I bought my house in March of 2010. I've NEVER been interested in flowers or gardening or anything else. I figured what I'd do with the front beds when I was ready is just throw some non-flowering type stuff in there and call it a day. Well, I've been thinking on it for almost two years now and I'm finally realizing the more "artistic" aspects of this and I'm letting my imagination go a little bit. I've deciding on some Scarlet Yellow Coleus to line the back of the beds near the house and some cute Tiger Eye Viola to help bring some colorful pop to the Coleus I'm waiting to get seeds now so I can start these indoors over the winter and transplant them in the spring. Now...my beds....Here's some pics of the overhaul (still in progress as of this posting): **Please let me know if the pics aren't showing up! I'm using the direct photo url links from Facebook and I know my settings are on lockdown, but these SHOULD work** This is where I started. Filled with weeds... Idea is to remove the decorative gravel and replace the landscape border with either timbers or some easy to use cedar picket type stuffs. This is what I accomplished over the last two days, a grand total of about 8 hours worth of work at this rate. Haven't even TOUCHED the other side of the house yet. There are SO many rocks below the surface so I'm trying to dig that out so the plants can make better use of the soil there. And finally...this. It rained. And the water has always pooled up pretty heavily in the beds prior, this has me a little concerned. I'm HOPING I can just add more soil and slope some from the house to help here, but I obviously have worries over the reality of that alone working. When it rains hard, my whole sidewalk floods too. I'm going to look into gutters soon or something to divert the rain line that pummels the beds but...is there anything else to think about here?
Do you have gutters and downspouts on your house? If so, are they plugged and running over and not draining? This much water on the foundation of your house is not good for it. Eventually you will be getting a wet basement. if you have downspouts and they aren't working, this is a priority before you work on your beds.
No gutters yet. I'll be looking into it. And where I live, this is a slab foundation, no basements at all and on primarily clay soil.
We have a slab foundation and no basement and black clay soil too and water does tend to stand a while. How long does it take the water to seep down into the ground? With clay, if it takes more than an hour for the water to seep down into the subsoil then you have poor drainage and need to amend the soil with compost. You may have to remove some of the clay, then mix compost into the remaining soil/clay. And many plants will not grow in clay, so having the beds amended with compost will increase the number of plants you can grow there. Yeah, you really need the gutters. A heavy rain will beat the plants to death. And while you are adding gutters connect a rain water collection barrel to at least one end, then you have natures own water for times when rain is lacking.
Yep, it takes a bit more than hour to drain here. There's a good inch or two worth of water just standing in there when it rains. The majority of it drains off pretty swift, but there are some sections that just linger. Ugh. Once I get the rocks and roots taken care of, I don't think it'll be that hard to do mixing in the soil. It's pretty pliable right now. Hrmmm...
Guttering is a must, and a rain barrel will repay you many times over. We collect rainwater, and that is the only thing that has saved some of our plants from our record-setting drought. From the looks of the soil, a goodly application of compost is needed. As Toni said, it will help plants grow, and increase your choices. That looks like a fairly narrow area. Be sure you take into consideration the full-grown size of the plants you choose, or getting to your front door could be a stroll through the wilderness! You've done a ton of work already. I congratulate you!
Thanks The area is about 3 feet wide. The Coleus I think will take up 12-18 inches and the Tiger Eye Viola shouldn't take up any more than about 12 inches. I made sure to get relatively small plants for the beds because I want my windows to be seen AND to be able to walk the sidewalk. Eventually I'm gonna get new shutters and maybe to a repaint on the house. All eons away it seems.
You might want to have a third plant in mind too for summer planting, Violas will die back when summer heat arrives.
Hahaha I don't think I have enough brain power for that! Part of the beauty of my front yard is that it doesn't get an insane amount of sun. This particular Viola is a hybrid too so it's "supposed" to last longer than others. We'll see. First year planting will be a learning experience. I'll have to wait for the gutters to go up before I can consider a third seriously there because of spacing. I can't fib and say that I'm not sure when I'll be able to get the gutters installed because of funds. March at the latest though when I get my tax money back. Won't be any plants in there before then anyway. *sigh*
You've done a lot of work and have lots of plans. Don't worry if it seems overwhelming right now. Everything will come together... eventually. And I also would suggest a rain water collection system. It has been a life saver around here. Have fun! And don't forget to keep us updated on your progress.
I like talking too much to keep mum I'm going to have to do some SERIOUS thinking on the rain barrel thing. The driveway side of my house has no room for a barrel. The other side of my house would have the barrel blocking the view of some of the other landscaping plans I have. And the roof builds to a peak from front to back...so I have no idea how I'd make that work right now. If I'm lucky though, I may at least get some gutters installed next weekend with the border. Assuming I can get the beds all cleared out in time.
Lpyrbby: I thought I'd throw my 2 cents in. I know others have suggested rain gutters. Because of your milder climate I would look into getting a product called: Rain Handlers--it screws into your soffit and is made like a cold air return vent with slats in it. When the water runs off your roof it hits the slates and is rained out away from the homes foundation and out into the yard. If you don't want to do a rain barrel these panels are great to use. Plus you do not have down spouts laying in your yard or coming down your houses exterior. I would check them out. Just put the name in your search engine and they should come up. Not a lot of people know about them and they work super and do not get clogged up with any type of debris at all. Keep up the great work. We have clay soil hear also and I have amended it with sand and peat moss. That really helped a lot. As others have said; it will come together. Just don't get ahead of yourself and feel frustrated because it is taking longer than you think it should. Better to take your time and get it the way you want it to be.
Don't let this overwhelm you :-D The whole flower/gardening thing has been a learn-as-you-go thing for me! I just love it!!! I am jealous of the fact that you have an empty flower bed!!! You can try as many things as you want, thats what is so cool about it!!!! If something doesn't do too hot, try something else Enjoy Oh by the way, you have found the PERFECT site for all things garden!!!
*headdesk* So tired! Tooty, the rain handlers look pretty cool but OUCH...definitely can't afford that at this time. Single income household at the moment so just doing what I can. Stratsmom, don't get TOO excited about the bed lol. I still have to figure out how I'm getting the old bush stumps out of there! Bleh. I finally got the *majority* of the rocks out of the bed and worked to push some of the soil towards the house for now. The root systems from the bushes are going to kill me though and I'm at a standstill at this point on what to do with them. I need them out so I can add more soil to the bed, put down the weed fabric and then add the border... My neighbor came over for a couple of minutes today and said there's a tool out there that will cut roots and allow me to lift out the stumps. Is that so? What is it called so I can try to hunt it down? I have to do something. Anywho, pictures! How long does it take for those brick landscape borders to start "decomposing" in the ground? Nearly every last one of them broke in half when I tried to get them out and became a crumbly mess the rest of the way. This stretch of the bed is also 18.5 feet long. I'm also keeping the rock for now (where I'm going to put it I have NO clue) so I can use it for a french drain in the front yard to help empty out the sidewalk. Roots, roots, and more roots...what was I thinking???
lpyrbby; The tool of choice for me would be a 'reciprocating saw' (often called a 'sawz-all' due to its very early brand name, a la 'crescent wrench').. The cost will range from 25-100+ USD.. A word of caution!! As with all portable electrical tools which typically use extension cords, be very careful to use heavy duty extension cords, meaning the size of the wires that make up the ext. cord should be a minimum #12AWG.. If you need interpretation of any of the terminology I've used, I'll be happy to elucidate.. Hank
