One thing that sold us on our new house was the yard. We love the big back yard, and the spacious front yard is an added bonus! But we are at a loss as to how to fill in the very large flower bed in the front. We don't want to spend a fortune on shrubs and flowers, but we would like to make it look neat and presentable - and perhaps even beautiful? This task seems so large that in moments of despair, I have asked myself if it'd be easier to just tear out the bricks and lay sod. But no, I think we can do this. And so, since we two have no landsacping experience whatsoever, do any of you have specific ideas of what to plant, how to arrange such plants, or any advice at all? Thanks in advance for the help.
While the front yard is a bit overwhelming, we are loving our new hobby as gardeners in the back yard. I am completely amazed that food can grow from a seed stuck in some dirt. Jonny and I are both amateur gardeners, but with help from Jonny's mom Myra (an excellent and experienced gardener), some Google searches, several trips to the nursery, and a lot of weeding, our small garden is really taking shape. We enjoy using fresh herbs in our cooking, plucking spinach at will, giving radishes and lettuce to our neighbor's bunny, and can't wait for the tomatoes and peppers. (Otherwise, we have promising corn, carrots, onions, cucumbers, honeydew - watermelon and cantaloupe didn't make it - strawberries, and green beans.) There's just something perfectly satisfying, even thrilling, about eating food from your own back yard. Now if we can just get the front yard to cooperate...
Note: As you can see, the tomato plants are getting a little out of hand. Yikes! We will see what we can (and should?) do about them!
11 comments:
Mel I am totally impressed with your garden--and your house is adorable! Sadly I don't have much advice on landscaping---I have a hard time watering my ONE planter!
We too have a nice flower bed that used to be filled with beautiful annuals, but I'm too cheap and lazy to do that every year. My plan next year is to go to a nursery every few weeks and pick up a perennial that's blooming and grows in the shade. That way, something will always be blooming, and I won't have to plant it again the next year. That's my idea, but I haven't tried it yet, so who knows how well it will work.
Here's a blog I've looked at and I really like what she's done with her front and side gardens. I really like the iron garden sphere, I think all gardens do well with an added touch to the greenery instead of just plants and flowers.
http://makingitlovely.com/2008/06/26/the-side-garden-in-its-infancy/
It's nice to have some bigger shrubs so that you don't have to spend every year replanting the same spaces, you might spend more then you like but if you take care of it then you only have to buy it once. I'd find a shrub that is big enough but not too big.
Here's another link:
http://makingitlovely.com/2008/06/12/front-garden-mockups/
I hit enter too soon :o)
I'd plant some shrubs or bushes and then have fun filling in the surrounding area with flowers. Pick things that you like and that compliment eachother, you can play around with this and even change it up each year and every few years depending on what you decide.
Lots of space to fill! I recommend weeds. They are easy to plant and cultivate (they do all the work themselves!), grow VERY quickly, and require next to no care and, well, weeding.
Your veggies are lovely. No fair. One of my tomatoes is growing though.
You guys are awesome with your gardening!
Here's what I did with my flower beds . . .
SO, I tore out ALL the perennials that the previous owners planted, and put stepping stones and mulch. I quite love it. Nothing to do but replace the mulch every year or so. Also, I do spend about $50 once a year on some flowers just in front, for fun. But the rest is all sorts of non-weedy, cheapy fun! (Also, the boys always trampled what was there.
If it was my flower bed this is what I would do: plant hollyhocks along the back row. They can grow pretty tall, so it would make a nice background. I have a million hollyhock seeds if you want me to send you some. They are a perrenial and really pretty--they are one of my favorite flowers. Then I would buy five or six perrenials from a nursery that grow 2-3 feet tall. I would stagger these in front of the hollyhocks. Then I would buy about 4 plants of a nice groundcover such as ajuga, creeping phlox, or creeping jenny and I would let this fill in the rest. It looks like the bed receives full sun, and all of these should do well in full sun. another idea is to buy a wildflower seed mix. Sprinkle the seeds over the entire bed and then rake them in. This will provide plenty of color with very little effort, and most of them will be perrenials. Plus they will attract hummingbirds and butterflies, and don't usually require very much water. Just be careful, as many mixes can contain weed seeds as well. Wal-mart usually has a lot of mixes to choose from, and it should say how many square feet it will cover. Sorry for the long comment! Make sure you post pictures after you fill the bed:-)
I must say I'm a tiny bit jealous that my garden is such crap! Hopefully you will reap enough rewards to share your tomatoes with you loving and devoted oldest sister. We must have the yummy salsa!!!!!!
This is my suggestion - plant some bushes along the back part; you can get some pretty ground cover, I would say do a few flowers - heck, it is called a flowerbed. I would suggest perennials - they are more expensive, but you only have to plant them once.
I've never seen your house and I LOVE it! It is so beautiful. I can't wait until I get home so I can come see it up close. You have a beautiful yard too. We have some big beds too and we planted some smaller/cheaper bushes like box wood and also some daisies, but my favorite thing was the ground cover. You can find green ground cover or there's also some with a red tint, I'm not sure of the names but it took over our beds and it was cheap. It took about a year before it started spreading but it was really fast.
Sorry for being a total slacker. I need to come and get you guys going on that bed, if it's not already done. There are a ton of wildflower-like perennials (coneflower, shasta daisy, coreopsis, and some others) that I think could look really cool there and that you guys would love. I can buy stuff at contractor prices for you as well. Let me know. PS. Jonny, you are a very kind man, thanks for your comments.
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