{"id":393,"date":"2009-02-28T04:44:08","date_gmt":"2009-02-28T04:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/macgardens.org\/?p=393"},"modified":"2009-02-28T04:50:37","modified_gmt":"2009-02-28T04:50:37","slug":"caution-new-garden-under-construction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/macgardens.org\/?p=393","title":{"rendered":"Caution: New Garden Under Construction"},"content":{"rendered":"

The area behind and to the side of our garage has been a perennial sore spot. \u00a0At times it has been the place we put the trash, old construction materials, or unused mulch bags. \u00a0Over time it has accumulated some pernicious weeds (Virginia Creeper, Multiflora Roses, Blackberries, Poison Ivy). \u00a0At one point we put down landscaping fabric and put mulch on top of it. \u00a0Eventually the weeds came back but even before that our scheme was foiled by Woodchucks which insisted that the area under the garage is their claimed territory. \u00a0And when they dug their holes the earth came out on top of the mulch and landscaping material and provided a nursery ground for the weeds. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The

The Before Picture \u2014 Back of the Garage<\/p><\/div>\n

Nevertheless, as our horticultural pursuits press outward from the yard per se, we aim to give this spot a try again. \u00a0Yesterday and today I knocked down the standing weeds with my Mattock and then brought in 8 or 9 scoops of topsoil with the front-end loader from the large reserve we have in the pasture. \u00a0I didn’t take out the landscaping fabric which is already covered with years of mulch and deposited earth. \u00a0It’s broken in many places but would be a real pain to remove as well. \u00a0This is an awkward spot to rototill in any case and to plant shrubs we just need to dig a hole where the plants will go. \u00a0I raked the soil into place and left it to settle in.<\/p>\n

\"New

New Shrub Garden<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Nice

Nice Top Soil<\/p><\/div>\n

This garden is going to be facing two special challenges (beyond all the normal gardening vicissitudes). \u00a0First the Groundhog is still there under the garage and he’s already dug his entrance again after I filled it in. \u00a0I’ve trapped and trapped that family so that they now have a whole extended clan down by the Monocacy River. \u00a0I’m not sure what else to do. \u00a0And the weeds haven’t gone away. \u00a0They are all just under the surface waiting for more of this really pleasant weather to pop up. \u00a0So the plan is to mulch the hell out of this bank. \u00a0Our local landfill sells double ground mulch for $8.50 a ton. \u00a0I picked up two tons (1 ton = 1 pickup load) today and I’ll get more next week. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Delivery

Delivering the Mulch with my Pickup<\/p><\/div>\n

So the idea is that somehow we will find some low maintenance, highly attractive shrubs that will dominate over the weeds and yet not be invasive themselves. \u00a0This is not an easy challenge. \u00a0The location gets a fair amount of sun but is sort of a sun\/shade exposure thanks in part to the neighboring White Pine. \u00a0So far we’re thinking maybe Hydrangea, Potentilla, Clethra, or Viburnum, mixed in with some substantial grasses. \u00a0We already have a number of Holly, Nandina, and Pieris in the yard so probably not those even though the Holly would fit our needs very well. \u00a0Any other ideas?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The area behind and to the side of our garage has been a perennial sore spot. \u00a0At times it has been the place we put the trash, old construction materials, or unused mulch bags. \u00a0Over time it has accumulated some pernicious weeds (Virginia Creeper, Multiflora Roses, Blackberries, Poison Ivy). \u00a0At one point we put down landscaping fabric and put mulch on top of it. \u00a0Eventually the weeds came back but even before that our scheme was foiled by Woodchucks which insisted that the area under the garage is their claimed territory. \u00a0And when they dug their holes the earth came […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,1,3],"tags":[48,24],"class_list":["post-393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gardens","category-general","category-tree_shrubs","tag-gardens","tag-shrubs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/macgardens.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/macgardens.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/macgardens.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/macgardens.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/macgardens.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=393"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/macgardens.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":399,"href":"http:\/\/macgardens.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393\/revisions\/399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/macgardens.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/macgardens.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/macgardens.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}