Help me fix my ugly garden

[rousseau]

Starting last year my wife and I began making more of an effort to clean up our front and back yard. This year, and in coming years we hope to get more into it, and throughout the lengthy time we plan to spend in our house get things into better shape. The main issue right now is our backyard. As a whole it doesn't look too bad, but the gardens are a mess. To give you an idea, this is largely what it looks like as a whole:

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The next thing I want to focus on are the two garden areas along the fence back there. I'd like to make a clear, and smooth delineation between the garden and lawn, and maybe buy some sort of artificial separator to dig into the face of the garden. This is what it looks like now:

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Basically my goal is to eventually make it look like a real garden, rather than the mess it is now. On the other side of our patio we have a hill that's also a mess. Not sure what can be done there without extensive work, as we don't even have much grass.

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In our front-yard things look a little better but still not great:

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I'm being a little facetious with the thread and don't expect any essays in return, but if you have some time on your hands suggestions are welcome. What can I do with this mess?

 

[TV and credit cards]

Hire a professional to draw up a plan and work off that. That is a good bit of manual labor you're looking at. If you choose to do the work, fine. But you surely don't want to bust your butt and after all have your landscaping and selection of plantings turn out to be just okay. If you and family are staying there and I believe you are, part with the ducats to make the peaceful sanctuary you want. There's nothing like water babbling over rocks. If you're going to sit and stare, have something nice to stare at. Spending money on landscaping adds curb appeal and if done properly has a good ROI if you do sell.

 

[Toni]

Starting last year my wife and I began making more of an effort to clean up our front and back yard. This year, and in coming years we hope to get more into it, and throughout the lengthy time we plan to spend in our house get things into better shape. The main issue right now is our backyard. As a whole it doesn't look too bad, but the gardens are a mess. To give you an idea, this is largely what it looks like as a whole:

Show

The next thing I want to focus on are the two garden areas along the fence back there. I'd like to make a clear, and smooth delineation between the garden and lawn, and maybe buy some sort of artificial separator to dig into the face of the garden. This is what it looks like now:

Show

Basically my goal is to eventually make it look like a real garden, rather than the mess it is now. On the other side of our patio we have a hill that's also a mess. Not sure what can be done there without extensive work, as we don't even have much grass.

Show

In our front-yard things look a little better but still not great:

Show

I'm being a little facetious with the thread and don't expect any essays in return, but if you have some time on your hands suggestions are welcome. What can I do with this mess?

Even if you call in a professional as TV&CC suggests, you should know some basics about what you want to accomplish (and have a budget in mind).

How much maintenance do you want, after the garden is established? For some people, puttering away in their garden is a stress reliever or even an engaging hobby. And some people just want to do the bare minimum. There's a continuum, and for a lot of people, it really will change as you move through life. Do you want mostly perennials? The advantage is that they come back every year so you will maintain a planting plan, assuming you don't have big die offs. Less decisions to make later on. Disadvantages: most perennials only bloom during a short period. Annuals are better if you want continuous color. Speaking of color: Do you like a lot of color? One or two colors--and which ones? For instance: I really dislike pink--except I love pink roses. Don't ask me why. Le coeur a ses raisons and all of that...Or do you like mostly textures? Or a mix? Do you want some edibles? (blue berries, raspberries (they spread like crazy so you have to be wiling to be ruthless and go after the little runners with a vengeance--stress relieve/aggression outlet!) Herbs? I would suggest that anything that you plant that bears any kind of fruit be edible fruit as you will have a little one running around. Do you have any sentimental favorite flowers/plants? I've found that I really am drawn to plants I remember from my childhood, which is a bit odd as my parents were not really gardeners--or my dad did a little, but it was always vegetables. My mother hated getting her hands dirty. Do you like fragrant flowers? Do any trigger known allergies?

My suggestion is to start small---a few perennials, and you can always add some pots of annuals or plants that will only make it a season in your zone even if they are perennial in zone 7.

Some hostas would look lovely in the shade and you can put out some pots of pansies or begonias in the shaded areas. Look at what's native or at least hardy to your area and see if anything appeals to you. I find that I like cone flower and coreopsis and and geranium (the wild, blue kind), salvia, rudbekia of which there are many varieties. You can browse some online sources to get some ideas if gardening centers are not open or you are concerned about browsing in person.

Also: perennials take a couple of years to grow to mature sizes. Patience is important. Meanwhile, throw in some annuals.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Things to keep in mind, how much sun do each of the areas get. How many leaves and nuts fall in certain areas. Will having a garden there make leaf clean up a pain.

Keep in mind that landscaping can include mulch, stone, cobbles/boulders, and borders with sculptures and what not for decoration. For my backyard, in order to deal with the sat dish I have in the middle of my backyard, ), I made with the CAD, drew up a scalloped tree that surrounded it, I used the coordinates, and laid it out.

I also kept it simple with the plants, the tree has just three (two roses bushes and a low lying evergreen). You don't need lots of plants to make things nice. In fact, too many plants can become cluttered. Pretty much for me, I'm a bastard gardener. I plant the plants, and tell them they are on their own. If they make it, they stay, if they don't... well they don't. IE, don't fight nature.

 

[rousseau]

Thanks for the tips, some great ideas there. Partner and I were discussing just that actually - potentially hiring someone. Problem is we have so much stuff to do around the house it's difficult to decide what to do first. Although our backyard is my sanctuary in non-winter months, so that might be the place to start.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Thanks for the tips, some great ideas there. Partner and I were discussing just that actually - potentially hiring someone. Problem is we have so much stuff to do around the house it's difficult to decide what to do first. Although our backyard is my sanctuary in non-winter months, so that might be the place to start.

Really, I'd recommend mulching, stone, and border first. Then get a feel. Hopefully you have a good flower/plant/tree store near you that can help with general direction without having to pay for a design.

 

[rousseau]

Thanks for the tips, some great ideas there. Partner and I were discussing just that actually - potentially hiring someone. Problem is we have so much stuff to do around the house it's difficult to decide what to do first. Although our backyard is my sanctuary in non-winter months, so that might be the place to start.

Really, I'd recommend mulching, stone, and border first. Then get a feel. Hopefully you have a good flower/plant/tree store near you that can help with general direction without having to pay for a design.

I'm of two minds about it. I'd actually enjoy doing the work myself and could see gardening becoming a hobby and form of stress relief. But then I think TV and Credit Cards raises a good point in that, at least to get it off the ground a professional company would do a better job and it would have more appeal overall.

That's largely how I think about the work we do on our home. In a number of decades my partner and I will die, our kids will inherit the house. So in a long-hand way it's a bit of an investment for them. We have family members who are ready to come into some of our interior work with a sledge-hammer, but I'd rather use our long time horizon to find contractors who will do things correctly.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

Thanks for the tips, some great ideas there. Partner and I were discussing just that actually - potentially hiring someone. Problem is we have so much stuff to do around the house it's difficult to decide what to do first. Although our backyard is my sanctuary in non-winter months, so that might be the place to start.

Really, I'd recommend mulching, stone, and border first. Then get a feel. Hopefully you have a good flower/plant/tree store near you that can help with general direction without having to pay for a design.

I'm of two minds about it. I'd actually enjoy doing the work myself and could see gardening becoming a hobby and form of stress relief. But then I think TV and Credit Cards raises a good point in that, at least to get it off the ground a professional company would do a better job and it would have more appeal overall.

That's largely how I think about the work we do on our home. In a number of decades my partner and I will die, our kids will inherit the house. So in a long-hand way it's a bit of an investment for them. We have family members who are ready to come into some of our interior work with a sledge-hammer, but I'd rather use our long time horizon to find contractors who will do things correctly.

That's a great way to think about both the house and the landscape/garden.

Do you want to attract pollinators and use native plants? How much time are you willing to dedicate toward maintenance vs hobby? Do you want to grow edibles such as vegetables as opposed to berries and fruit? It looks like you have a lot of space and a lot of potential. I can imagine what it can look like in ten years given decisions and a good plan.

There are plants for every condition. I have a woodpile that collects larger branches so I just added a few ferns on the north and east sides to make it look more natural. The woodpile is part of the plan, odd as it may sound, a place to recycle branches and perennial stalks instead of placing them at the curb, and to give critters a place to live.

The amount of sunlight is the main determining factor for what will grow. The condition of the soil is also important. Pretty much any soil can be amended and improved but if you have a big honking tree dominating things it really limits what can be grown there.

If you are after stress relief you're not after a lot of effort, rather you want to get out and do a few necessary things seasonally, and spend appreciable time just relaxing in the adirondack chair while you admire the beauty.

Critters are a big part of a landscape and garden. You don't want rabbits in the vegetables but you want them in the landscape so sometimes a short fence is needed. If deer are a problem you need a higher fence because those repellent ideas are labor intensive. You want to attract lots of native birds, cavity nesters need housing and it's easy to do. Some of us love the bluebirds, swallows, chickadees, martins and other cavity nesters and so will proactively remove introduced European Starlings and Sparrows from the local habitats. It's easy to do.

Several years ago we planted native perennial wildflowers just inside the deer-fenced area. They've taken off and are stunning. But the old stalks have to be cut down every spring so it's a bit of enjoyable effort, but worth the time. We decided to remove most of the black-eyed-susans as they are not as attractive to the pollinators and were taking over. It was easy to yank them out by the root and add them to the woodpile.

We've been moving violets to beneath some fruit trees and at this time of year it's a mat of violet color. The deer, rabbits and groundhog love to eat them but they seem to survive just fine. And they're edible if one wishes.

Lots of ideas, and remember that gardens evolve. Some things work and some things don't. There's probably not one plan and idea that you will keep forever.

 

[Toni]

I just stumbled across this and thought immediately of rousseau:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/five-common-gardening-mistakesand-how-to-avoid-them-11589497918

1

Less is more: One error in my early exuberance was creating too many beds. It’s fun to fill them up—maintaining them is the hard part. Each requires weeding and, during dry spells, watering. Each needs cleaning up in the fall, and often again in the spring, to remove dead annual plants, trim perennials and remove leaves. Start with one small bed to see whether you even like gardening. You can always expand later.

2

Believe the label, to a point: The tag that comes with a plant usually says how much sunlight it requires. Full sun means at least six hours a day. Part sun means four to six hours. If the label says shade plant, however, don’t take that too literally. Shade plants generally don’t thrive under the gloom of a thickly wooded area. They need several hours of direct sun or even more of sun-dappled shade. Cheating a plant of light makes it lethargic.

3

Believe the label, part 2: I started out planting tiny, inexpensive trees and shrubs. I thought the mature sizes listed on the plant tags were wishful thinking: That 2-foot beauty bush would never be 10 feet tall and 8 feet wide. But now it is, jamming its branches through the picket fence behind it and jabbing the shrubs on either side. Disregarding a plant’s eventual size can create a never-ending battle to prune it—or force you to pull it out.

4

Don’t binge: Garden centers can be a wonderland of novel plants. But creating an attractive garden doesn’t come from trying a bit of everything, just like sampling too many dishes at a buffet can leave you with an unappetizing plate. Instead, concentrate on a limited variety of flowers or shrubs. Either cluster them in groups to give them more visual impact—three identical flowers planted in a triangle works well—or repeat plants of the same type at intervals.

5

Bullies: When I began gardening, I didn’t mind plants that spread out or created seedlings. I wanted to fill up my empty beds fast. But aggressive plants that multiply indiscriminately are a perpetual maintenance headache. I regret planting a nasty artemisia (Oriental Limelight) that still snakes its roots through one bed, and a brown-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia triloba) that comes up all over. Study the labels for phrases like “spreads readily” or “self-sows.”

Kevin Hand/WALL STREET JOURNAL

I will say that personally, I have not found rudbeckia to be a bully or invasive. Perhaps it's the variety, perhaps it's the climate/soil. But even if it did become invasive, I'd actually like that.....

 

[southernhybrid]

I was once a gardening nut, having started gardening when I was about 30 or so. We moved several times and each piece of property was a new challenge, but now my knees are too damaged to do anything more than make a small container garden on my front steps.

I took the Master Gardener course about 20 years ago. The first thing that a person should do is learn about their soil, and then amend it. For example, you might benefit from using a small tiller to loosen up your soil, then add compost, sand etc. to enrich it and make it more suitable for the plants that you want to grow. The composition of the soil and drainage are two of the most important parts of preparing for a garden.

Native plants are much easier to grow and maintain, so I suggest you find which ones are best suited for your zone. It will make your gardening experience much easier.

You can always keep a small area for annuals if you want to have lots of colorful flowers in the summer. Or you could discover which perennials are best for your soil and climate. If I were you, I'd start by planting some shrubs and/or trees along your fence that will eventually become a privacy barrier for you. I have gorgeous azaleas across my front lawn that provide me privacy from the street and my neighbors across the street.

Gardening is a very interesting creative hobby, just be sure and protect your knees with knee pads and maybe you won't end up like me. There are endless things to learn about how to grow, and it's a wonderful, peaceful outlet.

I still have a small library of gardening books. I've given away most of my other books but can't quite give those up yet for sentimental reasons. You can learn a lot from gardening books, from soil conditioning to style. Sometimes I still just like looking at the photos.

Oh and as Toni hinted, plants that become invasive in one area, may be very tame in a different climate. Learn as much as possible about the basics before you put too much time, energy or money into your garden adventure.

 

[rousseau]

Thanks for the ongoing tips. All of the suggestions have made me realize that this isn't going to be as easy as I thought if I want to do it right, and step one is likely getting a landscaping company to come in and give me some ideas, after I do some research.

With baby on the way in a few days this project will be on hold for a while, but feel free to continue adding to the thread, I'll definitely be getting back to it eventually.

 

[southernhybrid]

Thanks for the ongoing tips. All of the suggestions have made me realize that this isn't going to be as easy as I thought if I want to do it right, and step one is likely getting a landscaping company to come in and give me some ideas, after I do some research.

With baby on the way in a few days this project will be on hold for a while, but feel free to continue adding to the thread, I'll definitely be getting back to it eventually.

When you're getting used to parenthood, you can simply learn all there is to know about starting a garden, through reading gardening books and websites. We are all looking forward to your announcement when the baby is born.

 

[Treedbear]

I like trees. Loved to climb them as a kid and an unabashed hugger of them as I grew older. Now I just like to watch them grow. I just placed an order for a Kousa dogwood and Princeton Elm for the front yard with the idea of watching them mature into 20 and 80 foot specimens, respectively. Somewhat optimistic of me, but if that's not the point of gardening I don't know what is. There was the 8 foot tall Coral Bark Maple that was 18" when I planted it and went out in a blaze of glory two summers ago, apparently having been strangled by its own roots. It left me with lots of seedlings though.

Look for hardy pest resistant types. I bought two birch clumps 4 years ago that are doing very well. I've been training them by tieing the trucks to stakes to get them to grow upright. They're Heritage Birches which are disease and deer resistant. My neighbor just took out a beautiful 20 foot tall White Paper Birch that died. They're very elegant but very susceptible to bugs. Must have cost him a fortune. I've had the best luck with Beech Trees of various types. I especially like the weeping type, although I just rediscovered a fastigiate type that I'd stuck in the back "temporarily". That's the problem with gardening as a hobby. You can get way ahead of yourself and end up wasting time and money. I used to enjoy going around to the local gardening centers checking out what they had and looking up their scientific names. Then I'd come back at the end of the summer and see what was left and try to get them cheap. That tactic can actually get quite expensive. I bought a 7 foot weeping Beech for $5 after its root ball had been sitting on the asphalt all summer. Now it's 30 feet tall and blocks out my neighbor's front porch. Also a gorgeous copper beech that had a scarred truck that I got for $60 and is now about 40 foot. Another 30 foot weeping Beech that has just recently started to acquire an attractive form after resembling a gangly, mutant giraffe for the past 15 years. It went through stages of development where its leaves stayed a very dark, almost black, for most of the summer. Now it starts off the spring as a wonderful salmon pink and gradually turns to auburn and then gradually mixing with dark green. The form is becoming more rounded and resembles a waterfall with its long drooping branches swaying in the wind. Actually that's why I decided to order the Elm, which should grow very quickly and counter-balance the shape of the Beech.

I've lived on the same suburban place since I was 3. I remember my dad planting the Pin Oak at the end of my driveway when I was 10. I got into landscaping all types of things from veggies and herbs to shrubs and trees and wasted thousands on things that just died for no good reason. Dad used to grow huge beefsteak tomatoes in the southeast corner of our half acre every year. Now I can't grow chives next to the back porch. The original trees have all grown too tall and the back yard hardly sees any sun. So I kept a patch of lawn there and turned the rest over to wild raspberries and weeds and the chipmunks, rabbits and birds that enjoy them. And things like the Lily of The Valley's that I planted decades ago and recently found were running rampant, but only showing themselves very early in the spring.

So I guess this is just so much rambling, since most people don't stay in the same place all that long. I don't hardly know my neighbors. But I feel a certain amount of ownership for my neighborhood and have a strong desire to protect and preserve it. And maybe improve on it over the long term.

 

[Treedbear]

The easiest, low maintenance, perennial plants I've found are:
Groundcovers:
Myrtle (Vinca minor), Spreads well in the shade and hard dry soil.
Pachysandra (Pachysandra Terminalis ), Great around the base of trees in sun or shade. Easy to propagate.
Aegopodium (Aegopodium podagraria 'Variegata') Gets along well with other plants and adds a bright note to shady spots.

Small shrubs:
Leucothoe (Leucothoe fontanesiana 'Rainbow'), Very good in deep or partial shade and moist or dry soil.

Beware of vines of all types, especially wisteria. They attempt to take over your yard and are very hard to get rid of.

Day Lilly's (Hemerocallis, all varieties) Indestructible and easy to establish and control.

Mints, especially peppermint. Useful for flavoring drinks and easy to dry for teas. Just be careful around vegetable gardens as it will take over if not watched.

Hostas come in varieties for just about any location. Deer will decimate them during the summer unless you place some bars of soap around them (or other more offensive smelling repellants).

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

A black capped chickadee requires thousands of caterpillars to raise its tiny brood. Planting non-native species of plants means a chickadee cannot survive, same as all the other species that require the bugs that live on native species. A white oak supports over five hundred species of caterpillar and larvae that birds, including chickadees, need to raise their broods. Birds don't raise broods on seeds from a feeder. That majestic Ginko that looks beautiful in the yard and along our urban streets does not support any native birds. It's the equivalent of a food desert. Just some food for thought.

 

[Treedbear]

A black capped chickadee requires thousands of caterpillars to raise its tiny brood. Planting non-native species of plants means a chickadee cannot survive, same as all the other species that require the bugs that live on native species. A white oak supports over five hundred species of caterpillar and larvae that birds, including chickadees, need to raise their broods. Birds don't raise broods on seeds from a feeder. That majestic Ginko that looks beautiful in the yard and along our urban streets does not support any native birds. It's the equivalent of a food desert. Just some food for thought.

I have one beautiful white oak tree and a few chickadees that frequent my yard. I never feed the birds anymore. When I used to it was for my aging Mom's enjoyment, but the squirrels and starlings made it a real pain. And birds seem to benefit greatly from the suburban environment. When I go hiking, especially in the deep woods, there are nowhere near as many birds as there are here. Songbirds but also turkey and a host of predators such as fox and coyote. I'm not a fan of the Ginkgo, but they do have some advantages:

… six trees growing between 1–2 kilometres (0.62–1.24 mi) from the 1945 atom bomb explosion were among the few living things in the area to survive the blast. Although almost all other plants (and animals) in the area were killed, the ginkgos, though charred, survived and were soon healthy again, ...

Saw a very happy looking red fox carrying off a gray squirrel the other day. I used to have a pet dog back when dogs could roam freely all day, but now they're trapped behind electronic fences and people have to go around picking up their poop. Something unnatural about that.

 

[Treedbear]

rousseau I bet you and your spouse are the Japanese maple type. There's lots of really beautiful types out there. Search around the internet and see if you don't find some that fascinate you. Or get a book. I've had very good luck buying trees on-line and its pretty easy to did a hole and then water them every few days for a few weeks until they get established. Once established they require far less maintenance and deliver at least as much joy as plants that require the attention of "a gardener".

 

[Treedbear]

I received my mail order elm and dog wood trees and got around to planting them today. Found out it's a good way to become acquainted with the neighbors. Lots of pacing around the yard trying to figure out the exact place to plant them. The elm in particular will eventually get quite large. Very satisfied with the final result though. They came in very good condition in pots (not bare-rooted) and I've been watering them every day since they arrived. In the process I re-discovered a climbing hydrangea I'd planted about 20 years ago. It's grown up a double-trunked pin oak beside the house. I hadn't forgotten about it. I knew it had nice blooms and all, but this year it suddenly looks astounding. And quite visible from the street. Despite the aches and pains that greet me every morning it seems that the effects of time aren't all bad. I couldn't take a picture but here's an idea of what it looks like.

 

[Treedbear]

Another interesting discovery yesterday. I have a small compost pile in the back where I put leaves and grass clippings. It's very heavily shaded, as in no direct sunlight. I normally don't put kitchen waste there since it might attract rats, but I bought more potatoes than I could use on sale a few months ago and they started to sprout in the bag. Probably 5 pounds were going to waste so I cut them into chunks and planted them about a foot under the leaves. No water or extra effort. Yesterday I wanted some well rotted compost to mix in with the soil for planting the kousa dogwood tree and what do ya know. They'd all come up as very sturdy looking potato bushes about 18" tall and dark green. I bet I get several dozen tiny potatoes out of there by the end of summer. I also tried this with sprouting onions, but although they sent up vigorous green tops I don't expect to get baby onions from them, and it turns out the tops aren't as tasty as regular scallions. But you never know.