have a smaller yard, you may want to consider a larger or moveable run for your chickens. Free ranging is great, but if you have a small space they will completely destroy your grass and gardens. Not to mention make you unlikely to ever want to go barefoot!
For animal enclosures, not matter how clean you keep them there will always be some odor. If your property is larger, be strategic on where you place pens and coops. For backyard chickens, make sure you check out our blog on local laws to make sure you’re in compliance with regulations on coop placement.
Landscaping
If your yard is a blank slate like ours was, the $$$ can really start to add up when you’re thinking about landscaping. For the bigger things that we didn’t feel like we could start from seed (like trees and larger bushes) we did buy from nurseries, but we did not do it all at once. We bought one or two larger things a year, and always waited until a bit later in the season to get discounts. We also still bought them when they were rather small, and it has been really amazing to watch them grow every year.
Love flowers? Do some research on perennials! Especially in our first few years, I didn’t want to waste money on flowers when they only lasted one season. I was amazed at how many perennials I loved and suited the amount of sun our yard gets.
Raised beds
This is next on our list! We have a dedicated garden space where we plant our veggies in the ground. We use a barrier to avoid weed growth, but we don’t love the look of it. Since we didn’t want to deal with all the weeding, we decided to build some custom raised beds! We plan to leave the barrier and cover with either mulch or gravel. Keep an eye on our social media pages for updates on this project!
Elevated Planters
We were getting so sick of critters eating our strawberries. I don’t like using cages on everything, so we anchored gutters to our fence to plant them in. It was a really cheap project, and adding a coat of purple really made them pop! Click here to see the video of how we did it.
Critter-Proof Flowers
Do you have chickens that free range in your yard? You probably have already experienced them eating you flowers. Use this cheat sheet to know what to plant and what to avoid
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Small Touches that Make an Impact
One of our recent projects was edging out one foot of grass along the back of our fence line. We planted perennials and covered the ground in mulch, and it made a huge difference. I added some shepherd hooks with hanging pots this year for some height while everything is still pretty small.
Other projects have provided us with some large rocks that have now turned into free landscaping! We also used smaller rocks to edge garden beds as well.
Clean your Compost Corner
If you compost, there are still ways of keeping it tidy. Check out our blog post on The Beginner’s Guide to Composting to see ideas for compost storage and location.
Sheds
Depending on how expansive your hobby farm is, of course you can accumulate a lot of equipment and of course, stuff! If you don’t have a lot of garage or barn storage space, you may want to think about a shed. Check out the selection at Home Depot or even Costco where there are many options including the option for delivery and assembly.
Keep Coops Cute!
Have chickens or thinking about getting some? Keep your coops cute! Find some good plans if you’re handy and want to build your own, or check out some of these commercial options.
- Tractor Supply Coop
- 12 Chicken Capacity
- $560
- This coop is adorable! And a great option for a bigger flock. I especially love the planters from some extra charm.
- Amazon Coop
- 4 Chicken Capacity
- $129
- This is my favorite affordable backyard coop. You’re also able to move it without a tractor which can help if you want to rotate where the coop rests.
- Cutest Coops
- 4+ Chicken Capacity
- $2,000+
- Are these coops expensive? Yes. Are they literally the most adorable coops you've ever seen and will they make you want every one? Yes! If you have the budget, check out their variety of ready made or custom order options that will make even the least outdoorsy person want to have chickens.
I hope this post has given you some ideas on how to tidy up your backyard space. Remember, you want it to be a haven for everything that lives or grows there - and that includes you and your family! Check out our blog page for other content on gardening and homesteading and sign up for helpinghomestead.com to find or become a hobby farm sitter!
