Home Landscaping
(Page 7 of 10)
August/September 1999
By Mort Mather
And I keep it small. When it comes to lawns, the smaller, the better. Try a two-mower width around the house and similar paths to the garden, car parking area and compost pile, plus an area about the size of a room for sitting around outside. Leave the rest to wildflowers or a variety of ground cover plants. The ground ivy in my lawn would do fine without my mowing it. It is not thick enough to dominate, but it could if I worked at it. Partridge berry, spurge, periwinkle or myrtle and pachysandra are a few suggestions. Once these are established, the job is done.
RELATED CONTENT
Buying or building a small home is a great way to significantly reduce your energy use, and you don...
There are thousands upon thousands of abandoned farmhouses scattered throughout the U.S., at bargai...
I'm renting an old Finnish homestead near Nolalu, Ontario....
A community canning center is the answer....
Mother Earth News contributing editor Dan Chiras provides you with the tools you need to green your...
A landscape architect will draw up a plan to be implemented right away. I see a homeowner's plan as a dynamic process. It is fun to fool around with shapes on a two-dimensional plane, while trying to visualize it in three dimensions. Then there is the fourth dimension, time, to be considered. If there is no major contour alteration, like making a level area where one doesn't currently exist, things can happen one piece at a time over several years.
Since it will take a number of years for a shade tree or a windbreak to attain functional size, you will probably want to make decisions on these as soon as possible. However, don't rush decisions on trees because they are not easy to move.
I enjoy natural environments. I can spend hours sitting by the side of a stream or gazing at a mountain or absorbing the colors of autumn. My house, on the other hand, needs to be more functional, more organized to suit my needs. The area around the house is a little bit of both — a place that satisfies my needs, that fulfills certain functions, but where I can also immerse myself in nature — well, slightly manipulated nature. Happy manipulating.
Intermediate Tree Planting
In general, the best time to plant a tree is in the early spring or the late fall, but research your specific plant in case of exceptions. Where to plant is the spot where the tree will have the amount of sunshine it needs — full or partial, as specified; full if not specified. And, if it isn't hardy, plant it where it will have shelter from the wind. Plant big deciduous (shade) trees on the south side of the house where they will shade in summer and let warming light enter your windows in the winter. Conifers do well as winter windbreaks on the north or windy side of the house. (Wisely placed trees can improve your home's heating/cooling situation a lot!)
Digging A Hole
Dig planting holes wide and shallow, no deeper than the rootball's size, and make them wider than needed to accommodate the tree's spreading roots. The larger the area that you dig up around the hole in preparation for planting the tree, the easier it will be for its roots to spread and find food and water. Remove any grass for three feet in diameter.
Testing for Clay or Compacted Soil. Dig a hole about ten inches deep (a shovelful), and fill it with water. Check it again in ten hours (overnight). Is it empty? If it has drained less than an inch an hour, you have a serious drainage problem.
Page:
<< Previous 1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 | 7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
Next >>
