Front Yard Island Bed - Extension Candidate and Potential Versions for Shaping Edges and Expanding Footprint - January 2026

Last week I posted a list of 'potential' sites to expand (and amend the soil) of various bed sites around the garden.  Some of these were/are small extensions (adding inches to the width/depth of the beds) and others are much larger (adding feet of width/depth).  I wrote up the list and posted it in January not JUST because of the Wintertime-induced garden-related cabin fever, but also because a key element of my¹ 'lazy bed extension' method involves TIME.  Time to supress and kill the turf.  That's because my 'lazy bed extension' method doesn't require the removal of turf, instead I just smother it with cardboard and then top the cardboard with various materials (biosolids + compost + leaf litter + mulch).

On that list were a few front yard locations including expanding the Magnolia bed (which is a tight circle currently), connecting the Oregon Green bed to the front porch bed (about four-feet of distance) and expanding the small (12" deep) bed in front of the Saratoga Ginkgo.  

The other 'bigger' ones involve the IB2DWs bed and the Island bed.  I wrote: "Extend and Amend the Island Bed".  

The Island Bed was cut as a Kidney-shaped island bed in Summer of 2024 when I planted the Northern Glow Korean Maple.  It has grown since then.  

2026 is now year three of transforming our suburban front lawn into something that is a mixed conifer, perennial, annual mixed garden.  

Here's what this Island bed looked like last Spring (March 2025) and the photos show how it received its name - it was (at that time) an island.  This bed was the first part of what I was envisioning as part of a larger front yard landscape that included a mix of conifers and perennials.  Here's a post from February of 2024 when I outlined my vision - which at that time included three things:

1. A path.
2. A bern.
3. ...and some miegakure.

And, I came up with this sketch of what I called 'Phase 1' of the project:

In this sketch (above), the green beds existed and the light red one was the design I thought I could start with in terms of starting in front.  For a variety of reasons, I didn't go this way, but I cut up a similar size bed - just different shape.  I went closer to the driveway and deeper with less bed along the sidewalk. 

Here, below, is a marked-up version of that same sketch that shows the current Island bed in red.  

The shape isn't exactly what I want in a final bed, but it was what I achieved in year one.

Here, below, is a photo showing the edge of the current bed - the one that I think should be extended and shaped properly.

What could that look like?  Here, below, is a potential approach for winter 2025 - with purple highlights showing the extensions in the main lawn:

By extending the island bed, I can get a better shape, but when you look at that plan for a potential path, it shows that we won't be adding *that much* planting space.  My plan is to fill the 'path' area with annuals this coming year/years or until the path materializes.

I should revisit this inspiration photo (below) to think about plantings and perhaps if not done here, something I can utilize in the parkway this year.

However, another (different) approach would be to keep some of that turf up by the sidewalk.  

Let's revisit this inspiration photo of a front-yard conifer garden from this post below.  Note the turf in front:

Here is a marked-up version of what *this* could look like below.  Red outline is current island bed.  Purple are bed extensions for 2025 and yellow is the turf that would remain.  

Similar to v1, this covers part of a potential 'path' - and I would similarly cover it with annuals.  

My current thinking is that I can achieve what I want with v2:  Shaping the current bed + adding curb appeal. 

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^{1. Note: I invoke the word "my" in describing this garden bed extension method, but that's being generous. I, certainly, did NOT invent the 'smother the turf with cardboard' method, but I'm never-the-less invoking "my" in the royal sense. ↩}