About me: I live in the little town of Elwood, IL just South of Joliet. I work in Joliet for a steel fabricator as the shipping and receiving supervisor. It’s next door to the old Joliet prison where the "Blues Brothers" was filmed and where they were filming the new series on FOX "Prison Break" (excellent show). No, there are no inmates, the prison has been closed for 4 years now.I recently purchased a brand spankin’ new home that had no landscaping, at all. Just a rough grade that was overun with weeds and even a swamp in the backyard. After receiving ridiculous quotes from "the Professionals" for 16-24K to do my landscaping, I decided this was a project I would rather do myself. The only thing I didn’t do myself was my paver patio which I got a great deal on and is the envy of all my wooden decked neighbors. I scraped all the weeds and clay from the "topsoil" (that’s a joke, it was solid clay) and brought in 8 22 ton loads of good topsoil from farmland that was given away free by a local newly built church. I also brought in one load of sand and tilled it all together. I used a tractor pulled pulverizer to perform my final grade. There really is no easier way. I then planted Penncross creeping bentgrass seed and rolled it with a 200 lb. roller and applied Penmulch. Oh, and somewhere in there before doing the final grade I planted a Sweetgum and Autumn Blaze Maple tree in the backyard, and two Khlemm’s Betchel Crabtrees in the front. It’s a work in process and is far from finished. I plan to put a concrete driveway (asphault currently) with paver stone on both sides, a paver front walk and low retainer wall planting beds in the front. I got all my plans and ideas (except the bentgrass) from a local nursery for $25 drawn up by a landscape architect which I will make small changes based on my own preference. I’m also going to be using all organic materials in my lawn and garden maintenance.
My zone is: zone5 IL
My zone is: zone5 IL
GardenWeb Member: 2005-10-05