General garden question

 
Hi, i'm new to gadening and i was just wondering if anyone could advise
me...

My garden is an absolute mess and would probably be best if someone
could just hit the 'reset' button.

Is there any way that i can simply kill everything green that's in it in
such a way that the soil would still be plantable after X amount of time
so i can simply seed the entire thing and plant the flower beds where i
want them?




--
RobertFaa

 

  garden banter  question  -  I realize  .
but  -
 .. what makes some people think that
gardening should be easy ?
If a person doesn't have the time & energy to
turn over and loosen & mulch a patch of ground -
 .. what do they think gardening  is  .. ?
  John T.

  hubops@cccanoemail.com wrote:


 I think it is a matter of scale.  If you enjoy a 10X10 plot then so be
it.  Then go larger until you consider it work.  At which time you can
cut back or carry on if the garden  virus hits you.

--
Bill  S. Jersey USA zone 5 shade garden

"The best fertilizer is the gardener's shadow." - Anon

http://www.earthknowledge.net/map/

 RobertFaa wrote:

Of course there are herbicides that will do what you want but it isn't the
way to go.  If you do that (unless your garden is postage stamp sized) by
the time you get one or two areas done the rest will be a riot of weeds.
Don't leave bare earth, all it will grow are weeds.  Renovate one bed or
area at a time and plant and mulch as you go.  You may find that some of the
"weeds" can and should be saved if you go about it systematically,
especially any trees and shrubs which will take much longer to replace.  You
need to identify what is in your mess.

Secondly make a plan before you do anything.  Consider what you want to do
in each part of the garden and what will grow there in keeping with the
climate, aspect and soil.  Consider sunlight, wind and drainage.  You can
get books on garden design at the library.

Thirdly don't rush.  If you plant a whole lot of new things without enough
observation and planing too many of them will not prosper, either the
planting will not suit the space or your usage and you will use up money and
energy for no good purpose.  Do you know what the soil is, do you know where
the sun shines in winter and in summer, do you know where the water runs in
heavy rain?  Don't imagine you are doing this in a weekend or two unless the
garden is tiny.

David

 

A few years ago I did exactly this with my front yard.  I hired a crew
to come in and bulldoze out the bushes, etc.  Then I had them build an
arrangement of raised beds for flowers.  Since I wasn't going to grow
anything I was going to eat, they could use railroad ties that were
treated to prevent decay for the structure of the beds.  They filled the
beds with a good soil mix, and on the ground between the raised beds
they put landscape fabric (to keep the big stuff from coming up again)
with crushed river rock on top. They picked a color of rock which
coordinated with the colors of the house.

Since then I've planted many different kinds of flowers in those raised
beds:  roses, lilies, many other perennials, annuals, spring bulbs,
ferns, etc.  Right now they're at their spring peak with daffodils and
tulips as well as a few late crocuses.  The roses are leafing out, and
the perennials are starting to come back up.

I had hated the way the previous owner of my house had designed the
front yard, but now I just love it.  The raised beds save my back and
knees, and since it gave me a tabula rasa, once the crew was done, it
has exactly what I like growing in it.

The whole thing (clearing out, building the raised beds, materials,
labor) for a yard of approx 50 x 20 feet cost me about $6,000.  It was
definitely worth it.  If I were to try to sell my house these days, I
wouldn't have to worry about whether I have curb appeal or not.  I do --
in spades!

My whole lot is 50 x 140 feet, and the house has a small footprint, so I
have plenty of room out back for veggie gardening and some tamed
wildness, too.

Good luck!

Priscilla
--
"What you fail to understand is that criticising established authority by means
of argument and evidence is a crucial aspect of how science works."
                                                                - Chris Malcolm