Monster backyard how to/ideas

March 8, 2006 9:45 PM

We're getting ready to start working on the landscaping in our yard for this year, and we have decided to go big and redo the whole thing.

Right now, we're thinking of tearing out all the grass and building it up like a meadow with wildflowers with some paths going through it to different elements, like an eating table, a bench, the vegetable patch etc. What are some suggestions for more crazy ideas that would be fun to have? Preferable that don't cost a ton of money or require a lot of expertise. We do have a lot of time and friends that would be willing to help so in that reguard the sky is the limit. We want it to be something really different and amazing. Also any links you might have to sites with info thats a little more exciting than what i can find on better homes and gardens.

posted by teishu to Home & Garden (7 answers total)

My old neighbors ripped up the grass between the sidewalk and the street in front of their house and planted the whole strip with cornflowers. For about a month every year it was the prettiest stretch of curb in the country.

This is a really good source for finding native plants. Butterfly gardens are cool, IMHO. I didn't plant the yard I have right now but it's fun because almost everything is edible, we have figs, pears, apples, nasturtiums, herbs, water cress, all kinds of good stuff. Rock gardens are pretty cool too.
posted by fshgrl at 10:55 PM on March 8, 2006

This is a fantastic book, if you can get hold of it. I see that the TV series which the book accompanies has been on BBC America, so you may be able to catch that also - Diarmuid Gavin has created some amazing gardens, full of dens, water features, caves, steps, shelters etc - on that programme and elsewhere. I would think any of his books would be an inspiration, TBH.
posted by fire&wings at 3:33 AM on March 9, 2006

I vote for a small pond or waterfall.
posted by lobstah at 5:00 AM on March 9, 2006

Consider doing the grass overhaul in the fall. THAT is the best time to start with most grasses -- most are "cool season" grass. If you seed in the spring you'll likely find that the crop fails and you end up with a lot of weeds and a horrible looking yard. Until fall ...
posted by intermod at 5:28 AM on March 9, 2006

If you're going with a slightly more naturalized approach, consider researching animal-friendly habitats and plantings and perhaps even the qualifications to make your yard a bird, butterfly, or wildlife sanctuary. Just this search turns up lots of info.
posted by salt at 12:43 PM on March 9, 2006

thank you very much.

as for the grass, we're thinking of getting rid of it all completly, and seeding with 100% wildflower mixture. not sure how that might work out in the winter though.
posted by teishu at 8:55 PM on March 9, 2006

A few years back, I thought I'd take another step in conservation and deconstruction, so I xeriscaped (desert landscaped) my front yard with rock and self-sustaining flora. It's pretty common out here. It's ceased to be a constant chore to maintain and has become instead something of a zen garden.

Where you live in the northeast, the desert look probably would be pretty freaky (and wouldn't be sustainable, anyway). Of course, there are ways you could do sustainable landscape for your neck of the woods without going for the desert landscape, specifically. Rock paths, nice boulders, you could integrate these with your wildflowers to add texture, perhaps.
posted by darkstar at 8:16 PM on March 12, 2006