Front Yard Rock Gardens

[Brian Ellis]

Nice to see you are putting down roots Kristl

[cohan]

My tiny bungalow in my new home in Nova Scotia sits back somewhat on the main street in Annapolis Royal.

The former owner, who lived here for 50 years, was not a gardener. The front yard is composed of a large Acer pseudoplatanus, a Tilia and Quercus robur (which are widely naturalized in this province). In front of the house was the usual tiny bed of common weeds. Squished up against the foundaition were masses of hosta, and innapropriate woody plants (lilacs, junipers, hydrangea)---which have all been removed.

My property is on one of the major deer runs in town; working their way through the sheltered woody area in back, to the river across the street and back again. It is my first experience gardening with deer. There is not a day that groups of them are not passing through the property.

10 days ago I went into panic mode about all the plants that had accompanied me and were still sitting in a holding area in pots. The first mild frost had hit here on September 9th (even earlier than I had ever experienced it in Ontario).

And thus, a "panic garden" was quickly created; although I have tried to keep in mind my eventual fantasy of rock and crevice gardens in the entire area close to the house.

A "woodland garden" abutts the street in a large curve, inside of which I have made a tiny start on the rock garden, which can keep me busy for many years to come, especially since, unlike in Ontario, I have to drag each rock home piece by piece.

My moving boxes also managed to get properly recycled. 

AND, dear generous friends (you know who you are) thank you for your emergency shipping of Corydalis bulbs across the ocean to help me re-establish these small woodland gems, all of which I lost last winter in Ontario. They are now all safely planted in the garden.

looking good!
what are you doing with the cardboard? is this a weed barrier layer? permanent/temporary?  i was thinking of a cardboard barrier, covered with mulch, as a buffer zone around all my beds, against the too vigorous grasses and clover.....

lots of deer here--some well worn paths on parts of the acreage, though you dont often see them; so far no signs of them showing any interest in gardens/plantings, not even my fledgling veg garden, apart from pruning shrubs over winter; i expect it may change when/if i have things sprouting in the yard before they are in the wild, that is the most vulnerable time..

[Kristl Walek]

No, Cohan, not a weed barrier....only one of many ways to build a bed and kill the grass, without the cumbersome job of removing turf (totally unnecessary). In Ontario, where I had so many maples, my preferred method would be to make great huge piles of maple leaves in the fall, wherever, I wanted a new bed, allow them to settle somewhat and then throw the soil directly on top and plant. Voila.

Some folks use layers of newspaper (didn't have any)....and it was too early for leaves, so I used what I had on hand (the moving boxes). These will have broken down by spring or soon thereafter. I used the cardboard only in the areas where I am building the rock gardens---as the rocks and soil will be high there, so no issue with having to dig into cardboard to plant. Cardboard is also under where the paths will be (which will get covered with stone or bark mulch, haven't decided yet, as the two areas of alpine/woodland are contiguous).

The area where I built the woodland garden I did not use cardboard, as I knew I had to plant many deep-rooted plants (Gentiana lutea etc) and did not want to deal with difficulty of making holes in the cardboard. This area was covered by spoiled hay, which is easy to come by and cheap, and then covered with soil. Same principle.


Last picture is of my new plunge bed, which I cannot live without.

[Ragged Robin]

Very best of luck with all your plans, Kristi, you certainly seem to be making good progress with your garden landscaping....next time I extend my rock garden I will take into account your methods of weed and grass supression - it took me ages to clear our Alpine slope and roll rocks down into holes or they would go on rolling in the snow melt 

[cohan]

good approach..i've heard of similar approaches for killing turf, just not the step of putting soil on top..
i'm just working with soils/materials that occur right here for now, until i may get some gravel or rocks sometime..

i've tried some areas with covering to kill growth underneath (turf would be an oversimplification, as i have no areas that are all grass)--had some spots alongside my veg garden that i piled grass/leaves etc several inches thick; one area doesnt seem to have grown through, others have, must need to be thicker yet; had some spots covered with tarps, that was only partially effective--some of the things grow right through the tarp!; havent tried cardboard yet, though i have intended to..havent been organised enough to cover areas far enough ahead, so when i want the bed ready, i have to dig anyway..i think i still will have to dig, no matter what, as i'd like to get some of the tree roots out, though i know they will come back..
i think the covering might be most useful for areas where i'd like to plant natives and don't need to cultivate much, just give them barer soil for less competition to get established; i'd still be planting them in the native soil, though, not putting other soil on top...

[maggiepie]

Kristl, glad to see you recycling!
We did the same when we moved into our house, people walking by watching us laying cardboard and covering with soil just walked by shaking their heads.
Yours looks much neater at the edges than ours though, I did shove layers of newspapers under the bits with gaps.
Earthworms LOVE cardboard.
No dig gardens rock!!

[Paul T]

Luc,

Beautiful garden!!

Kristl,

So much promise.  I do have to admit though that when I saw your "recycling" picture my first thought was.... how unusual to be using slate as an outdoor paving/driveway in that type of pattern..... then I realised it was cardboard!!    Your way was much better than mine..... the slate would never have stayed in place! 

[Luc Gilgemyn]

You've taken off to a flying start Kristl ! 
Looks all very promising - can't wait to see it planted up ! 

[Lesley Cox]

Makes my new little bits look very - little! And I can't get going as the weather is just awful. A couple of weeks now without a decent day. Raining heavily again today, making every shovelful of soil twice as heavy.

[Kristl Walek]

good approach..i've heard of similar approaches for killing turf, just not the step of putting soil on top..
i'm just working with soils/materials that occur right here for now, until i may get some gravel or rocks sometime..

i've tried some areas with covering to kill growth underneath (turf would be an oversimplification, as i have no areas that are all grass)--had some spots alongside my veg garden that i piled grass/leaves etc several inches thick; one area doesnt seem to have grown through, others have, must need to be thicker yet; had some spots covered with tarps, that was only partially effective--some of the things grow right through the tarp!; havent tried cardboard yet, though i have intended to..havent been organised enough to cover areas far enough ahead, so when i want the bed ready, i have to dig anyway..i think i still will have to dig, no matter what, as i'd like to get some of the tree roots out, though i know they will come back..
i think the covering might be most useful for areas where i'd like to plant natives and don't need to cultivate much, just give them barer soil for less competition to get established; i'd still be planting them in the native soil, though, not putting other soil on top...

Cohan,
There are a couple of principles at work ---- if I had simply left the basic covering layer (be it straw, cardboard, newspaper, grass clippings, leaves) whatever;  things *would have* continued to grow through (UNLESS that basic cover was solid enough or thick enough NOT to allow light through to the weed level (be it turf or other weeds). Put enough soil or other clean substance on top of the "barrier level" and you will NOT have anything coming through (or the weed seeds germinating in the straw, for instance).

And, most of the plants (at least in the woodland area) will be growing in the native soil---because their roots will go down way past the addition of the soil on top.

For the rock garden, this is obviously not the case, as I require much more height---and will, undoubtably be bringing in even more soil over the next few years, as I continue to build that, section by section.

[cohan]

thanks for further information, kristl... i will have to do some experimenting...

[Paul T]

Makes my new little bits look very - little! And I can't get going as the weather is just awful. A couple of weeks now without a decent day. Raining heavily again today, making every shovelful of soil twice as heavy.

Lesley,

As I said to Bill in another topic..... quit stealing all our rain.  You're getting too much, and we're not getting enough.  Send it all back please!

[Lesley Cox]

Just to confound me, today is lovely and I'd like to be out there shovelling away. But I've arranged to go south today and will be away from home for about 7 hours probably. It's to pick up a plant order though, so not too many regrets.