Beautiful, hostanista! I love your slate steps.

So are you saying that the greenery around your plants is weeds, and not intentional groundcover? From here it looks lovely.

That's right Ann, pretty much total weeds and none of it that I planted. There are some columbines that popped up on their own which I love, and some bugle weed (ajuga) that muscled its way in there too (no idea where it came from), wild strawberry which never gives any fruit because it's way too shady there, and tons of Forget-Me-Nots which I pull out by the hundreds every year. But most of it is a wild plant in the Cranesbill family called Herb Robert/Geranium Robertanum (sometimes known as Stinky Bob), tiny pink flowers, pretty leaves. And very easy to pull out where I don't want it.

Fun project!

> a wild plant in the Cranesbill family called Herb Robert/Geranium Robertanum (sometimes known as Stinky Bob)

ohhhhhhhhhhhhh

I have been wondering what that stinky weed is! Thank you!

Also agreed that your "weeds" look intentional and very pretty. Appreciate the landscaping photos from you and OP both.

It's going to be a BIG job, but well worth the effort.

If your soil is Sandy amend with lots manure, if it's clay amend with peat and manure. A good base is essential if you want to max out the plants potential. (Esp. The larger types)

I love my cranesbill! Something else I got from my Mom. It's been happily living under this maple tree for at least 15 years.

Ann, you have a great start. Wait until you start to see some of the lovely hosta on this forum. You will begin buying more and more and then one year, no where to put them all!

I also have a few wildflowers - violets and violas - that apparently tagged along with my Mom's transplants, and pop up as little surprises throughout the Forest.

when starting a garden under large trees .. i would suggest using round up to kill the grass ..

every root of a tree that you cut in digging ... results in the tree putting out new feeder roots... right at the edge of the hole you dug.. which means.. right into the hosta ..

these are not trees that are bad [water competitors] .. like maples..etc ... but why complicate your life any more than you have to ... by digging up the grass... and cutting all the roots near the surface ..

also .. after planting.. watering should all be broadcast to the whole bed ... because.. if you just water the plants.. where do you think the tree will put roots to get the water ...

also.. violets can become a nuisance .... keep them in check ... as they multiply freely not only from the rhizomes/roots.. but they also seed rather freely ... out here on my 5 acres.. they are fine.. back in suburbia... they started trying to take over everything... including the lawn .... at some point.. they werent cute anymore.. lol ...

ken

Thanks, Ken - I expect I will end up using Roundup (very carefully, since I have a lot of plants I don't want to kill!) When I first started planting under the trees, there was no grass there - which was why I started adding shade-tolerant plants in the first place.

I appreciate your comment about watering. We always water that area with sprinklers, so we do get the whole area, trees and all. We planted every tree in the yard, and are very protective of them, so we make sure they all get plenty of water.

So far the violets are OK for now, but I'll keep an eye on them. I have no qualms about ripping things out if they do not suit my purposes.

What a perfectly gorgeous landscape you are creating! If I had stone steps, hostas, and other plants among trees like that, they'd have to invent another zip code for the garden, 'cos I'd be out there most of the time!

the trick to spraying.. is very low pressure.. which creates big drops.. that fall to the earth.. as compared to high pressure which atomizes it and it floats all over the place ..isacc newtons first law of spraying... gravity ...

many other tricks ...

but for sure.. practice with water in your sprayer.. on the driveway... where you can see the drops hitting such ... there are 3 variables to creating drops...

how many handle pumps ... tank pressure ...

then tip adjustment ...

then after lots of practice.. trigger pressure ...

do not use the premix gizmo ... buy a good pump tank .. and i like the tall 3 gallon ... because i dont have to bend down to pick it up ... and i never fill it with 3 gals.. because 20 odd pounds of water will pull your shoulder out of the socket... lol

and the last thought for now .... dont spray for long periods of time ... its hard to concentrate ... spray an area ... killing big swaths of grass ... come back a few days later when you can see the grass yellowing.. then go in closer to good plants and do the more precise spraying ...

oh.. and try to avoid windy days ... though once you get good at it.. it wont matter ...

ken

Ester, I just put a cup holder on the swing, to make it even more pleasant to sit out there! Hubby and I sat on the swing last night, enjoying the fact that we don't have mosquitoes yet.

I'm glad you noticed the stepping stone paths - that was last summer's projects, and one of my favorite things.

Thanks for the tips, Ken! Avoiding windy days in Grand Forks is like avoiding sunny days in Phoenix, but I'll try. I recognize that since I'm looking for a long-term solution, I can't expect instant results.

First priority is to get the veggie garden planted - than I can concentrate on the Forest. Of course we're supposed to get rain all weekend, but that's typical Memorial Day weather for us.