Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Wordless Wednesday: A Clean Slate





All material © 2012-2014 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

18 comments:

  1. Is that a Magnolia? Can't remember. Are you happy now or what? I have not missed my lawns one second.

    Your selfie in the window in the 2nd pic is cool!

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    1. Yes, that's a Magnolia - M. grandiflora is my guess. I don't miss the half-dead lawn, which most sources say shouldn't be planted under a Magnolia anyway, but I'm still debating what to do with the area. The best thing for the Magnolia is to mulch the area within its drip line and otherwise leave it alone, which reduces the available planting area by at least 25%. Organic mulch also appears better for the Magnolia than the DG that was initially recommended to me. Decisions, decisions!

      The selfie was inadvertent. I usually avoid doing that and I'd meant to crop myself out of the picture before posting it. As I was dripping with sweat after pulling grass roots and sod mesh the lawn removers had missed, it's a good thing it wasn't a close-up!

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  2. Oh my goodness! You took the plunge. Good job--it's going to be a lot of work (no doubt) but it's going to be fabulous.

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    1. Of course, I'd like to start planting immediately but there is indeed a lot of work necessary to prepare the area first. The lawn removers did a poor job of getting the grass roots out in some areas so digging out the remaining grass roots is my 1st priority, although I'm hoping to get my regular mow and blow gardener to help - he doesn't have much left to mow now!

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    1. A wonderful tagline! Now, if only the rest of LA would follow suit, we might take the edge off our drought.

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    1. A lot of the space is occupied by the Magnolia tree's roots, which is one of the reasons the grass in that area did so poorly. Based on what I've read, grass should never have been planted there. We'll probably mulch underneath the tree's drip line and confine our planting to the areas beyond that. Still, it's a good amount of space to fill!

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  5. Can't wait to see what you do with that clean slate! Lots of promise!

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    1. It's going to be awhile before any results are visible I suspect - there's a lot of boring prep work my husband and I need to do before I can start planting. Even so, I've got lists of all sorts of potential plants scattered about.

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  6. It is a wonderful feeling to have a large blank space, I know it will look great when you've planted it and it will be easier to manage and better for the environment!

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    1. A significant portion of the space on the right side of the walk is embedded with Magnolia tree roots, which can't be disturbed without risking damage to the tree so some open space will remain, covered by mulch. But there will still be a good amount of space to play with - once we're done prepping the soil.

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  7. Just think of all the fun you will have with new plants! That should make the tedious prep work go faster!

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    1. I'm not sure it'll go faster, Shirley, but it does make the prep work easier to accept.

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