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New to landscaping, need some direction please!
I'm *thrilled* this board is here. How come I never realized that there's a gardening/landscaping board? My grandfather...was an avid gardener. His yard was so beautiful...he grew (and we ate) every type of veggie, always had beautiful flowers growing. I dream of one day having a yard like his....why couldn't I have inherited that skill/knack?
Maybe you guys can give me some suggestions on two eye sores of my house... Pretty please?
1. In my front yard, there is a raised area (by bricks) under the window. Flowerbedish type of thing. The bricks are about 3-5 bricks high off the ground depending on where it is located. Pretty sturdy. It goes the length of the house, which is meant to have a garden, or at least pretty flowers. In the past 5 years that we have lived here, I have tried MULTIPLE times to start gardens, only for them to fail miserably. Suggestions? It's in the shade 2/3 of the day, in the sun the other 1/3. The dirt is clay-type. What can I put in this area? I don't want bushes. Is there some other landscaping idea if flowers aren't an option?
2. I have these two pine trees in my yard, one of which blocks my front door and leans. Its about a foot to a foot and a half from the driveway. I always have to keep the branches trimmed othewise it touches cars and people cant walk under neath it to get to the porch. A TON of birds and other various animals live in them so DH refuses to cut them down and plant new trees in the yard! So i'm stuck dealing with it, and it's consequences. Anyhow, now, I'm irritated because I can't even keep the grass in my yard! As spring emerged, I noticed the area has gotten alot worse. Under a pine tree for about a foot around the tree we never had grass growing, just pine needles. I consistantly raked up pine needles throughout the year. I was okay with that. 3 feet away, we have these large flat pieces of concrete stones, that connect the driveway to the porch. When we bought the house they looked like they were connected to the driveway, later I've found they aren't. Now the grass has died 3-3/12 feet away between the tree and concrete square things /porch and you can tell the dirt is washing away, causing the stones next to the porch to start sloping, instead of being flat. At least I'm assuming? If I buy top soil and grass seed to put under the tree, do I need to put some top soil under the stones too? What kind of grass can I put there, it's in the shade about 95% of the day. What kind of top soil? Are there different types? Or should I not be buying top soil, should I buy something else? I "could" take the clay out of that area that I mentioned above...but that dirt is ugly and hard to maneuver.
Thoughts?
Here's a picture, from the street of what my house looked like when we bought it 5 years ago. This is the only picture I have of the front of our house. Its kinda dark...not sure if you can see much beyond the two ugly trees 
We really haven't made any improvements to the front. As you can tell there's a "small" slope to the front yard.
Thanks to any advice or suggestions you may have!
Re: New to landscaping, need some direction please!
Hi!
1. First I would amend the soil. You could add compost, manure, topsoil, or a combination to get it in good shape. That would give your plants a fighting chance. I love putting roses in areas like that, but don't know if you've given that a try. You could also try small flowering shrubs--we have some mini rhododendrons that are flowering this time of year and look lovely. Or you could put some multi-season bulbs in this fall for spring/summer color next year. You could even fill in with some annuals each year for a cheap punch of color.
2. I might consider something other than grass, because that doesn't sound conducive to grass. Maybe moss, or even short herbs that would fill in the space. And you may need to re-lay the stones. I'd fill in with sand.
GL!
Our little Irish rose came to us on March 5, 2010
Don't drink the water.
Disclaimer: I am not an MD. Please don't PM me with pregnancy-related questions. Ask your doctor.
We have tried adding compost to the soil...and it has never worked. I'll try some top soil and see if that works. I will try some flowering shrubs I hadn't thought about that, better than bushes
As far as the stones go, what's the difference between laying with soil/dirt vs laying with sand? Doesn't sand allow them to sink?
I think I bought my mini rhodies at Lowes. But I love my local gardening place. They give great advice.
I believe sand doesn't settle like topsoil would, so you have a better chance of things staying level. But I'm hoping someone else will chime in.
Our little Irish rose came to us on March 5, 2010
Don't drink the water.
Disclaimer: I am not an MD. Please don't PM me with pregnancy-related questions. Ask your doctor.
If plants keep dying in that area, I'd have the soil there tested. You could have some wacky pH issue that prevents anything from growing (I see you're in the MIdwest--lots of areas are very alkaline in the Midwest). And go for the whole micronutrient test--if you're majorly deficient in a nutrient it could be contributing to plant death. Your county extension office probably tests soil, but if not, they can direct you to a place that does.
Your compacted clay soil is also probably contributing to plant death. You'll need to rent a large tiller and till down AT LEAST 12 inches when you incorporate compost.
When you say you "have tried MULTIPLE times to start gardens, only for them to fail miserably", and "we have tried adding compost to the soil...and it has never worked", can you describe exactly what you did, and what exactly happened? What type of things did you plant?
Could you describe the care regimen you implement when you start a garden (such as water schedule: volume and frequency)? I'm trying to figure out exactly where you're going wrong.
And what do you mean when you say you added compost but it didn't work? How didn't it work? You mean you added compost but the plants still died? For example, did you add bagged compost? How? Did you put a layer on top, or till it in? Etc.
When I hear "flowering shrubs" and "bushes" I'm thinking they're kind of the same thing....
That's why I asked so many questions! I want to help, but I want to understand you.
Not possible that close to a mature tree due to roots. Tiller won't move at all. And if you found one that could cut through the tree roots, that tree would come down VERY FAST.
First, get your soil tested and make sure that it's the plants/location, not your soil causing the problems. In one of our houses, a former owner had actually poured total vegetation killer into a flower bed--presumably because they were tired of pulling weeds and had no wish to garden. It took a lot of digging, replacing of soil and fertilizing to grow anything in the area.
As for plant choices:
I think you should make Hostas your new best friends. There are dozens of varieties in various sizes and shades. They all do well in shade, but will also grow in partial sun, which sounds pretty much ideal for your yard. They do flower, but it is their foliage that makes them so desirable--they have a lovely round, mounded shape and very 'architectural' leaves; they're really pleasing to look at and easy to grow.
If you want flowers, you can fill in the front of the flower bed or around the Hostas with impatiens, which grow well in the shade, come in a variety of colors to suit your mood and are as easy to grow as they are to find. They're annuals, so you'll have to replant every year, but they're inexpensive and grow very fast, so I doubt you'd find it inconvenient.
You can plant Hostas under a pine tree and they'll grow, but depending on your soil/tree, their leaves may turn yellow. I've had some good luck growing Rhododendrons and Hydrangeas beneath pines, with amended soil. They bloom and seem to enjoy the climate. You can get your soil tested at most nurseries, so dig up a sample from beneath the pine and take it with you, they'll tell you what to add to potting mix when you plant.
If this were my yard, I would start with a semi-circular bed around the pine tree closest to the drive, planted with some of the species mentioned above, the raised flower bed along the house, and I would probably add a third flower bed around the second pine tree, just to round things out.
If you really want to cut down the tree, you could try contacting the humane society to see how you can rehome or cut in a way that won't disturb nesting habits (ie certain time of year).
We have massive Douglas firs in our yard and have trimmed them up to get our car in the garage. Grass won't grow undernealth the firs, but a lot of other plants should. The ground under our pine trees gets partial sun and we are currently growing hostas, tulips, bleeding heart, and columbines.
DH got me this for Christmas http://www.easybloom.com/ it is a sensor you put in the ground and it monitors temp, humidity, moisture, and sunlight for 24 hours and then makes recommendations based on where you live. I was suprised to see how much more sun some areas of my yard received then I thought.
I had someone suggest I get my soil tested. I had never thought of that before. I just learned what my county extension was yesterday...wow, to have a resource like that and never know of it before?
I hadn't even thought about going 12 inches deep...we normally do 3-5 inches.
Thanks for your advice!
What i mean, is that when we first bought the house, they had like rocks, and big roots in there. I dug those out, and put in compost from my mom's house, as well as worms and other things that people told me to put in a garden. (i don't remember that far back.) I then planted some bulbs, which stayed alive for half the summer - even though I was watering according to what the package said. Weeds started growing up and while I still continued to pull them, the flowers had died.
I just flowered and trimmed off dead leaves and the garden seemed to grow on its own.
The following year, none of those came back, so we planted some more flowers - which lasted about a month - even though we were watering like the package said. we added some new soil and compost in there, and shifted the dirt around. so it wasn't just lying on top.
We've periodically tried to plant stuff at different times of the season to see, but stuff doesn't seem to live long. I had a garden at my mom's house and it was NEVER this rough
ah. I think of bushes like - stuff you can't see through, and flowering shrubs like you can see through them. I guess I don't know terminology?
I'm okay with the tree coming down. LOL. But I hadn't thought about that. Can I still do that in the area where there is the raised garden area?
How big do Hostas normally get?
Thank you for the suggestion about remembering the other tree. I always forget that tree...but you're right, if I'm going to do to one tree, I should also do it to the other.
Thank you for the advice about grass not growing under the trees. I won't try to plant new grass then. I'll have to look into a few of those plants you listed
Hostas, depending on the variety can get very large (some are 5-6 feet in diameter), but they are easily divided to make additional, smaller plants. When it's time to divide my hostas, I post them on Craigslist and I always have takers right away. I keep mine scaled to their locations, and it's pretty easy to maintain them at about 18" in diameter.
I like 'Patriot' Hostas best (Hosta liliaceae 'Patriot'). I've never tried planting this particular variety beneath a pine, but if you amend the soil properly, I imagine it will do well.