Landscaping for Dummies

It has still been raining off and on every other day or so around these parts. I think we have now passed the old record for most rain in July. We still don't have any grass in our yard. Even on the days it would be dried out enough to lay sod, the sod farms are still so soaked they can't cut any. Our house looks like a white-trash mudhole missing the old washing machine and Camaro on blocks. Weeds are popping up all over, construction debris that they had covered up with the topsoil is now surfacing, half the topsoil is in the ditch, and the front porch is mottled with red-clay mud. Add in the fact that we are all stir crazy from being cooped up and you have the mess that is us right now.

I have been giving a lot of thought to the overall plan for the landscaping. I know that it will take me years to get it just right, but I want some sort of a master plan so that I can keep adding to it and working towards the picture I have in my head. I sit at night and doodle ideas on copies of the plat map. I have researched plants and the wildlife in this area.

Saturday morning dawned clear and bright. Chances of rain were the lowest they had been in a while, 50%. Carpe Diem!!! Seize the Day!!! We headed out to the local Home Depot and bought fertilizer, soil amendments, basic plants, landscape fabric, and a new pair of good gardening gloves for me. Then we headed to the nearby stone masons. The first stone I saw was gorgeous! Then I found out it was $500 a pallet. Yikes! So on to option B. At 1/3 the price and for a bigger pallet, we bought 4 tons of Rainbow Rock. I added 6 tons of Moss Rock for edging, set up delivery for that afternoon and headed home. I spent 6 hours digging, mixing in soil amendments, planting, fertilizing, watering and moving rock. I was in heaven! When I was done I was sunburned, stinky, filthy dirty and exhausted. I jumped in the pool with my clothes on and floated around for a while, pretending I was scrubbing at some algea spots but mostly just cooling off. I planned on finishing Sunday but guess what? It poured rain. So each evening I move a little more rock. next I need to work on the wash down the side of thr house, with little waterfalls along the way. (A wash is a rock lined natural drainage path that funnels water during heavy rains. It is also a nice little landscape accent) If I can get the beds built (or at least outlined to designate where they go) and ready before they can get the sod in that would be great. Of course, this is just the front yard I am talking about. That's big enough of a chunk to tackle right now. The house sits 110 feet back from the road, and the width of it increases since we are on a cul de sac and the property lines angle out. I estimated that it would take 30 pallets of sod just to cover the front. The more beds I can make, the less sod and less mowing.

To the left side of the driveway, along the fence where the horses are, I am building a raised rose garden. I love roses and especially antique roses. There will be an arbor for climbing varieties and a path winding thru them. I can lay it out now, build it up and mix the proper soil over the winter and be ready to hit the Antique Rose Emporium in the spring. I also want to build some raised beds out back to grow vegetables next year. They will need a protective fence so it doesn't become a big salad bar for the deer. Hopefully I will have it ready for spring too.

Then, there are the other 3 acres of land..... treeless, grassless, weed-infested land. I am still working on a plan for that. Especially what to do around the pond. But, I have the rest of my life to complete it, so no rush.

Did I mention how much I am enjoying this? Who knew I was a country girl at heart! I still don't want chickens, though......