Growing up I did enough landscaping projects with my father that I knew this one wouldn't be a problem. I also worked on the town Youth Corp for a few summers doing different landscaping projects around town and at the local ball fields and was the maintenance man for two summers at the local pool where my job mainly consisted of lawncare, shrub care, mulching every year, cleaning the grounds, etc...
This project was something I was really looking forward to when I moved in. The front walkway was a mess. There was a row of shrubs that looked like a bunch of sticks and nothing else. In the summer they would get some green leaves but it was not what I was looking for. So I started looking around and playing with some different landscaping programs online (Yes, my favorite resource....the internet). Here is a picture of what it looked like along the walkway.
So, I started by removing what was there, edging and amending the soild with compost. I used a Coast of Maine Compost project which was excellent. Has blueberrys, crushed mussel shells and peat mixed in. Very solid product.
Removed schrubs.......ahhhhhhhh, a clean slate.
Some edging??? OF COURSE!
I decided on some Green Gem Boxwoods. Really nice looking small shrubs that stay green all year. Here is my "artist rendition" of what it would look like. After she saw this I got the go ahead form the wife and bought the shrubs.
Bought the shrubs, along with some Purple Dwarf Rhododendrums. I used a tape measure for proper spacing of the shrubs.
Then planted them! Looks just like the artist rendition.
Added the Purple shrubs and some mulch and HERE WE GO!!!
Also added a few other shrubs on the other side of the walkway.
As an added bonus I decided to edge and mulch on the fire bush we had in the back yard. Hard to mow under it and the grass wasn't growing well. Here are a few photos of that process which included edging, weed cloth and mulch. Fun fun!
Really good job with the boxwoods, it seems ilke your projects are almost exactly the same as mine (unilock patio, walkway, basement construction).
ReplyDeleteI just got my walkway done and I found 12 full size green gem boxwoods at one of the nursery's here (2-3 ft wide already). They are $80 each. The walkway side needs about 60 ft though. So that means I have to place one every 5ft. I suppose that will look OK (it's basically a 3 ft gap if each is 2ft). Do you know the gap on yours?
Have you had trouble maintaining them at all?
I should make my own blog so you can see my very similar pictures for projects, you might laugh at the similarities.
Thanks!
Reuben
Thanks for the comment! They look great and are easy to maintain. I just trim them every year and it works. Mine cost about the same and I measure 5 feet apart to the center of the root ball. There is really only about 2 feet between. Thanks again for reading my blog. I hope it is helpful for you!
ReplyDelete