Okay, so I'm easily convinced on not going with the landscape fabric. I was looking into it and realized that the place I bought it from had it on clearance for about $2 for a 3' by 50' roll, instead of $20. I had been saving cardboard to use as a barrier that would eventually compost instead of the fabric, so I'll just go that route instead of the landscape fabric. Could I use landscape fabric temporarily in the vegetable garden? Classes that I have attended emphasized plastics, but I was just wondering what I could do with the fabric now. As far as border plant ideas... I had just started from seed some zinnia, assylum, sweet william, and Lupine. All but the Lupine have sprouted. I also have some day lillies that I can divide and transplant to put into the back instead of the front. There's another low growing shrub with white and green variegated leaves that I can take cuttings from on a side yard. I started a forsythia bush from a branch that had started to take root, but those can get rather large. I also have some roses that I am going to experiment with taking cuttings, that's probably a longer term project. There's also some Salvia next to the house that I would rather move out to the border. Last year I planted some dahlia in the border, but I apparently didn't give it enough winter protection, or it's just not ready to wake up yet. I'm also interested in getting some Iris started. Another alternative would be to transplant the runners from our patch of everbearing strawberries. Can't ever get enough berries! I had entertained the idea of creating a "room" at the southwest corner. Instead of putting the grapes on a trellis, I would train it to a small arbor with raspberries in a raised bed on either side. Then we could put the vegetable garden in that corner a little more hidden from view, or make that more of a cutting flower garden. Another idea would be to put a bench in a shaded area on that side of the yard, maybe inside the arbor, so there is still a view of the children's play area, but my wife could oversee while reading and not be in the middle of the action. I think I need to print a copy of the picture of the lot so I can commit more ideas to paper, and locations of these flowers that I mention, to further develop this master plan. One thing I realized last year was how effective using cardboard was to prevent some things from coming up, and how dead the soil I was using was since it was coming from deeper in the ground. Building up the fertility of the soil will definitely need to be part of the plan. As far as priorities, I would like to move the raspberries sooner than later, and establish the border around the peach and cherry trees. The trampoline going in-ground got an early start, but the support structure to prevent erosion is bigger than I think I realize right now. I've seen people use brick, steel sheeting, and lumber, but I've yet to determine my own approach.

Carefully cut them down and immediately paint the stump with RoundUp. It will resprout, but either brake the sprouts off or spray them with RoundUp. Suckers will also come up from the roots, but keep mowing them. Eventually, without leaves for photosynthesis, all will die. But it is an ongoing battle for a while.I usually never use Roundup, but do for locust and Johnson grass & poison ivy. (I am allergic to locust thorns and poison ivy, and you never get all of the roots of Johnson grass the first time.)

I guess our yard is a good size ... we have 1/3 acre ... and we love it ... but when the tree service cut down our maple, he said "These trees shouldn't be grown in small yards like yours." It kind of intimidated us to planting anything but "small" trees. Nevertheless, as I have been aptly reminded by many comments here, and I thank you for them, our yard really isn't that tiny, and there is a lot we can do. I just remembered that my neighbor is growing a white pine at the back of their property, so I don't know what I am worrying about. We do have a large white pine at the far back corner of our property, so there is shade there, but not until the afternoon. We love that tree even though it's huge (80' I'd guess). The rest of the backyard is a blank canvas. Thanks for all the suggestions ... we will look around more & consider all our choices & not be too hasty. The thermometer said 98 today ... this shouldn't be until July !

Hey, I found an interesting article about Virginal Supreme court ruling on tree nuisance. "The court ruled last week that if your neighbor's tree poses a danger to your house, you can force the neighbor to prune or even fell the tree." Just so you know that you may have a right to ask for the neighbor's tree removal if it actually harms your property's foundation, pipes, etc. in the future. But the article says "casting shade or dropping leaves, flowers, or fruit" doesn't count as this type of nuisance. The dispute on the article was also on a sweet gum. ;-) Here is a link that might be useful: Washington Post Article This post was edited by ttonk on Fri, May 10, 13 at 17:18