wow, what inpiration. We moved into our new house on 2 acres with little to no landscaping. Needless to say we have lots to do so I love this thread for ideas! I have been keeping a powerpoint show going on my computer of nice ideas and I got tons from here! Here are a couple of my favourite spots I managed to accomplish over the last two years: My bird sanctuary created this summer (only the hydrangea and blue spruce were there before): Some fall colour: In the blues: Much more to go! Sharon

Perhaps it's a little late, but I strongly advise AGAINST using carpet under your paths. After a few years, the mulch will break down, the carpet will heave up in places and it won't look good. I speak from experience! The worst is short looped carpet. After years, the backing breaks down and the threads become long and straggly and stick out. Shag at least doesn't have long strings. After years in the ground, the dirt permeates the carpet and it weighs 3 times what it did when you put it in, and it is backbreaking work to remove. Most importantly, though, it is NOT necessary!! A 6 inch layer of woodchips will smother any weeds. No underlay is necessary! Doesn't matter if it's carpet or black landscape cloth, there is no point in putting it down. Let me repeat, a 6 inch layer of woodchips will smother any weeds! And after about 2 weeks it will have settled and compacted to 3-4 inches. I have done many paths, many ways, carpet, landscape fabric, stones, and woodchips. My preferred path now is simply woodchips. From Side Garden in July From 2c June in the Garden 2011

daisyinga -- Paper bags! Duh...why didn't I think of that? That makes SO much sense! I am so glad I posted about this. I will DEFINITELY try that suggestion. Not to mention I still have a few rolls of that contractor-grade brown paper (y'know, the stuff they put down to walk on in your house, while they're doing finish work, so they don't scratch your floors) leftover from the renovation. That would be good too, it sounds like; and so easy to roll out! jmzms -- Thanks! :) I hope they do. Since I posted this and have gotten so many responses, I am starting to wonder if maybe the neighbors are, indeed, more "curious" than "disapproving" when they are doing the drive-bys. foxesearth -- I don't want it to be a big pile of rock...and I don't want it to be a southwest garden...I guess I don't really have any pictures (except in my mind) of how I want it to look. I guess I sort of jumped into it, when hubby and I finally decided that's what we wanted out there. At first, we just wanted something to not make the culvert look so...culvert-y...and also to keep the soil from eroding down into it. The rock garden idea sort of evolved from there. BTW, the pix I posted show more of the flagstone in the actual culvert part, and some of those are being removed in favor of more Tennessee Field Stone (the rock used throughout). There will probably still be some of the flag stone left (because it matches the path I'm building down through my foundation plantings), but it will be only in just the bottom of the culvert.

Somersetlass, yes, it's so easy to get bamboozled indeed! this is the 3rd time I've started the process of changing out our counters to granite. The first 2 times I chickened out, decided to use the money to visit Europe instead. From testimonies throughout the years, from as long as I can remember, all I've heard is about the stress that comes with getting granite countertops. I knew we wouldn't be immune to the anxiety, and I didn't want to deal with all the logistics that comes with it either, but this year I knew I just couldn't work with my existing counters any longer. I think I may have the ugliest kitchen counters known to man-kind. They are formica swirly blue. They're so totally atrocious. We've been living in this house for 3 years now and they still make me cringe every time I enter my kitchen. So I finally took the leap of faith. I'm not even an "I have to have granite counter-tops" type of woman. I honestly would've been happy with formica had they been a neutral color. I like the simple things in life, and sure I like nice things like everyone else does too, but I don't want to lose my mind over them either, but it seems that now this has taken on a life of it's own. What I'm really excited about is our sink more than anything. Do you sense the guilt I'm feeling over such an extravagance? lol