Gardening & Landscaping
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Need a cheap/creative solution
Our house is set far back on our lot and we have woodlands in the front of our house. To one side of our drive way, the property is really scrubby with just random weeds and off shoots of trees growing. I would like to clean it up a bit, but we're talking 200 feet long here. It's also shady. Any ideas on a cheap fix for this. Eventually I'd like to plant something there for the long term until the small trees that are planted there fill in a bit more. But, it's not in the budget this year. Do you think wild flower mix would do well there? Or would it just look more weedy?
DS1 age 7, DD age 5 and DS2 born 4/3/12
Re: Need a cheap/creative solution
If it's really shady, I'm not sure most wildflowers would grow (at least, the ones I'm imagining are the type you find in meadows...not the bottom of the forest floor.)
Is the area well-mulched? That would help cut down on weeds. You could check with your county to see if they have free mulch (and deliver). I would do a bit of weeding first (yes, I know it's a PITA) before putting down an thick layer of mulch (but don't pile up near the base of your trees).
You may want to see if your area has Freecycle & see if anyone is getting rid of any plants. I got a bunch of liriope that way.
Most wildflowers need full sun.
You should research plants for a woodland garden--they'll do well in shade.
I agree with the previous responders.
If you don't have a budget to make big changes, don't start, because the area is too big to stretch dollars very far. Let it be natural. Pop some shade tolerant flowering plants into the woodland along the approach to your home, where you can enjoy them peeking at you from the shadows. Add more over time, as you can.
Think of it this way- when G.W. Vanderbilt bought his land in North Carolina, is was over grazed, over logged, over farmed junk. Now it is the Biltmore estate.
That driveway is 3 miles long. The landscape designer used dynamite to regrade the landscape. He wanted the road to meander slowly through the woods on the approach to the house, so he diverted streams and built seven stone bridges. He placed dynamite charges to flood a quarry that had been mined for quartz. The results LOOK very natural, but spectacular. Of course, budget was not a limiting factor. And that's just the driveway.
That is a great idea. I will try to clean it up a bit and put in a few plants. It will look much better!
I'd make some gardening friends and offer to take things off their hands.
Hostas and Lily of the Valley are my solution for our big shady area. Hostas can be split (and shared with friends) and Lily of the Valley spread.
Good luck. And if all else fails, I guess pass the dynamite
If you do go the planting route, you can sometimes find used/older plants on Craigslist. Around here when spring and summer gardening get underway you see more than a few "you dig" plant ads.