How I did it: The walkway to my front door was surrounded on both sides by weeds, and what looked like very nice topsoil.  I decided to spruce it up a bit.  First I weeded the area, since it was very overgrown, and then headed to the store for some flowers.  I prefer perennials, since they grow nicely every year and don't have to be watered as much, so I bought some daylilies, coreopsis, and daisies, and planted them along the walkway.  After they were in, I used black landscaping fabric on the entire area (cutting out holes for my plants), so that the weeds wouldn't grow back.  Then I covered the fabric with red mulch, which makes it look nice, and also helps prevent the plants from drying out so quickly in the summer.  To finish things off, since perennials don't bloom all summer, I bought some annuals (petunias, impatiens, and begonias), and planted them in containers, since I wasn't positive where the best locations would be for them.  This lets me move them around, for better design, and also to move them out of the rain or sun if I need to.  My end result made my new house look much more welcoming, and also cleaned up a bit of a mess in the front yard.

Lessons & tips:

1. If I hadn't needed to clean up my entryway immediately, using an herbicide like RoundUp would have been much easier than pulling weeds by hand.  So if you have time, that would definitely be a consideration.
2. Putting down the black landscaping fabric BEFORE planting your flowers makes things a lot easier.  Instead of cutting the fabric to fit around the flowers, you lay it all out, mulch, and then plant.  Much quicker, and I'm sorry I didn't think ahead!
3. Buy more mulch than you calculate that you need.  The bags tell you how much to buy based on the area and how thick you want the mulch.  But what you consider one inch compared to how mulch lies flat on the ground are different.  I ended up needing about three times the amount I had calculated for, just to get the fabric covered so nothing peeked through.
4. If you don't need the project done immediately, wait until the middle to end of summer to get cheap containers.  The garden associates at Lowe's advised me to come back in a few weeks to get my containers on sale!
5. Planting the garden where your hose can reach it is a great idea, since I have to lug watering cans of water until the plumber can come and install a new faucet.

Resources:

1. Gardening magazines give you a bunch of different ideas, and you can pick parts of each that you like.
2. Local nurseries/greenhouses can tell you exactly where plants should be located around your house so they don't die.
3. Check with lumber mills for cheap or free mulch.  Sometimes the city waste collectors that pick up trees and shrubs also have free mulch after they grind it up. 

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Jun 05, 2010, 06:44PM PDT | 0 comments | 1 cheer