Here are the promised “Before” pictures of my front yard. Tomorrow, with help from a friend and fellow gardener (thanks, Virginia!),and possibly from my champion digger husband, Dave, I’ll start work on my biggest garden project to date, including a small stone wall and maybe a rock garden. After some initial pondering and head-scratching, I’m confident we’ll come up with a plan. In the back of my mind I’ve been planning this for years, so it’s not quite as off-the-cuff as all that. I’ve never been one to sit down with paper and pencil to map out garden beds, etc., so this is just business as usual for me. The reason I’ve been putting off this project for years, though, is that it doesn’t seem as logical to do it bit by bit the way I’ve always gardened in the backyard. I’ve always wanted to get rid of the grass in the front so I avoided over-seeding it or encouraging the grass in any way. As a result, the lawn is brownish and sparse and the earth is hard-packed. I told my daughter, Erica, that I wanted to get rid of the grass, and her reaction was, “Why??”, which made me re-examine the reasons. Having gone through this in my head many times, I can lay them out for you now.
- No more mowing
- Planting possibilities will be more interesting and more beautiful
- More variety is better for the ecosystem
- Curb appeal
- The shade in the front yard combined with the maple tree makes it difficult to grow a lush lawn.
I’m not quite as determined to get rid of the grass in the backyard as I once was, however, because it does provide coolness, a nice surface to walk on between the beds and I like the look of it, when it’s kept short and tidy. But, if the mood strikes me, at any point I can lift out another area of sod and replace it with another garden bed.
I’m inspired by the lovely side yard of a neighbour up the street who planted a wide variety of plants that bloom at various times throughout the summer, including tulips, lilies, day lilies, roses, peonies, etc, culminating in the riot of colour (mostly pink, white and purple) and foliage that is there now in the shape of cosmos, Japanese anemone and phlox. Cosmos work amazingly well for that because they’re annuals that self-sow freely and don’t get in the way until August, just when you want something to take the place of the July flowering plants. It is a bit wild, but gorgeous. I’m not planning to have such tall plants in my front yard, but it works well for a side yard. It shows what you can do when you get rid of a lawn!
My tentative plan is to cover the existing lawn with bio-degradable geo-textile (I’ve never worked with it before, so, fingers crossed), which should kill the grass by springtime; cover that with a thick layer of new earth, then a layer of mulch to discourage weeds from growing before I can get things planted. I’m planning a low dry-stone wall along the sidewalk and front walk, back-filled with the new earth, and possibly a rock garden on the slope(s). Because of the root system of the maple, I will probably have to stick with mostly shallow-rooted plants for ground cover. For the same reason, a rock garden seems logical, since most alpine plants are low growing and hardy, although they are also sun-loving so the best place for the rock garden will be the slope down to the lane way on the right and behind the maple tree as you’re facing the house (see photo below).
I’ll write a new post after our first day of work on the project so you can see our progress. Part of me is feeling a little daunted, especially my lower back. Wish us luck!
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