Ideas to decorate my poor soil front garden

amother

Mauve

Mon, May 29 2017, 4:08 pm

I love flowers. But I've given up trying to grow them in my garden.
We have a very wide front porch and basically the same size area of a strip of earth meant for planting directly in front of it. Its about 20 ft length and 3 ft wide. It's a shame that all that grows there are weeds and green onions. I've spent more time than I want to keeping up with all the weed pulling.
I was thinking of sprucing the front with some color and just placing flower pots there instead of planting flowers which always end up dying.
WHat do u think? Is that a good idea or will it look stupid?

FranticFrummie

Mon, May 29 2017, 4:28 pm

I'd actually have to see your house to tell you if it would look bad or not.

Have you considered throwing down a couple of bags of manure, and digging it into the poor soil? There are some really easy to grow plants like zinnias, dwarf nastursiums, sage, thyme, tarragon, echanacia, tiger lilies and stargazer lilies.

What agricultural zone are you in? Always look for plants that are native to your area, or at least zoned for your area. You can Google your zone for planting, and then Google for native plants. Ask your local nursery for perennial, low maintenance plants. Fill in around them with annuals for extra color.

If you really want low fuss, only buy perinnials (don't die off every winter). Lay down landscaping cloth, and cut holes where you want your plants to go. Once you've planted them, cover the cloth with heavy mulch like pebble or gravel. If you can afford it, river rock (larger, round stones) are absolutely gorgeous.

Wood chips are no good, unless you live in a really dry area. I did that in a zone that rained a lot, and the chips got water logged and eventually weeds took hold in the rotted wood.