Why I Oughta...

Over the years, I've created and expanded garden beds using various methods including digging out all the turf, flipping the turf and (more recently) doing some combination of digging/flipping the turf and layering on cardboard to supress the grass.  That cardboard smothering method seems to work pretty well and it is well...easy.  At least it is FAR easier than digging out the turf.  But, the cardboard method has a big drawback - the grass is *STILL THERE*.  So, that means it is tricky to plant in the bed immediately. If you plant in the cardboard zone, you have be careful to remove the turf around any 'holes' in the cardboard that you want to plant in - otherwise you'll end up with grass peeking through around the stems/trunks of whatever you plant.  Trust me...I know.   My problem is that I don't plan ahead enough and get the beds ready BEFORE I want to plant them.  So, why shouldn't I use some of this "Fall Planting" time to build out new/extend ex

Fall Planting 2024 continues with a second front-yard conifer tree: the Skylands Oriental Spruce. Picea orientalis ‘Skylands’.  This is the second, small conifer tree that I put in our front yard in the past week - with the first one being the Oregon Green Austrian Pine .   At the end of September, I wrote about the Skylands Spruce and detailed the golden needles - among other features .  I've been thinking about a Skylands Spruce in our yard for years and now...thanks to Nat's Mom...we have a small one.   I extended (back towards the house) the island bed that features the Northern Glow Korean Maple and the Spring Grove Ginkgo.  Now, there's a Skylands Spruce.   I had a lot of luck with Fall Planting (#FallPlanting) conifers last year, so *fingers crossed* that trend continues with these two new conifers this Fall. Below are a few photos showing the tree and the island bed: Below is a look at the island bed from the sidewalk - the Skylands Spruce is in the back...on the l

Just yesterday, I shared the details (and description) of a new (to me) tree:  the Austrian Pine 'Oregon Green'.  This is an upright, narrow and semi-dwarf conifer tree (grows to 10' tall and 6-8' wide at 10 years) that lends a touch of Japanese Gardening to the landscape.    I mentioned at the end of that post that I found a small (young) ball-and-burlap specimen at the end-of-the-year sale at the orange big box nursery.   Ever since I read the statement:  " Conifers Should Come First ", I've been aware of the need to plant (even) more of them - specifically in the front yard.  In January, I mused about adding more conifers to our front yard and highlighted some inspiration photos .  I also posted (earlier this year) about using a hide-and-reveal technique with a front-yard path .  In both of those situations, the ideas call for upright conifers in various spots.   One last data point - back in 2019, I created a post that detailed some potential 'plan

Back on July First, I posted the details of a new (to me) Northern Glow Korean Maple tree that I planted in our front yard in a newly created island bed.  I tucked it in next to our third Spring Grove dwarf Ginkgo tree.  Planting a new tree in the middle of the summer Summer is always a risk - with the heat and drought conditions that usually occur around here in Zone 6a/5b.   But, I learned last year that some shade cloth (50%) is a pretty good path towards helping young, dwarf trees get established during the heat of July and August.  So, that's what I did:  I put up a shade cloth covering both the Ginkgo and the Northern Glow Korean Maple .  With the cloth down at the end of August, I've begun to provide supplemental water to both of these small trees.  And, what I'm seeing on the Maple is a surprise (to me):  new, late-Summer foliage growth.  There are a handful of new buds that have emerged on some of the tips of the tree and some new leaves are beginning to unfurl.  S

The southside sideyard of our property is like most suburban sideyards.  Long and narrow.  It is also one of the very few areas outside of our front yard where we get A LOT of sun.  Over the years, I've planted some things over there including three Disneyland Roses , a pair of espaliered Sugar Tyme Crabapple trees , some Summer Beauty Allium, Karl Foerster Grasses, a few various allium bulbs, our Indiana Street Iris  and last Fall I added a small Blue Star Juniper .  Closer to the front of the house, we have a pair of Limelight Hydrangeas that are adjacent to the porch. The bed along this side of the house has been the same size since we moved in:  long and thin and hugging the foundation.  Something about 18" wide.  Below is a photo showing the bed as it looked before I started this new bed project.  One other note (to future Jake) - the orange spray paint shows where the cable line is buried.   I've been talking about growing flowers since last Fall - and pushed myself

Last Fall, when I was digging up/out the (extended) IB2DWs bed for the small conifer garden along the property line, I turned to a mix of grass-removal techniques.  The whole area was turf, so I did three things:  Dug it out, smothered it/covered it up and flipped it over (and smothered it).   For the material that I excavated, I brought most of it over to the southside of the house and used it to fill in the little gully/swale on the side of the house.  And, I tucked in a bunch of it (flipped over) along the side of the porch where I'd seen some erosion over the years.  On this side of the house, we have just ONE downspout that handles a big portion of the roof and when it gets clogged up, that gutter 'tops'.  That's one source of the erosion.  The other is the downspout outlet.  Whatever *does* get down the downspout, comes out one of those surface drains.    That 'flipped' turf was a way to raise the ground-level here.  And, like a bunch of the areas that I w

Earlier in March, I posted the details of a partial project in our front-porch bed that included the application of some cardboard to smother turfgrass that has crept into the bed .  I laid down cardboard, the topped with with a mix of clay, topsoil and biosolids.  I still need to finish the rest of that bed. But, in the meantime, I also applied the same treatment to a couple of spots in the expanded IB2DWs bed.  Last Fall, I carved out some new beds and removed SOME turf.  Turns out, I left behind A LOT of it, so...cardboard was the play here.   I did this in two spots - closer to the Bald Cypress - 'above' the first Baby Blue Spruce.  Then, again, closer to the sidewalk by the other Baby Blue Spruce tree.   Below are a some photos showing the post-cardboard + top soil + biosolids application.  There's still more grass to smother in this bed, but this is a good start: I used topsoil, clay and then a big batch of biosolids.  In an attempt to mix those biosolids with even mo