I've moved into a fixer upper and now that its nice out I want to work on the yard and start a few garden designs. right outside of the back of my house is a very large section of overgrown nothing, I've mowed it sprayed it and spent countless hours digging up weeds that seem to be never ending and growing for a lot of years. I do not own a tiller and i'm using a shovel mostly.this area will make a nice flower garden view from the road and is a eyesore for the neighbors right now. Is there hope for this area to plant flowers or should I just keep it mowed and quit waisting my time. The neighbor told me that over the past 8 or 9 years this has been this way,she also told me that at one time this area held a beautiful grape vine.I think I found the start of that. any suggestions please
Hi miss_olmstead, Welcome to the Stew. There are many amazing gardeners here, and I'm sure someone will suggest something that will work well for you. Each gardener has their own way to go about things. :-D As for me, I'd say, how about starting small?? I remember that with a new home, the whole project was just overwhelming, and I simply could not afford the time or materials that it would take to do it all at once. What if you chose part of the area that you'd like to see turned into a flower bed, and just worked in that one section this summer? Maybe beginning with a "bite-sized" section would work for you, too? If your soil needs amendments, dig those into the area first, really, it's worth it in the long run. Or, if it's already good and fertile and doesn't need amendments, you could try the "newspaper method" without any preparatory digging. This is something that I've had luck with. Immediately after mowing the area very low, lay down a good, thick layer of old newspapers. This is mainly to form a weed barrier, so when I do this I like to lay the newspaper quite thickly, I pick a still day and I work with the garden hose in hand. The paper will stay in place better if you saturate it as soon as you lay it down. Once my paper is in place, I add a nice (2 inches or more) layer of mulch, (use whatever mulch you prefer, composted leaves are good, but you can buy mulch if you prefer). Then I begin to plant into the bed area. I simply scratch back the mulch layer, dig right through the wet newspaper (if the paper has dried, wet it well, that makes it very easy to dig through) poke the plant in the hole and backfill, then push the mulch back up around the plant. Over time, the newspaper will degrade completely, but by then, your new bed should be growing nicely, and you can add a section each year or so the same way, eventually making the bed as big as you choose.
Thanks zuzu Thank you very much for the advice,that was a great idea I spent the evening doing what you suggested and it really looked like I got some where
I agree, a large yard can become very overwhelming. And it's hard to keep motivated if you don't see progress.
