Landscaping advice needed
Peter Cohen
warm weather is here, and I could use some help from experts. Having a
restricted budget, I figured I'd hit the usenet rather than actually
*hiring* a landscaping contractor. :)
Anyway, here it is in a nutshell: We live in an area with very sandy
soil, and our house hasn't had any significant landscaping done probably
since construction, about a decade ago.
We have roughly 750 square feet of area I'd like to cover in mulch. It's
area that has been mulched in the distant past, but hasn't seen much
care or maintenance in some years.
Of that, about 300 square feet or so is currently occupied by shrubbery
of various sizes -- hydrangeas, rhodedendrons, holly, and some other
miscellaneous plants.
Another 300 or so square feet we plan to use for flower beds, bulbs like
tulips, daffodils, some hostas, and a few other various flora we'd like
to plant.
The remainder is basically just open area around trees and near the
perimeter of the yard that we'd like to get some ground cover on,
because right now it's fairly barren.
Am I doing my math right? At 750 square feet, I'm figuring I'm going to
need roughly 28 yards of mulch to cover the ground -- that seems like an
excessive amount to me, but this is the first time I've done this so I'm
not really sure. I haven't taken into account any displacement caused by
the particularly thick shrubbery, like the rhodies and other plants.
As I said, the soil is very sandy, which doesn't occur to me to be the
best type of soil to plant some of what we plan to plant in. Should I
lay down topsoil in those areas before we add mulch, and if so, how much
should I do?
Finally, what *sort* of mulch do I get? Is there one one-size-fits-all
mulch I should get, or are different types of mulch suited for different
applications?
Any advice is welcome -- even pointers to Web sites, etc.
--
Peter Cohen (pco...@maccentral.com)
Senior Editor, MacCentral (http://www.maccentral.com)
Colbyt
twice.
My advice would be to develop a master plan of what you wish to do
preferably with a rough drawing. Lay out your beds and if you can't do more
that mulch them the first year or two at least you won't be wasting your
time growing grass that you have to kill later. It may take years to
complete but if you have a plan you can do it a bit at a time with no
back-steps. If trees are involved plant them first. They take the longest
to grow.
With some type of plan you can stretch your $ by taking advantage of "lucky
finds" at the big box stores clearance sales. Some 20% of my landscaping is
stuff I have rescued off of "Death Row" at those type of places. But I only
bought it, if it fit into the master plan.
> We have roughly 750 square feet of area
750 x .33 (4", many recommend 1/2 that rate of mulch) =247 cubic feet / 27
= 9 yards of mulch.
Formula is square feet x depth = cubic feet. One cubic yard = 27 cubic feet
( 3 x 3 x 3)
What type depends on your area and preferences. Also to be considered is
what the plants prefer. My wife and I love the look of the shredded
hardwood mulch. The Hollies, rhododendrons and azaleas prefer pine bark, so
we mulch them generously with pine bark and add a thin layer of shredded
hardwood on top of that for a uniform appearance.
Starting from scratch your best bet is to find a bulk dealer who will allow
you to pick up or have a truckload (or 3) delivered.
>Should I lay down topsoil in those areas before we add mulch,
You can do this for shallow rooted flowers. It is very difficult to amend
an alien soil for a tree or shrub. What is the overall soil conditions in
your part of the world? What grows great in the yard next door?
For new plantings, plant what grows best in your area. Tulips, daffodils
like full sun. Most hostas prefer the shade or at least protected from the
afternoon sun. None of these care too much what kind of mulch you use.
Colbyt
"Peter Cohen" <pco...@maccentral.com> wrote in message
news:pcohen-09404C....@wbnws01.core.ne.rr.com...
Mikie
people there seem to talk about soils, mulches, growing plants and other
stuff too
"Peter Cohen" <pco...@maccentral.com> wrote in message
news:pcohen-09404C....@wbnws01.core.ne.rr.com...
: My wife and I have some pretty ambitious landscaping plans now that the
Mike Malison
Regarding your mulch calculation, you seem to be putting down a 1 foot
thick layer. A 3 inch layer would require about 7 yards. [750 sq. ft x 1/4
ft thick/ 27 cu ft per cu yd = 6.94]
Project sounds like a fun summer!!!
"Peter Cohen" <pco...@maccentral.com> wrote in message
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