Winter Lawn Domination Line And Potential Bed Extension - February 2020

I posted (in jest) last September a look at what Allyn Hane calls the 'domination line' in our front yard showing the fruit of the efforts of tending to the turf look like after most of a season.  Back in September, you can tell that the grass that I had fed over the season appeared darker.  Today, I'm posting a photo that I took recently to add to the [garden diary] of what our front yard grass/turf looks like after a rough Winter.  I'm including the 'domination line' as a way to see the difference in my grass over time. 

The photo above is shot from the sidewalk toward the house with my yard on the right side.  The brown-est part in the middle of the photo (closer to the bed) is also the 'highest spot' in that area.  So, I'm not certain that it has to do simply with feeding or if the contours or grade of the yard is involved, too. 

I have a gutter that comes out in the area of the bed near the house that runs each time it rains and the I have to kind of rake the mulch back into place.  I didn't include that on my 2020 list, but I'm now thinking that amending or fixing this area to allow for the rain water should be on my 2020 to-do list addendum once I post it. 

I also have considered 'extending' that bed a bit closer to the sidewalk.  See this post about front yard trees where I indicate that underplanting the big Maple tree might be a good proactive move to get another tree to grow before the Maple expires.  If I add that tree, I would extend the bed by six or eight feet to the south.  That would mean something like this (below):

I'm thinking that tree like an Oak or Maple or something very traditional can be bought as a small caliper tree and planted here to allow for growth over the next decade as we keep an eye on the large Maple tree (I think it is a Norway Maple, btw) for additional stress. 

The extension of the bed would also mean that we could add some hostas around the base of the large Maple and around the new tree, too.  Nice little side benefit.