Getting rid of the grass and putting in draught resistant plants

Jun 05, 2007 13 Replies

Hi all, I'd like to remove the grass from the strip between our sidewalk and the street and replace it with a series of draught resistant plants. The new townhouses across the street have this arrangement and it looks nice. The plants are like small shrubs or sprouts of grasses. I don't want ground cover but just a dotting of plants with the rest of the space (probably 5'x9') with some type of bark. The space is currently filled with grass that we don't take care of and generally looks bad.



So-What do I need to do to get rid of the grass and prepare the soil for planting of our gorgeous new drought resistant plants?



Any other advice?



Either a shovel, sodcutter, or a gallon of Round-Up.

Get ready to pull weeds :)

If we knew where you were someone might recommend some nice xeriscaping plants or suggest soil ammendments- without that info there's not much use.

Take a walk about your neighborhood and if you see some thing you like ask about it. You may have to visit nearby communities but this a challenge that can be viewed as fun.

Bill

A friggin' *gallon*? He said a strip of yard. Do you know how many acres of land you can poison with one gallon of Roundup, assuming concentrate?

Why do I have to keep repeating myself?

Poison Bad. Do Not Use Poison. Poison Make People Sick, Maybe Die. Poison Hurt Developing Babies. Do Not Use Poison Poison Bad

Use a shovel, sodcutter, some muscles, pull some weeds, read up on other methods.

Sorry, and yes, I have to do it.

Care..... about the earth and it's inhabitants Charlie

Cut and fit some old, busted down cardboard boxes. Wet them down. Cover with an inch or 2 (at least) of 2 or more types of compost (cow and chicken say - or sheep and mushroom, the more different types the better), water, then put some mulch down - maybea few inches. Then either wait till next spring to pull some mulch back and plant(make a hole right through the cardboard for bulbs/plants), or plant some bulbs this fall - whatever. That's one of several approaches I guess. I'm sure others here can help. try

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for a Forum of folks in your area - they can help. And, as suggested, let us know what city you're in.

Carl

Hey all-I'm in Seattle-sorry to not include that info.

I guess tongue in cheek doesn't translate well to Usenet :) The armstrong method works for me.

-Toni

Oopsie. On my part as well. Part of the fun. ;-)

Oh well, no harm, no foul as they say....don't they?

Nice ta' meetcha!

Care Charlie

Why would plants want to resist beer?

to avoid Leaf HOPpers?

Carl

Here's a very brief outline of my own personal garden philosophy...

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re-cert training. The powers that be, in their great wisdom,have decided that I get really stupid every two years at this time and need to be reprogrammed. GRRRR.

I see you are bigdawg people too!

We have a Dane, sort of a rescue dog. Bought her away from a really bad situation.

Care Charlie

Your quest is generally referred to as lawn conversion or lawn conversion to native plants. You will find some helpful tips by searching for these keywords through your favorite search engine.

You can also search for a native plant nursery in your area. I'm sure you will find a few where you live. They will provide the most helpful advice and show you samples of which native plants are available in your area.

You will have to work a little to get it started, but you will save in labor and expense after a year or so.

Best of luck!

------ At peace with weeds!

"Bob F" wrote in news:mYidndohA9GnvPfbnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:

Are sod cutters hard to use? Do they take a lot of strength, I mean.

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