Sorry, posting again because I realized there were street numbers in my photos – whoops!
Okay, lawn haters! I would love some advice here on what to do. Purchased this property 3 years ago – large corner lot with a number of mature trees. Neighbours who have lived on the street a long time say that when the trees were first planted, the lawn looked great. But now, because of all the shade, grass won’t grow under the trees – in fact, most of the lawn is no longer mainly turf grass, but is absolutely loaded with all kinds of weeds and invasive plants (which I honestly don’t care about too much, since I hate lawns anyway and plan to eventually get rid of most of it.) FYI, I’m in zone 5b, I think (southern Ontario, Canada).
Here are my questions:
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You’ll notice from the second photo that all kinds of crap is growing at the base of the trees. Google lens has identified multiple invasive plant species. Can I do the cardboard and mulch method under trees? Will this be damaging to the tree at all? How close can I put cardboard/mulch around the tree trunk?
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My other question is basically about design help. It’s such a big, rectangular area and I feel overwhelmed. My first plan is to basically cardboard/mulch an organically shaped area under the trees, wherever there is shade all day. Hardly any grass grows there anyway, and I can wait until next spring while I figure out what to plant (r/nativeplantgardening has already been helpful there). Do you think it would look stupid to leave roughly a 2-foot strip of lawn around the perimeter of the property, where grass meets sidewalk? My main reasoning for this is that people’s dogs love to do their business on the grass, and I worry that if I convert it to a garden bed, dogs will just pee all over the garden and kill any plants. I’d also worry about mulch spilling onto the sidewalk.
Any other tips or design ideas would be appreciated! The area not under the trees does get a few hours of sun mid-day. Also if it helps, the first and third photos show the same area, just from opposite ends of the yard (in the third photo, I’m standing under the big tree at the corner of the lot).
Thanks in advance!
by Distinct-Addition-24
3 Comments
Start with the bare spots and plant there. Easiest thing since you don’t have to kill grass there. Trust me, you do not need to have a big master plan. Get some perennials you can afford, plant them in the bare spots and put mulch or wood chips around them. Pick local rocks to make a border. Slowly expand from there.
Stick to local greenhouses and plant sales by local groups that provide plants dug from local gardens. Go for perennials and native plants already known to be hardy for the area.
Pull out the invasive plants as time allows and replace with perennials and natives.
I know most people here advocate for the cardboard + mulch method, which does work in any season, but I’ll propose a different method: straw in the fall. What I did:
1. Wait until late fall
2. Lay 8+ inches of straw
3. Water well (or lay the straw right before it rains)
4. Tramp it down by foot once it’s soaked
5. Repeat 2-3 times
6. Wait until spring
The wild violets and dandelions were the only things that consistently breached the mat of straw. A few random sprigs of Bermuda grass and creeping charlie made it too, but they were easy to pull by hand. This also made my hard pack clay super spongey thanks to a whole winter of worm and isopod activity breaking down the decaying grass roots and straw.
As for the garden planning, I laid out a few zones and the rough pathways I wanted, and just improvised from there.
i love your energy and how specific you are scheming .. your general idea w cardboard mulching an area under large canopy to then add natives is spot on.. this will look great when you are done.. i don’t have much to add other than don’t b worried about being overwhelmed.. one small step at a time is better than the majority are doing to help native eco system .. what you are doing on your own is exactly what we should b doing on large scale.. appreciate you