Designer he
Use the ground cover you like and fits your zone requirements as said in
small groupings. Also add some shrubs to the scheme that form dense low
mounds. Not knowing your locale or taste makes it harder to suggest plants,
but local nurseries will have good plantsmen to help. Another use of the
space would be a marshy patch. If you have enough rainfall, dig out a
shallow (24" deep) area, as large as you have patience for and monies to
line, fill it with a mix of local soil and compost. Plant it with marginal
water plants as found in local ponds. Again a good nursery can help select
plants. Of course the leaf fall should not be tidied away. That which
falls in the marsh and on the hard ground will feed worms, which tend your
soil for you, feeding your trees etc.
These strategies will absorb much of the mulched area and thus negate the
need for a lot of the work.
Neil
PS If I put my site details up, this message would be blocked I guess.


"Vox Humana" wrote in message
...

"Neil" wrote in message
...

My new home has an area that is about 275ft x 30ft in front of the house
(essentially the length of the lot and about 30ft deep). It is uneven
and
strewn
with large bolders.

The previous owner of the house took a very costly approach. The area
has a fair amount of trees, some random shrub plantings, and is covered
from
end to end with mulch (wood chips). The previous owner told me it cost
about $2000 to put down mulch along this entire area. Well I was
fortunate
enough to find
a free supply of wood chips, as long as I was willing to spread them
myself.
Five truckloads (and over a month later), and
I've finally finished "chipping" the area.

This is unmanageable as far as I'm concerned, but I'm at a loss as to
how to improve the situation.

1) Grass - preparing the land (tree removal, bolder removal, fill) is
too
expensive.
2) Ground cover - Seems that I either have to spend a fortune for an
acre
of
the stuff, or wait the remainder of my life for a little bit to spread
out.

There's a picture of the area at

http://www.panix.com/~nradisch/yard.jpg

The area curves a bit, but the very end can be seen at the top of the
picture.

It looks a lot better than what I was expecting from your description! I
would forget the grass. First of all, you have very nice grass already
and
the grass that would grow under the trees would be inferior to the
existing
lawn. It would also be monotonous. Finally, even if you could get grass
to
grow it would be a maintenance nightmare mowing around the trees and
rocks.

I like the idea of ground cover, but not all ground cover. I would
contact
a landscape designer or two and get some ideas. You might drive around
your
area and take some pictures of things that you like. I don't know where
you are, so it is hard to make specific suggestions for plants. I would
like to see some hostas under the trees. There are many nice perennials
that would look wonderful planted in a border meandering around the trees.
You could also plant areas of ground cover. I would use a variety of
ground
covers. You can mulch some paths between the plantings. You should only
have to mulch the area every two or three years and you would have far
less
mulching, and more a more diverse and interesting landscaping. You are
starting with a very nice setting.