I bought my house in NJ about 1.5 years ago. Both my house and the surrounding property were left in a state of disrepair.
I am new to caring for outdoor property and have many questions. Photos are attached for reference.
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How can I bring this grass back to life ? It’s patchy and muddy. What can I do to thicken it up and in general, foster a nice, beautiful lawn ?
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I’d like to build a garden along the back fence as well as in the front of the house. There are lots of deer in my area. Any tips ? When to start planting ?
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I’d like to add some trees behind the fence for shade and privacy purposes. It appears as though there were 5 trees taken down back there before we bought the house. I’m not sure why, but they looked to be large, shade-providing trees (based on the size of the stumps left behind). What trees would make the most sense to plant there and when is it best to plant a tree ? Again, living in NJ.
Thank you kindly for any and all advice 🩵
by ForestFairy1214
2 Comments
Look at those massive shade trees in your front yard. Turf grass needs sun to thrive and right now you have heavy shade and compacted dirt which equals mud. Stop throwing seed at hard ground. You need to core aerate that yard this fall then topdress it with a good layer of compost and overseed with a dense shade fescue mix. Even better you should shrink the lawn entirely. Pull the foundation beds out from the house with wide sweeping curves so you are not trying to force grass to grow where it clearly does not want to.
For the front beds and along that new back fence you need serious structure. Right now your house is just floating on a flat plane. A solid landscape must have canopy understory and groundcover working together. Because you live in heavy deer country you need to plant sweeping connected masses of highly deer resistant native plants. If a plant smells strong like mint or has fuzzy leaves the deer will usually walk right past it. Plant big groupings of native switchgrass aromatic asters and black eyed susans. Do not scatter one of this and one of that. Plant them in large blocks so they flow together and create visual calm instead of a restless polka dot yard.
Those old trees out back were probably ripped down because they were rotting hazard trees or killed by ash borers. If you want real shade and privacy back there plant native White Oaks or Red Maples. Fall is the absolute best time to plant trees in NJ because the soil is still warm and roots can establish before summer heat returns. Make sure you cage the trunks with wire fencing for the first few years. Bucks will rub their antlers on young tree trunks in the autumn and destroy them over a single weekend. Dig the hole twice as wide as the root ball and leave the root flare exposed at the top so the tree can actually breathe.
Looks pretty good already, you can add some grass seed to some of the patchy areas if you really want. I would stick to keeping your garden to one area, and I know you can buy some wire to cover the garden or a tall wire fence around it to keep the deer out.