See the brick reraining wall, that's our neighbor's drive! The shared flowerbed is the "green" above it! That long walkway is ours! To the the right of the walkway is the slope of grass--we share the drive with our other neighbor!
Outdoor walkway, I'm at a loss on what to do!
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We have a long walkway to our front door! There's a "share with our neighbor" flat topped area of undivided grass (or flowerbed) to the left, then a run-off hill of grass to the right (that belongs to us)... in our drive with our children, there's a tendency to run over the grass on the bottom of the hill alongside our driveway while backing the cars out! Also, the slope is terrible for cutting the grass! The shared flowerbed has the previous owner's ground covering that just overtakes anything that we would even think of planting, thus, EVERYTHING's a mess! Help! Any ideas?
- The best idea is to install a retaining wall --but, our childrens' school tuitions are priority..thus, trying to deal with what we have!
- We would just like a little curb appeal... ty!
plant some tall upright grasses in planter. that will help with privacy also. plant an evergreen ground cover on the grass part so you don't have to mow....ever, like vinca or ajuga that also has pretty flowers in spring. you'll have to pull out every once in a while to make sure it doesn't take over the world , but much better than mowing every week
Thank you, never thought of it! I like the tall grass idea! Growing up as a city kid, and still in the city, now I know, I never educated myself in gardening...so, probably, a book -"plants101" would be a great place for me to start!
I appreciate your time..and feedback!💐Jo
In betweeh the tall grasses or small trees or whatever you decide, I would also add in a shepherd's hook or two with some pretty yard art. For the grass portion you might also consider sedum or creeping thyme. Take a look at xeriscaping - it does not have to be fancy or expensive to look great.
if you replaced the grass with stone (in my area you can buy bags of pretty stones fairly reasonably priced) so remove the grass, lay down a thick carpet of cardboard, put the stone on top. You can then place brightly coloured planter pots in groupings on the stone. the pots could hold plants or lights or garden art to give your spot some character
Without a lot of expense or upkeep
Go to Lowes on Rt 1 and check out the different low growing shrubs vinca is a nice cover for the grass area. it has a hearty growth with flower. don't plant any large trees you most likely have sewer in the front running to the street and the roots would get in the way.
.Columbus Flea market in NJ., would have great buys on plantings ... my husband buys there
Thank you so much Gayle! ...and yep, you're right! I just saw what the smallest of treeS (roots) can do to sidewalks and waterlines! I appreciate the time you have given me, and I will visit Lowes! Joanne
as for running over the grass next to the driveway you could dig out along side the driveway and run some bricks or stone. if you lay down plastic sheeting or landscape fabric under the stone or brick it would also divert water away from the driveway. That hill sends water towards your driveway I am surprised it hasn't eroded the edges causing breakage and cracks
If you decide to use stone, I would put some type of edging along the driveway edge to help retain the stone. Otherwise you will be sweeping stones off your driveway forever. You could double duty bricks to increase your driveway width and leave one row turned on their edge to retain stones. Just an idea. AS for your ground cover, I had the same thing and found I could plant geraniums all thru it. Also planted tulip bulbs every fall. Things grew up taller right thru the ground cover so I had color and ground cover.