our landscaping master plan
Emily Oster
So this post is about four months overdue but better late than never...Back in September, I wrote this post about the jungle that was our yard and my goals for fall clean up. I attempted to keep my expectations reasonable but in the end the work was just too much and our fall schedule was too busy to really make any sort of head way. So we hired the work out!
Back in October, we found a great landscaping crew on referral and they clean up the whole yard in a matter of two days. It took four guys each day but they cleared all the beds - front and back - and torn out/dug up all the bamboo. On the third and fourth days of work, they planted local grass seed, edged in new beds, dug out a sump discharge run, laid some flagstone pavers and did a little bit of transplanting. The transformation was/is incredible and the fact that it happened so quickly was really exciting.
The decision to do the work/getting the work done happened really quickly as we were working up against the first frost deadline. The clean up required no planning but then what to after required me to rush to come up with a whole landscaping master plan. It was and is by no means complete but as I start to think about the coming of Spring, I am excited to start executing what we set in motion back in the fall.
Our lot is a 1/3 of an acre which is a lot for us to tend so like all our other projects, we are tackling it in pieces. I will call the work we did in the fall "Phase 1: Clean Out and Master Planning".
The plan above is a mix of things already in place and things we plan on adding. Existing landscape elements include: flagstone patio closest to the house, concrete back door walkway, concrete patio behind the garage, driveway, sump discharge/runoff, backyard grass!, edged in beds and large trees. Things to be added include: fencing, edible garden, planting of all beds, adding bushes and trees, extension of flagstone patio by the house to hold our fire pit and grill, flagstone walkway at the end of the driveway leading to the backyard and about a thousand other things.
I haven't quite gotten my head around what are the priorities as we think towards spring but I know at a minimum we need to line/fill our sump discharge with rock, maintain our garden beds by at least weeding, edging and mulching and re-seed the grass. I also would really like to start on getting our edible garden going even if this just means prepping the soil. There is really so much to think about/do it is a little overwhelming but I am also just so excited to be able to use our yard this year. Lots more to come and hopefully not so delayed....
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