We're finally getting closer to putting in a new fence in the back yard which means I want to finish things off back there. Former owners had a garden at the back fence, about 80 feet x 15 feet but many years of neglect from renters prior to us purchasing turned into a wild garden, mostly taken over by varieties of muscari and similar types of bulb flowers that I refer to as weeds. We're talking thousands of plants. Not to mention the real weeds that grow there! Its unmanageable. No way could it ever be a garden again and its a shady area anyway. Neighbors have a huge maple tree growing next to our back fence. Nice tree. I don't have a problem with it. When the leaves fall about 25% are on our side of the fence (whew got off lucky there!) so I don't want to constantly be cleaning them out of a flower garden. I just want the easy option of a lawn and when I run the lawn mower the leaves will be taken care of. And yes there's a lot of leaves. Mostly fall within 15 feet of the fence line and about 20 feet along the fence. Last year we used a bobcat to bring in soil and pull out some stumps and start preparing the area. I must have picked up about 2000 muscari bulbs after the excavation and I know there is no way I got them all, probably barely made a dent. And they keep breeding! Husband wants to use grass seed. I know those muscari weeds are going to come up through it, though I guess once the lawn mower comes along that will continuously temporarily take care of the muscaris. I think buying turf might be a better option. Does anyone know what the chances are of muscari busting through the turf grass? In my front garden I put down landscape cloth and bark mulch. I no longer have thousands of muscaris coming up in the front garden but I still get 300 - 500 each year. Even spraying them with round up doesn't seem to kill them. So I know the muscari are tough enough to bust through the cloth/mulch thing which has me worried they can do it with turf. Does anyone have any theories if lawn turf will stop the muscari or any other type of weeds that are prone to grow back there? If it doesn't matter which option we go with we're still going to get muscari, we might as well just seed that section and keep after it with the lawn mower and weed and feed option. Thanks!
Just wondering... are you open to other options besides lawn? If the muscari and leaves are such a problem... would a patio area of flagstone or something similar be an option?
I'm open to anything that's low maintenance! We have a fairly large cement patio area running the whole length of the house plus a flagstone area around the cedar tree in the center of the back yard but it could be another possibility putting in something similar. I guess I'm looking for low cost low maintenance. We also have to keep in mind that the house is 50 years old and we live in an older area that is being bought out by developers and turning into condominiums. Developers have already bought all houses up to about a block down from us plus most of the houses on the street hal a block down leading into our street where a new mall is being built. Our next door neighbor already had a developer approach her so... I am absolutely open to selling to a developer which I'm guessing will happen inside 10 years, maybe within 5. Until then I want to keep my house looking decent but not put a whole lot of money into it. I really want to put in a swim against the current pool and I have the room in the back yard but I realize this is not the house to go that route!
