Opinions on Back Yard Gardens
 

OK, the inside remodeling is almost done and the weather is getting cooler
so it's time to start thinking of landscaping the back yard and the front
too. Two things we absolutely have to have is a storeroom and a screened in
porch. I have several large Chinese Tallow trees, one tree I'm not sure
what kind it is, and a couple of small Pecan trees in back. The back yard
is about 80' wide and 50' deep. There's also some English ivy in several
spots in back and on the back wall of the house is what I think is a ficus
of some kind. I bought some Irish moss for some of the shady areas,
especially by the a/c drip. There are naturalised Corn lilies there as well
that I would like to keep. I need ideas on shady and semi shady plants,
things that would do well with a minimum of care and would possibly stay
green all year. I'm in zone 9.

I don't really want a lot of flowers because I don't want a lot of bees and
such around. Has anyone ever done a garden with just foliage?

I am going to put in a nicer birdbath than I have now, some garden
ornaments, and something to hide the phone box the phone company so kindly
put in my yard.

One of the problem areas is going to be where my dad had a sort of
garage/workshop with a cement rubble floor. He did a lot of work on his
cars there so I suspect the dirt will have to be removed. I finally talked
him into getting rid of the awful thing :) Anyone else dealt with this kind
of problem?

The front is easier except for the ficus vine that's almost impossible to
get rid of. I would love to get rid of it and put something nice along the
walls like some type of hedge.

Shell

Opinions on Back Yard Gardens
 

First - IMHO, get rid of the english ivy. While it doesn't move as
fast as kudzu, it covers just as throughly. I've seen it cover an
entire hillside in E. Tenn.

Shade plants - hostas come in a variety of greens and blue-greens.
Tiarellas are also good.

On Fri, 19 Sep 2003 04:12:36 GMT, "Shell91"
wrote:

OK, the inside remodeling is almost done and the weather is getting cooler
so it's time to start thinking of landscaping the back yard and the front
too. Two things we absolutely have to have is a storeroom and a screened in
porch. I have several large Chinese Tallow trees, one tree I'm not sure
what kind it is, and a couple of small Pecan trees in back. The back yard
is about 80' wide and 50' deep. There's also some English ivy in several
spots in back and on the back wall of the house is what I think is a ficus
of some kind. I bought some Irish moss for some of the shady areas,
especially by the a/c drip. There are naturalised Corn lilies there as well
that I would like to keep. I need ideas on shady and semi shady plants,
things that would do well with a minimum of care and would possibly stay
green all year. I'm in zone 9.

I don't really want a lot of flowers because I don't want a lot of bees and
such around. Has anyone ever done a garden with just foliage?

I am going to put in a nicer birdbath than I have now, some garden
ornaments, and something to hide the phone box the phone company so kindly
put in my yard.

One of the problem areas is going to be where my dad had a sort of
garage/workshop with a cement rubble floor. He did a lot of work on his
cars there so I suspect the dirt will have to be removed. I finally talked
him into getting rid of the awful thing :) Anyone else dealt with this kind
of problem?

The front is easier except for the ficus vine that's almost impossible to
get rid of. I would love to get rid of it and put something nice along the
walls like some type of hedge.

Shell

Opinions on Back Yard Gardens
 

I just bought a house four months ago and there was large amount of
rocks.. A LARGE pile I should say.

We took the rocks and put them into large plastic containers. Then by
boyfriend dug a very large hole taller than he is (6 feet). The top
soil had tons of rocks in it as well. We pulled out good dirt, dumped
the rocks in and poured the good dirt over it. The task took about 3
weeks of daily labor..however it's been 2 months and the grass is
gorgeaous.

I have befor and after pics if your interested.

Though labor intensive I say dig a hole bury what you don't want and
cover it back up.

Opinions on Back Yard Gardens
 

We've gotten rid of 90% of the ivy, it had eaten half the back yard and was
startibg in the neighbor's yard.

Hostas sound nice but the one I tried awhile back just sort of shriveled up
and turned brown. I'll have to check into tiarellas

Shell


"fran" wrote in message
...

First - IMHO, get rid of the english ivy. While it doesn't move as
fast as kudzu, it covers just as throughly. I've seen it cover an
entire hillside in E. Tenn.

Shade plants - hostas come in a variety of greens and blue-greens.
Tiarellas are also good.

On Fri, 19 Sep 2003 04:12:36 GMT, "Shell91"
wrote:

OK, the inside remodeling is almost done and the weather is getting
cooler
so it's time to start thinking of landscaping the back yard and the front
too. Two things we absolutely have to have is a storeroom and a screened
in
porch. I have several large Chinese Tallow trees, one tree I'm not sure
what kind it is, and a couple of small Pecan trees in back. The back
yard
is about 80' wide and 50' deep. There's also some English ivy in several
spots in back and on the back wall of the house is what I think is a
ficus
of some kind. I bought some Irish moss for some of the shady areas,
especially by the a/c drip. There are naturalised Corn lilies there as
well
that I would like to keep. I need ideas on shady and semi shady plants,
things that would do well with a minimum of care and would possibly stay
green all year. I'm in zone 9.

I don't really want a lot of flowers because I don't want a lot of bees
and
such around. Has anyone ever done a garden with just foliage?

I am going to put in a nicer birdbath than I have now, some garden
ornaments, and something to hide the phone box the phone company so
kindly
put in my yard.

One of the problem areas is going to be where my dad had a sort of
garage/workshop with a cement rubble floor. He did a lot of work on his
cars there so I suspect the dirt will have to be removed. I finally
talked
him into getting rid of the awful thing :) Anyone else dealt with this
kind
of problem?

The front is easier except for the ficus vine that's almost impossible to
get rid of. I would love to get rid of it and put something nice along
the
walls like some type of hedge.

Shell

Opinions on Back Yard Gardens
 

Our dirt is black clay gumbo, kind of like digging almost dry cement.
There's been a lot of sand put in and lots of leaf mold and grass clippings
decomposed into the topsoil. We will probably have to rent a small
bulldozer and just grade everything to fix the drainage and a tiller to
plant anything properly.

I'm always interestd in pictures of peoples gardens and yards :)

Shell


"Joanna Swank" wrote in message
om...
I just bought a house four months ago and there was large amount of
rocks.. A LARGE pile I should say.

We took the rocks and put them into large plastic containers. Then by
boyfriend dug a very large hole taller than he is (6 feet). The top
soil had tons of rocks in it as well. We pulled out good dirt, dumped
the rocks in and poured the good dirt over it. The task took about 3
weeks of daily labor..however it's been 2 months and the grass is
gorgeaous.

I have befor and after pics if your interested.

Though labor intensive I say dig a hole bury what you don't want and
cover it back up.

Opinions on Back Yard Gardens
 

Shell91 wrote:

One of the problem areas is going to be where my dad had a sort of
garage/workshop with a cement rubble floor. He did a lot of work on his
cars there so I suspect the dirt will have to be removed. I finally talked
him into getting rid of the awful thing :) Anyone else dealt with this kind
of problem?

Shell



-- I will address this one i had the same problem when i bought this 5
acre property, only there were 4 places w concrete and oils etc pluss
where he had parked junk cars in several places, I hired a bucket
loader to dig down and remove the contaminated dirt to 2 ft and
replaced half of it with "clean" dirt from other places on the property
where i knew I would not put gardens then had compost broutht in to
finish the fill even after all lthat there are still places that no
deep rooted plants will last





John Rutz
Z5 New Mexico

i dont get older i get odder
(note if you email me you will be asked to confirm email
see my pond at:

http://www.fuerjefe.com