The New Front and Side Garden Bed

When we moved into our home almost two years ago, the landscaping was in need of attention.  While it looked nice from the road, upon closer inspection the hodge podge of various plantings were ramped with weeds and over growth.  As per our normal method of dealing with ornamental gardens at any new house we waited to see exactly what we wanted to keep, what could be salvaged and what simply had to be removed. 

The side bed runs from the front of the house to the fence enclosing the back yard.  For some reason, it was a stinging nettle mecca!  A rose bush with menacing thorns hid the fence.  It was a danger to ourselves and neighbours when cutting the grass.  A much neglected varigated euonymus grew up behind and in the rose bush then along side the house creating the perfect haven for mice.  The AC unit was camouflaged with stinging nettle that refused to budge even after digging!  Tall vegetation including more stinging nettle and a couple of volunteer straplings covered most of the view from the lower level windows.  The arch enemy though was the large, unkept umbrella tree at the front corner.  While it hid part of the downspout, it was damaging the siding so was one of the first rip outs we did.  In the end we decided to level the entire area to the ground, straighten out the curve in the front bed and start from scratch.

Pictured is the initial result.  We used a no dig edging secured in several spots.  This was an ideal solution for us since we were not planning on a lot of plantings.  We lined the top of the lightly tilled soil with garden cloth then covered with a heavy layer of stone (walnut nugget).  The entire project came in just under $1,000 including the small garden bordering the garage (lattice).  It took 6 T of the stone.  We had hoped to have enough stone to do the garden bed on the other side of the garage (not shown) so that will be another project. 

I'm currently working on the updating the entrance with no plans to add any plantings yet.  There are a few spots on the grass side of the edging that need to be filled and seeded but other than that, I'm pleased with the results so far.  I am planning on less plantings and definitely low maintenance to fit in with our lifestyle.