I live in USDA Zone 7b. I have this spot between my driveway and my neighbors. It receives full sun. One year, I put in zinnias, which was success. Last summer, I put some compost down and tried to plant more zinnias. But, I guess there were some cherry tomato seeds, which took over instead. I don’t need more cherry tomatoes. What should we put here? This area is quite narrow and there is a slight slant. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you
by Available-Actuary753
5 Comments
You are dealing with an absolute oven here. That narrow strip is trapped between asphalt and concrete soaking up full sun all day and baking the soil from both sides. Any tall plants like zinnias or tomatoes are going to flop right over into the driveway and get smashed by car doors. You need to stop thinking about this as a flower garden and start treating it like a hellstrip that needs a tough structural groundcover.
First thing you do is bury that black surface wire before someone trips on it. Next grab a shovel and dig out the top few inches of that tired dirt because it is probably mostly gravel and road base anyway. Mix that bag of topsoil with some heavy compost to give the new roots a fighting chance against the compaction and the heat. You have to fix the soil structure before you put a single root in the ground.
Go buy flats of Creeping Thyme or a low growing stonecrop sedum and plant them tight in one continuous sweeping mass. Do not mix and match a bunch of different little plants. A single uniform texture will tie that whole line together and flow right around the utility pole creating a clean look. Once it fills in it will choke out weeds and take the reflected heat like a champ and you can step right on it when you get out of your car.
Wildflower mix. Native to your area.
In my honest opinion, I know it’s a lot of work but dig down 4-5 inches, pack in 4 inches of stone creete, then then cover that with whatever decorative stone you like (river rock, crushed granite, maybe small flagstone pieces)
Fresh dirt some fertilizer grass seeds & water would do the trick
Rock purslane