Landscaping at the New House

One of the (many) things I like about my new home is the nice landscaping along the front of the house and side yard. And there are lots of healthy trees, although I paid a nice sum this week to have just three of them trimmed up. Ah, the joys of home ownership. But because of the trees most of the plants are early bloomers. There is very little full or even partial sun throughout most of the yard.

And even though I like what is planted, I doubt any of them are my favored native plants that provide benefits to wildlife such as birds and butterflies. There are a few berry shrubs, but that's about the limit of it.

Another "negative" is the decent slope at the west side of the lot. It doesn't look like much of a slope, but try mowing next to the fence line. It takes a lot to control the mower and keep it from sliding and taking out the fence.



So after struggling a few times, I thought about it. I don't like mowing over here. And this area of the yard gets the best sun. Hmm, this might be the best location for native landscaping! A couple of weeks ago, I placed a 3' wide strip of black plastic over it and pinned it down. In a couple of months, the grass should be killed off.


It will be too late to start planting (I think?) but at least I'll have the garden started. This Fall I can till the soil and perhaps put up a stone border in preparation for Spring planting.

It's so wonderful to be back to home ownership!

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