Newbie needs thoughts on using landscape design to control weeds
William Dedula
8 years ago
Hello All;
I am not really into gardening but I have about a 3-foot width patch of soil on the front and side of my house that currently have weeds growing and I would like to eliminate them WITHOUT the usage of chemicals. I see how beautifully landscaped various establishments around my home are (restaurants, businesses, etc ...) and would love to reproduce this. I want to use a heavy duty landscape fabric which I cover with stones. I pretty much understand the technique but I have a few questions and are looking for any tips you can offer
1. Refer to the first picture below ...
This is my first area I want to landscape and I believe it will be the easiest because I just want to eliminate the weeds by pulling the weeds and then removing soil down to about 3 inches in depth and then laying heavy duty landscape fabric and filling with stones up to the level of the concrete. Is this the right technique or should I do anything differently ?
2. Refer to the second picture below ...
I want to do the same thing and have the same look as the area above only here, I have two plants that grow year after year and am confused how to handle these. Because I want the stones to come up to the level of the concrete, I assume I have to remove soil to a depth of 3" or so also, right ? How should I remove the soil next to the plants ?
And finally, refer to the photo below for my last area ...
This third area same look as the other two but need to go around these bushes with the landscape fabric/stones up to the level of the grass. I assume I need to remove soil down to a depth of 3" and then cover with stone. Any thoughts on the best way to dig, and apply landscape fabric next to the bushes ?
Finally, I'll just let you know that I purchased Commercial Landscape Fabric from Landmaster from Home Depot. I wanted to get what I thought was a better grade of landscape fabric so I paid about $45 for 4-ft. by 50-ft after I read horror stories from people who bought cheap fabric.
Thank you very much for any suggestions/tips you can provide this newbie.
Tim
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Comments (6)
laceyvail 6A, WV
8 years agoWilliam Dedula
8 years agoRelated Discussions
Newbie Gardener needing design help!
Comments (10)I was asking about the space on the south side of the house in case you could put a tree or two there to help shade the house (that helps with the A/C cost) as well as the SW corner of the backyard (during the middle of the day). It would be a good idea to spend an afternoon in the backyard with your diagram, plotting exactly what part of the backyard is shaded by the fence and other people's trees (I see some in the pictures that look like they might shade part of your yard). That will give you some idea of how much sun the area near the back fence gets. [Ideally you should have done this at various times earlier in the summer as well, since the sun is higher at midsummer than in the spring and fall.] If you put a tree or two adjacent to the house, the area by the fence will be shaded in the morning. Then in the late afternoon, the area by the fence will be shaded by the fence. In general, this doesn't mean you can't grow veggies, but it means that some won't grow as quickly, and some may not be very happy. For example, theoretically tomatoes need 6 hours of sun, but some manage with less. And theoretically my daylilies shouldn't flower, as they only get sun for a couple of hours during the middle of the day -- but the middle of the day is the brightest sun, and the shade during the rest of the day is a bright shade, and they flower pretty enthusiastically. I'm not sure how much room you'll have for veggies -- at least once the prospective backyard trees(s) get larger. So you could place some of the more decorative veggies in the front or side yards. You might want to ask on the Vegetable forum for their recommendations -- not merely which veggies look better in the front yard, but also books which cover the topic. The only one I know is an oldie, Landscaping with fruits and vegetables, by Fred Hagy -- and IIRC it's more fruits than veggies, though it's also very strong on landscape design. Remember that you can obtain books your public library doesn't own through their Interlibrary Loan service (sometimes for a small fee, depending on the policies of your library and your state library system). I believe GW also has a Potager forum (a type of decorative garden of both flowers and edibles) which would give you some ideas. Carrots have beautiful foliage. Tomatoes used to be grown for their foliage and fruit color by people who believed they were poisonous (in fact, I'm growing a tomato which was developed in the U.S. a hundred years ago as a decorative plant by a man who firmly believed tomatoes were poisonous -- the joke was on him, though, because it's a particularly good-tasting variety). I have a generic Grape tomato with beautiful small-scale foliage which would look marvelous on a trellis. Sweet potatoes are grown for their foliage as well. In the front yard, hide your leafy veggies behind or in-between decorative flowers. Grow crops in the front yard which don't have obvious fruit -- red or chartreuse leaflettuce; decorative cabbage; multi-colored Swiss chard, Florence fennel with its fine, ferny tops; etc. Many herbs are perfect for a flowerbed too....See MoreFront Landscape Design for a Newbie
Comments (7)Now is actually the ideal time to transplant most plants. Plants are starting to prepare for dormancy but have time to adjust to their new location so they can settle into their new holes. There are some Encore Azaleas that could easily fit your needs. Sun tolerant, repeat blooming, and hardy through Z6 and meet your size requirements. I know there are some dwarf lilacs around also that could be a good match, though I would probably use it more as a side anchor plant than under the window. I think most of the dwarfs are around 5'. Hydrangeas and viburnum could also be good picks. Most hybrid tea roses would fit in that space also. They really are not as much work as most people make it sound. Just remove spent flowers once a month. At least not in my area. You have enough space there I would definitely recommend doing shrubs then a front layer of shorter plants. Maybe some sweet william/dianthus, sweet violet or a daylily....See MoreLandscape designers native planting suggestion - thoughts?
Comments (5)To paraphrase what they used to sing on a kid's show, some of these things are not like the others... your designer's plants don't go together well. Some of the suggested selections want a lot of moisture and some want much dryer conditions. Unless it's a large area that goes from a high dry spot to a low moist one, some part of that list is gonna suffer. Looking at that list, the evening primrose and whorled milkweed like near-xeric (dry) conditions, while the coneflowers, verbena (not sure this is hardy in your area, actually) and rudbeckia like mesic ("normal"), and the ninebark and willow need steady moisture to prosper. Asclepias incarnata (Swamp Milkweed), which was suggested above, likes mesic to moist conditions, and err on the moist side for best results. Assuming IG stands for Ilex glabra, it prefers a mesic to moist situation, and in your area would also appreciate shelter from cold northwest winter winds. Cedar is adaptable to everything except wet feet, and there are some cool cultivars available of both J. virginiana (eastern red cedar) and J. scopulorum (rocky mountain cedar). No telling about the oak, as you need to know the species to know what conditions are appropriate. Black gum's a good choice unless the site is quite dry. That's a dioecious species, so if you get a female and there's a boy gum around to pollinate, you'll have a messy berry drop in the summer, if that's a consideration. Amsonia is an awesome genus and very adaptable -- A. hubrichtii is quite beautiful in and out of bloom. Joe Pye Weed wants moisture, as does Panicum. Sporobolis wants dryer. Liatris spicata prefers moisture, but there are plenty of liatris species to choose from that will like whatever you've got. Many mesic plants are fairly drought hardy when established, so a dry-ish site might not kill them once they've been in the ground a year or two with good culture and no stress. But that just means they survive a drought, not that they look good and sail through untouched. Coneflowers are a good example. They usually survive dry spells, but they often look pretty wretched. It's sort of a judgment call on whether they're appropriate for you, depending on how pretty you want the garden to look like in the bad times. No offense, but I don't think the designer is very up on his/her natives. I'd say you'd probably lose 30-40% of those original suggested plants over time, depending on whether your situation is dryer or moister. I've found that good way to figure this out, if the site is relatively undeveloped, is to take a look at whatever's growing there now (even weeds), ID it, then look up its preferred habitat relative to moisture availability. That'll help you figure out what will thrive there without irrigation or other artificial life support. Then you can develop a plant list that suits the site. BTW, I assume "swan" coneflower is 'White Swan', an older white selection of E. purpurea. There are better newer white cultivars now, such as 'Primadonna White', which for me has performed better and is a prettier garden subject to my eye....See MoreThoughts on this for controlling weeds?
Comments (4)Have been looking for some kind of cover to control weeds this year in my garden. Are there plants growing in the area that you want to keep? A lot of weeds already growing? I've ruled out black plastic (for "cooking" the roots) and most landscaping fabrics (doesn't allow for tilling in the fall). Good decision. Are you saying that whatever you use, you want to remove it soon for tilling? Just tilling it in? I've been mulling over the use of newspaper but my plot is close to 20ft by 60ft. I came across this product and would appreciate any opinions or guidance.... I think it would work well if that's what you want to use as the foundation for creating a lasagne bed, but not so much if you plan to till later. Not really able to picture how you'll get it to stay there without a lot of bricks or rocks, or by solidly covering it with mulch. Without a solid cover, I think tons of weeds would find their way through the cracks because a lot of sunlight would come through one thin layer of paper. Also don't think one layer would last well all summer exposed to rain and direct sunlight. I think the amount of mulch you would need to make this effective, if going the solid-cover-route, wouldn't be good to till to till down into the soil....See MoreWilliam Dedula
8 years agokitasei
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