I Need Landscaping/Gardening Advice!

[Jamie2337]

Help! I apparently ended up on the one street on post that people are fanatical about their lawns and landscaping. All of our neighbors yards are perfectly manicured with beautiful plants and fountains. The person in the duplex next to me won yard of the month!

Us on the other hand were proud of ourselves for buying grass seeds for where we parked on the grass all winter!

I have gone to Wal Mart and Home Depot but I have no idea what to buy. I have never done any sort of gardening, so I need easy to deal with plants and flowers. Also, not too expensive!

Any suggestions would be awesome. I put up the little white picket fence...but I am at a loss for what to do now.

I did see a life sized fiberglass horse on eBay, but my husband said it would be tacky!

Any websites that have ideas or any plant and landscaping suggestions would be great!

Here is what I am working with!
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/105936mini-P6070044.JPG http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/105936mini-P6070045.JPG http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/105936mini-P6070047.JPG http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/105936mini-P6070048.JPG

[dc]

Lot's of possibilities. What I would do is take walks and see what other people are growing for ideas.

[finding nemo]

I second Debi's suggestion, ask your neighbors to help you with your plantings, they will know what grows in your area and what to stay away from.
Ask if you can go with them to the local nursery and have them help you pick out some things.
And they can help you plant them, just pay for the beer/soda and have hotdogs ready when you are all done, turn it into a planting party.
Usually people that love to garden are friendly people so you shouldnt have any problem getting help.
Hand deliver invitations to your neighbors with what you have in mind and I bet they all come to help.
You have a great start tho and knowing that your neighborhood appreciates its appearance is great.

[jpfelix]

as for the grass---a quarterly application of triple 12 (or 13) will do wonders cheaply.

you've made some nice beds, now you need pretty them up.

[Fat Man]

The best investment in my mind is putting in an automated irrigation system before you plant. After you figure out what you want and where you want it draw it out on paper. You can design it yourself after some research or have someone else draw it up (most plumbing supply places will do it for you if you don't want to). A garden or lawn won't die from being a little negligent in the weeding arena, but if you don't water them they will.

[AnnArborBuck]

I would plant some impatients by the hose real area since they are good in the shade. I would maybe get a nice hanging basket, just make sure to water everyday as they dry over very easily. I love petunias so I would use alot of those as they are easy to care for and they look really nice (waves are especially nice).

Your grass looks a little splotchy so I would try to get some fertilizer down to help even out the color. I like to mix gypsum in with my fertilizer to help activate it and to help with my clay soil. But something like that would depend on your soil. I would sugget getting a soil test done, they are not that expensive and they will tell you exactly what you need to add. Look up your local extension office or just buy a kit from one of the box stores.

[Scuba_Dave]

I would plant a mixture of 6000 bulbs
Crocus, daffodils, tulips, allium
That what I did :D

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y105/Daveywb/DSC00233.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y105/Daveywb/DSC00059.jpg

My house is the talk of neighborhood
With Christmas lights & Halloween - talk of the Town

I go with perennials, plants that will reseed
The 1st year we bough the house I planted gardens all over
Looked nice, but not great - I buy small plants - less $$
2nd year looked great
This year I am now thinning out & filling in a new garden out front
To go inexpensive, buy seed & start them indoors
I bought Lupine seeds & have 48 seedlings growing
Lupines look very exotic & expensive - purple flowers
They have all sorts of colors
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y105/Daveywb/DSC00078.jpg

I also have foxglove growing from seed - the white/yellow/blue tint flowers
Black-eyed Susans also spread quickly, White shasta daisies
I bought 4 Dogwood seedlings
I've planted over 4 dozen Rose-O-Shannon "trees" - they grow maybe 15' max - very slow grower
12 cherry trees, 4 apple trees just arrived, 6 butterfly bushes, 4 azeala bushes, I have about 6 Birch trees growing
Planted 5 lilac bushes, 5 Rhododendrons
a few hydrangea, smoke tree bush, plus a lot more

Look online, see what you like - that's what I do
Look for friends who have plants that you can get seed from or small seedling plants
I had over 100 Marigold plants last year -all from seed
1st year I had dozens of large sunflowers growing
- I haven't bought seed since - I just harvest one flower for the next year
I also stop along the road & pick seeds from flowers :)


Before you buy online, do a search for coupons - most places will have $20-25 off a $50 purchase in the Spring

[crp]

Ask you neighbor to help. If she won yard of the month, I'm sure she'd jump at the chance to help you out.

Too late to plant bulbs now for flowers this year. You can plant tulips, daffodils, etc. in late September to bloom next spring.

Go to Walmart. They have a ton of flowers and they usually have little plastic things in them that tell you what they are and what kind of sun they need.

Pick out a bunch you like and plant them randomly. Remember, they will grow and fill out so don't plant them too close to each other.

You can get some ideas from here:

http://michiganbulb.com/Default.asp?

[reefcrazy00246]

This guy is located in Ohio, but still has some really neat and easy ideas you could adapt, for landscaping. Check it out.

http://www.freeplants.com/frame%20set.htm

[Jamie2337]

Thanks for all the great ideas. I bought a few plants last night. A hydranga, 2 ferns, some daisys, and some hostas.

I am going to start planting this afternoon. I bought some gardening soil by miracle grow to add to my soil.

I also picked up some fertilizer for the grass to even out the color of the lawn.

Scuba Dave....Beautiful!!!!!!!!!! Is it too late to plant bulbs?

Thanks for all the help!

[AnnArborBuck]

You could plant gladiolas now in your front section, they love light and are summer bulbs. If you stagger plantings by a week or so then you can extend the time of bloom between plants since they make wonderfull cuttings.

For most of the other bulbs you would plant those in the fall as they mostly come up during the spring.

[oz]

I think you need to do something about your lawn also.

-First mow high make it highest setting but mow often
-When needed, water lawn, early in the AM, make it deep
-Trim the edges on every mow
-apply fertilizer, I recommend Milorganite (organic and non chemical), this way you won't burn it or have spots of green (as you seem to have now).
-in fall, overseed your lawn with Midnight II Kentucky BLuegrass cultivar seed (let me know if you need web URL of where to buy).

I can go on and on but this is the starter.

Also, the little picket frnce looks kind of tacky to me. After planting of whatever bulbs and flowers you're doing, apply more mulch. The red color mulch you have looks good but you need more.

[oz]

Upon closer inspection, I see you have some lawn weed there too. I would spot treat them. In 2 years you too can have the best lawn in the neighborhood. And with what I already suggested, you'll see immediate improvement.

[Minuteman]

Just set about 20 of these bad boys out and you will be the hit of your neighborhood!!!

http://www.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/575132/2/istockphoto_575132_pink_flamingos_five.jpg

[lahos]

ask if you can put in a water feature. people love ponds. if its good enough people won't care about the rest of the yard.