Ugly front yard
Heza
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
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Heza
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoRelated Discussions
Hardy evergreen plant/shrubs?
Comments (6)I am located very close to where you live. Coral honeysuckle is not evergreen to our area. It looses all of it's leaves in the fall. I use it to climb on my chainlink fence for privacy in the spring and summer. It is great! It has beautiful flowers that attract bees and humming birds like crazy. It creates shade for you if you want it, and it grows fast. It is not invasive at all. I have 2 of them in the ground, and I mulch them in fall. I don't know about growing them in a pot, but it is worth a try. In the spring, it will get alphids when it is starting to bloom, so, go to the store and buy Rose spray and spray it real good. The alphids will all die off. You could wash it off with water from your hose, but if you want this vine near your window, you might want to spray instead. If you really want an evergreen, coral native honeysuckle is not what you want....See MoreOvergrown UGLY front yard
Comments (3)Truthfully, it is easier to lay down a thick well-overlapped layer of newspapers or corrugated cardboard over the native soil, then cover this with several inches of new screened topsoil or (if you recently won the lottery) of soil-less mix, such as pro-mix. The newspapers/cardboard will eventually rot away, but before they do, the underlying weeds and vines will be killed. In the meanwhile, whatever you put on top of the new soil (or soil-less mix) whether it is grass seed or sod or annuals and perennials in a flower bed--whatever it is will have gotten a good start with no competition from the overgrown jungle. A couple of things to watch for: MOWING: Mow or string trim the existing vegetation until it's as LOW as it will go, before you start laying. WATER:You have to frequently water ANY new planting into the new soil/soil-less mix. For the first year, the roots of the new planting will not penetrate the underlying newspapers/cardboard, so the roots will be shallow and will require more water than if they were growing in deeper soil. By the middle of the second summer, you can dial down the watering, but until then, you really do have to water more frequently. (I myself would rather water than weed, however, I live in Wisconisin, where water is not rationed). If you are making a flower bed, you can cut down somewhat on the watering by adding a thick-ish mulch on top of the new surface, but for a lawn, you cannot mulch. ENOUGH THICKNESS: For this trick to work, you need a LOT of newspapers or cardboard. You can probably get the amount you need at a recycling center, or by going around and collecting from your neighbors on recycling day. You want at least 6-8 sheets of newspapers over each spot, and at least 2-3 inches of overlap. Corrugated in a single layer is enough, but the overlap will need to be more as the cardboard is stiffer. Watering the newspaper/corrugated helps stop if from blowing away, and helps soften it to assist with conforming to the local bumpyness of the ground. But, lay soil on top asap, anyhow, because even quite wet newspaper will dry faster than you think and take flight at even a small wind. AMOUNT OF SOIL: You want to add at least 1.5 inches, and 2" are better. This is a LOT of soil, so you might want to do this in sections, a little every day. QUALITY OF THE NEW SOIL: If the new soil delivered is of low quality, you are simply trading one bad soil for another. If your local landscaper offers different grades of soil, get the one with most compost already in it. That way, even if weeds do get started, they'll more easily pull out of a loose and fluffy soil than a crusted low-organic- matter soil. Or, if you can afford soil-less mix (easier to afford for a flower bed than a lawn) you will have no weed-seed problem. TIMING: Do all this AFTER tree-seed drop next spring, or you will be pulling out a million baby maples, elms, ash trees, whatever, out of your newly delivered soil. Some weed seeds will blow in on top no matter what you do, but by waiting until after tree-seed drop, you'll cut your weeding chores substantially....See MoreAllergies to Daylilies?
Comments (4)Hi kmarissa, I am not an expert but I am deathly allergic to true lillies. My airways close up if I'm in a closed room with them. Daylilies do not affect me at all. I have over 200 and I even handle/store their pollen. I do have a few true lillies planted far from the house in the backyard. I admire them from afar and avoid that bed when they are in full bloom. I just enjoy looking at them too much to not have a few. Keep in mind everyone is different and do whats best for your family. Hope this helps. Kimkats...See MoreNeed help with front yard suburban area
Comments (6)If the situation is typical, it would be only occasionally that the gate would be used. It's overkill to make that stepping stone path, and it does not need to transgress the lawn. Why not let the mulch itself be the path and forget about adding "stones"? It would be easier, cheaper and cleaner looking. Just create a route that is not planted. If you decide later that you need the "stones" just add them in the mulched route. Mulch maintenance? If you're speaking about annual top dressing of mulch, this is what I'm trying to guide you away from. I've said many times on the forum ... that mulch is a temporary covering of the soil until plants establish and cover the mulch. There are exceptions, where one WANTS mulch to be the finished product, and these areas must be top dressed (usually annually) except for stone mulches. However, in the end most people want green foliage as opposed to a desert of brown. If you plan for green, then there is usually no need for any mulch top dressing. It's a one-time thing. Also, I would back off on the thickness to 1 1/2" or 2". It does not take all that long for groundcover to cover an area if one treats the plants well and installs them at a reasonable spacing. It depends on the plant to determine the spacing. For myself, I'm happy if it covers in 2 years and I can go without additional mulch. It is helpful to use Preen on the finished bed during the establishment period in order to keep sprouting weeds to a minimum. (You would kill existing undesirable plants before planting new plants.) In planning the planting, instead of using plant symbols, it would be better if you just subdivide the larger bed into the different plant areas. In other words, give a plant group type an outline to signify it as different from other areas (like bed lines within the larger bed.) Instead of thinking about individual plants at this point, it would be better if you were thinking about collective masses and their shapes, sizes and locations. In real life, one mass will touch another with no space between them, so there is no need to show space between them on the plan....See MoreHeza
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