Planting Jap Maple in new layered garden (cardboard/staw at bottom)
Kitchenlady (Tennessee, Zone 7a)
8 years ago
Featured Answer
Sort by:Oldest
Comments (20)
Kitchenlady (Tennessee, Zone 7a)
8 years agoRelated Discussions
new thoughts on foundation planting
Comments (35)Perhaps it is a more regionalistic attitude, but a good many west coast homes do not have a traditional approach to foundation plantings. Especially in the cities (Vancouver/Victoria, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco) where space is at a premium, tiny lots are par for the course and houses are often set close to the street, the typical shrub foundation border with an expanse of lawn many times simply doesn't make sense nor does it fit well within this scaled down context. Additionally, with our typically bone dry summers and water limitations, maintaining these dinky little postage stamp front lawns is silly. While some homes, particularly on larger properties, do have more traditional foundation plantings, just as many smaller sized front gardens do not. Lawns are left to the larger and more private backyard and often, the entire front garden is treated as an entry, with generous expanses of paving surrounded by rather deep planting beds filled with an assortment of plants. Others take more of a courtyard approach, with screening or fencing affording some measure of privacy, yet still offering a colorful buffer of plants on both sides, pleasing both the owner and the passerby. And because many parts of the NW still feature large, established native trees, traditional front yards with the shrub border and the usual lawn often just don't work - much too shady and/or rooty - and a very natural yet still somewhat manicured or groomed front garden filled only with shrubs or native plants greets visitors. Taunton Publishing (Fine Gardening magazine) has a handy publication titled Frontyard Idea Book that has some smashing examples of non-traditional frontyard gardens - those that offer something other than the typical foundation border of shrubs, much as I've described - no lawns, great hardscaping, large, welcoming entries accented by massed plantings. And they do address the more typical foundation planting as well, but often in a non-traditional manner - planting beds are deep and spacious and offer a layering of different plant types including small trees, evergreens and shrubs of all sizes, perennials and grasses and groundcovers. My own garden has no typical foundation plantings, partly because of its situation and the hardscaping it already offered when I purchased it, but also because the front garden was too small to include a proper lawn yet still have sufficient planting room for all the plants I wanted to include. I have described it in detail in the past and if I ever progress to the digital camera stage, I'd be happy to share it pictorally. Having a lawnless or untraditional front garden is certainly not possible in every situation - many neighborhoods and HOA's have rather strict requirements for what can or can't or even must be included - but that doesn't necessarily mean that foundation plantings have to be approached in a very traditional or boring fashion. One is really only limited by their own creativity....See MoreNeed some help with the layout of a new garden/orchard!!
Comments (25)I agree that your first priority needs to be to get rid of the grass. If it runs, you don't want it. Period. You will also need to do some kind of edging around the outside perimeter of the fence that will prevent grass from coming back in. Absolutely don't till until you are certain the grass is dead. If you do it this fall, you won't need to worry about any serious residual effects of Roundup by next spring. Although the fence would be an ideal place to trellis vegetables, the disadvantage is that you will not have a place to stand when harvesting. You would either need to make your perimeter beds narrow enough to reach across, or move them three feet inside the fence and erect trellises. I don't know what I think about the trees in the center of the garden. You will simply need to track the sun and think about how much shade trees would cast on your beds once the trees are full grown. It's true that in the south most veggies appreciate some afternoon shade (mine does). That would mean plant your trees to the west of your beds, but again, you don't want that shade to hit them before about two o'clock in the afternoon. I have two dwarf apples in the Northwest and Southwest corners of my garden. They are only two years old, but I believe their shade will be welcome. Thanks glib, for the note about their roots and raised beds. I am glad to know that. There are plenty of sites on the internet that will advise you on how much food to expect from a certain number of plants, but the truth is, you won't know for sure, until you have a couple of years under your belt. I can tell you that rather than growing lots and lots of one kind of food at once, I grow smaller amounts throughout the entire year (under floating row covers in the winter). My goal is to have plenty of fresh food for the table, and anything extra is canned or frozen. This works very well and I never have to face a bushel of anything at one time. If you can find a company that sells a high quality "organic mix", that will likely be just fine for filling your beds. If you really want to hedge your bet, ask them for a sample of it now (about a cup full) and have it tested by your Agricultural extension office. In our town, that costs $5 and gives you a wealth of good information about what is in that soil. Regardless of what you use, you will want to start a compost pile and plan to add compost (and probably some fertilizer too) to each bed each year. As it happens, my brother raises bees. Here is a link to his blog. He knows his stuff and there are lots of pictures. I'm jealous. My hubby draws the line at bees and chickens. :) Good luck to you! Post some pictures later and let us see your results! Here is a link that might be useful: The Door Garden...See MoreNew to Veg. Gardening, Preparing for Next Year
Comments (7)I put down cardboard (or newspaper at least 6 sheets thick and overlapping) and then mulch over that anytime during the year before the ground freezes. Then in the spring it is good for digging into. I have been doing this for years. I till pretty much the whole garden once a year, usually in spring to incorporate whatever grew and whatever I want to add (not much, usually). I only till about 3" deep, max. I have not had a big problem with weeds because a) I plant rather closely, kind of pushing the envelope in terms of spacing because I want the plants to shade out weeds and lessen the need for mulching and b) I hoe. Hoeing is not at all bad if you have a good hoe. I use a stirrup hoe. I actually enjoy cutting their little heads off.:) I don't use raised beds, either. To me that is just extra work and money. I use regular 4' wide rows with 18" between, each row having a double length of soaker hose. Works good for me, especially because my beds can follow the curves of the sun in my yard instead of being straight, but lots of people love those raised beds. Some people would object to my practice because I don't use a lot of mulch once the stuff is planted. I hoe instead ('dust mulch'). It depends on how much water is in the soil and what is growing there. I have a bed that is pretty dry with no mulch that works well because the plants there like that--they're mostly Artemisias, although I also have a bunch of peppers there that are doing well. Those I have mulched with composted manure. Then I have most of the veggies in beds very thickly planted that get a lot of water and no mulch because they don't need mulch--they create their own shade. I keep the space in between rows very small, like 12"-18". I have also tried living mulches, like letting wild portulaca grow and weeding out everything else in between my tomatoes. This worked pretty well, but I think it was actually more labor intensive than having no mulch at all, because I had to hand pull the weeds instead of hoeing. For watering, I use soaker hoses and water only in the early morning, so it has time to soak in before it gets hot and is wasted in evaporation. Yes, people say you have to cover them. I have never covered them and in my highest watering months I think my water bill has increased maybe five bucks. Covering them for me just gets in the way of hoeing.:) I have clay and I think it is great for growing. Everyone complains about it, but I have gardened in sand and I would take clay any day. Clay has tons of nutrients in it. As long as it doesn't get sopping or get hard on top, it is good to grow in, in my experience. I guess what you can use the city compost for would depend on what it was made of. It must be grass and yard waste, no? It might have broadleaf herbicides in it, which wouldn't be good for your garden. I usually get composted manure instead, although the local prison has a program where they give away compost made out of food scraps. I haven't gotten around to trying that yet, but you might see if your local prison, if you have one, has such a program. I think that would be quite safe and you sure can't beat the price. I know what you mean about next year. I am already planning my next-year garden. Definitely going to be more peppers!...See Morelasagna-cardboard or paper
Comments (15)Anne, I did that when I started planting shrubs in front of my house. First, I didn't have enough compost to enrich the whole area, second, I could not afford enough plants to fill in the whole border, and third, there were 2 mature norway maples nearby that made digging difficult. Make that three maples, now that I know how far those roots actually extend. So, digging the whole thing was out. I dug large planting holes - the biggest I could manage, and I broke the rule about not enriching the backfill, adding bagged manure and some peat. Between the shrubs, I spread newspaper and mulched over the whole thing. I actually used seaweed because I couldn't even afford to buy mulch. The shrubs didn't *really* take off until the maples were finally removed a couple of years ago, but they grew and flowered well enough to make me happy I'd done it. And, when I added more shrubs between the originals, the soil was loose and rich from the broken-down mulch and newspaper, and from the action of the worms that thrived in the area. So, yeah, I think it can be done. Not ideal, but gardeners have to find a way sometimes when the "right" way isn't available....See MoreKitchenlady (Tennessee, Zone 7a)
8 years agoKitchenlady (Tennessee, Zone 7a)
8 years agoKitchenlady (Tennessee, Zone 7a)
8 years agoKitchenlady (Tennessee, Zone 7a)
8 years agoKitchenlady (Tennessee, Zone 7a)
8 years agoKitchenlady (Tennessee, Zone 7a)
8 years ago
jalcon
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoKitchenlady (Tennessee, Zone 7a)
8 years agoKitchenlady (Tennessee, Zone 7a)
8 years ago
Related Stories
EARTH DAY5 Ideas for a More Earth-Friendly Garden
Consider increasing the size of garden beds, filtering rainwater and using plants to reduce energy use
Full Story
GARDENING GUIDESGarden Myths to Debunk as You Dig This Fall and Rest Over Winter
Termites hate wood mulch, don’t amend soil for trees, avoid gravel in planters — and more nuggets of garden wisdom
Full Story
FALL GARDENING5 Ways to Put Fall Leaves to Work in Your Garden
Improve your soil and yard the organic way with a valuable garden booster that grows on trees
Full Story
HOUSEKEEPINGHow to Wash Your House
Avoid damage to siding and plants while getting your home's exterior shining clean, with this guide to using pressure washers and hoses
Full Story
GREAT HOME PROJECTSHow to Make Your Garage a Storage Powerhouse
New project for a new year: Add shelving and containers to get your stuff off the garage floor — and still have room for the car
Full Story
LAUNDRY ROOMSHouzz Call: Show Us Your Wonderfully Efficient Laundry Room
Got a drying rack, a folding table or clever storage in your laundry room? We want to see it!
Full Story
GREEN BUILDINGHow to Recycle Your Kitchen
Instead of adding to the junk pile — and paying landfill fees — get rid of old appliances, cabinets and countertops the ecofriendly way
Full StorySponsored
jalcon