Need ideas/hacks to make our home low maintenance
Heidi M
5 years ago
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Ideas for LOW maintenance, long & skinny outdoor area
Comments (9)I have a narrow shrub border around my patio, it is lovely and very low maintenance with the bark mulch. Some of my favorite plants have been "Robusta" juniper, Spirea, (can't think of the variety offhand, but it has yellow foliage with hot pink flowers and the new growth is red, it is the total show stopper in my yard.) I also planted "Miss Kim" lilac which has kept a nice tidy size, and a small japanese maple called "Fireglow" which I highly recommend. It is more columnar than some of the other japanes maples. There's also coralbark japanese maple which is also somewhat columnar. Mail order the maples if you have to. I did for mine and I was totally skeptical when the pathetic little sapling arrived, but it has thrived and shot up in growth. I've also planted some dwarf evergreens, which is just my personal passion. Your landscape designer should be able to design a nice mixed shrub border, and if not go to any reputable nursery and they should be able to help. I really love the way flowering shrubs add a punch of color and are super low maintenance compared to perennials. But, I have perennial shasta daisies planted in between the shrubs to give a pretty burst of light in the summer and it is great when I sit out at night on the patio, those flowers show off. There are also easy care landscape roses which are nice in a shrub border but they don't always sell these varieties in ye olde big box garden center. I've got a native rose, called "Virginia's rose" which I have to beat back with a shovel it is so hardy. It only blooms once a year though, and there are other, more continual bloom varieties that are also hardy. And they've really done a lot with breeding smaller varieties on weigela, which is another hardy flowering shrub. And there are also dogwood shrub varieties with lovely foliage and bark. Redtwig dogwood is one example. So those are some ideas to get you started....See MoreHelp! How to make a low maintenance yard without going into debt?
Comments (8)True, plastic should kill anything under there, including the microbes that decompose organic matter and make soil healthy. An odor can develop from anaerobic decomposition of large amounts of fresh green material. Plastic must be removed to garden an area smothered this way, and isn't visually appealing while waiting. Newspaper or cardboard are usually left in place because they decompose, so can be covered with mulch when laid, for an instant 'finished' look even though it's only the 1st step. Smothering with organic matter like this encourages/feeds the microbes, not kill them, and decomposes the weed matter aerobically, no concerns over foul odors or creating lifeless soil. To have a great garden, you need 'good dirt.' Pulling little sprouts as soon as you see them is easy. Pulling a big patch of something that's grown tenacious roots is hard and takes exponentially more time. Patrol/pull often and it should only take a few minutes. Doing that feels like you're mostly looking at your 'good' plants, because you are, bending occasionally to pull any sprouts you see. I usually leave them laying right where they were, to wither in the sun within hours and return their nutrients to the soil. Once you stop any weeds from dropping new seeds for a whole year in a yard, you'll be amazed at how many fewer weeds you'll see in successive years. Control is easy to maintain, so much easier than to gain initially, so don't be frustrated by all of the work the first year, or lie to yourself by doing things like just breaking the tops off of perennials but leaving the roots. (If you 'pulled' it once but it's still there, it wasn't killed or pulled, just pruned - and now you know the root must be killed/removed for certain death to result from your efforts.) Pour boiling water on that root, or get a shovel, dandelion fork, something that truly has a chance of killing that thing/getting completely rid of it. Continuing to do ineffective things is a waste of your time, and ends up using more of it in the long-term, so do it thoroughly the first time, a few more minutes, but is then the only time you deal with that thing. Birds, other critters, and wind will always bring unwanted seeds, but patches of weeds come purely from neglecting to pull something before it's produced seeds in your yard, often a single plant that can be 10,000 plants the next year if left to leave its' seeds. The other primary area of concern is those that creep in from adjacent property. Sometimes a hard barrier is needed, a row of bricks, landscape timbers, to extremes such as a trench filled with concrete. Make the effort/expense of hardscape if possible and necessary to thwart a yearly or constant border battle. Go extreme, complete, total, one year, truly getting rid of anything perennial at the roots, and not allowing anything to drop seeds, install whatever barriers or measures are necessary to enforce your borders, and then maintaining......See MoreOur Lowes kitchen + need help w/ lighting ideas
Comments (12)Hi maybeiloveyou, I didn't answer your question. My initial response would have been to install bronze light fixtures. However, since you have the stainless hardware, I'd probably stick with a stainless look light fixture. I'm also looking at the Shenandoah cabinets. Depending on the layout I choose I'll have between 12 and 14 cabinets total. I chose the Mission cabinets in Cherry Bordeaux and that quote was just under (a few dollars) $8,000. Maybe I'm being "hosed" by my KD? Did you guys go with the all plywood sides upgrade? Do you have oven cabinets or pantry cabinets? I'm just trying to figure out why my quote is so high. Maybe I should visit another Lowes for a price comparison....See MoreLow maintenance landscape ideas
Comments (16)Irises and certain other perennials aren’t difficult to grow, but without regular deadheading can look messy. Since this is a rental, plants that need regular hands on maintenance aren’t practical if you want a tidy appearance. Around me (acid soil and cold winters) panicled hydrangeas are long blooming and if one is chosen to fit the size of the bed, never need pruning, just a once annual deadheading if wanted. Rhododendrons such as the PJM series are hardy, evergreen, unfussy in acid soil, and have cheerful spring flowers. There are lots of choices that will provide a nice looking bed, but without giving us a location, you will need to research options for size, hardiness and maintenance needs....See MoreRevolutionary Gardens
5 years agoHeidi M
5 years agoHeidi M
5 years ago
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