How To Create a Low-Maintenance Front Yard Landscaping Feature

Choose plants for garden

Once you know what you want from your garden, it’s time to determine the plants that will get you there. Myers recommends first visiting your local garden center and reading the plant tags.

“Plant tags are excellent,” she says. “They give you the growing conditions and the size of the plant. Some nurseries are now sharing more information on their website, where you can learn so much more than just the hardiness zone. Will it flower? Is it going to provide interest for songbirds and butterflies? Will it match the color you are looking for?”

Sketch out a plot map that includes the anchor plants you want to plant to get an idea of how the garden will come together. Consider the size of the plants now and how big they will grow. Myers always plans to “use smaller complementary plants and annuals for quick fill until plants grow into the space, so it looks like your garden has been there for a while.”

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Establish the physical garden

Define a specific line where you plan to plant your flower bed. If it isn’t defined by hardscapes, such as a sidewalk entrance or front porch, you will want to edge the flower bed to contain the dirt and mulch once it is all done. For visual confirmation, before you start digging up your yard, lay out your flowerbed section with colored landscape marking spray paint.

Where hardscape doesn’t exist, use a lawn edger or shovel to cut into the grass or dirt along your spray paint line to create your garden boundaries. It helps to rock the edger or shovel back and forth to make ample room if you plan to install a physical metal or plastic garden edging to fit into.

Mark Derse For Family Handyman

Remove sod, weeds and roots

Once the flower garden has been defined, start the process of preparing the dirt by clearing away grass/sod, weeds, pebbles and rocks from the planned section. You may want to rent a garden tiller to help with hard-to-remove grassroots. Turn over the dirt and then return with a rake to gather and remove loose roots and weeds. Knee pads will make this process much more comfortable.

Once the weeds, roots and small stones have been removed, if you think you have low-quality dirt, you will want to help your soon-to-be-planted plants by nourishing your dirt with equal parts of compost and topsoil. Use the tiller to help combine the compost and topsoil with the existing dirt. For good water drainage, you want your dirt mix to be fluffy and light, not compact and tight.

Mark Derse For Family Handyman

Layout plants

Before committing to plant placement and getting a feel for spacing before you put them in the ground, take the time to set plants with their plastic pots where you envision them on top of the ground. This will allow you to move things, step back, take a look and ultimately be sure of where you want the plants to live and thrive. Always consider the trajectory of sunlight and color flow in flowers and leaves.

When playing with placement, keep in mind the potential growth size of each plant and allow them room to grow. For visual interest, avoid the same color or plant right next to each other unless you want to make a specific statement, such as a straight line of lavender. The more thought and purpose you dedicate to this step, the more successful your garden will be.

For example, in our flower bed, we placed the Korea Spice Viburnum along the wall, leaving growing room behind it against the wall of the house. It was the biggest plant we had and had the potential to get bigger, so we left room for growth all the way around it. The Fire Light Tidbit hydrangea will get bigger every season, yet it starts out each season low, allowing for the plants behind it to be seen. The Purple Monet was placed toward the front because these plants are starting to grow smaller, which will also give us the effect of color contrast.

Then, we planted annuals to fill in the space with petunias in full color. These annuals won’t come back next year, but our other plants will take over that space as they grow.

Mark Derse For Family Handyman

Plant

When planting into the ground, make digging the holes easier by using a garden auger attachment with a drill. Be sure to read the tag on the plant for exact depth and separation from other plants. Plants will always do better if the hole is dug deep enough to fully cover the rootball with dirt. Use the pot the plant came in as a depth gauge and go a few inches deeper to allow the roots to expand and settle.

Again, read the tag and take into consider the plant’s full potential to grow and leave that amount of space around it. Remember, plants take time to reach a point where you will be really happy with them. Allow for room and be willing to transplant the plant if needed.

Mark Derse For Family Handyman

Lay in landscape mulch

To give your flower bed a finished and clean look, use a two-to-three-inch layer of organic mulch under and around the plants. Use a composting material such as cardboard or newspaper under the mulch to keep the mulch layer intact for a longer period of time. Mulch will also help maintain moisture around your plants for a longer period of time, making the need for watering less frequent.

Mark Derse For Family Handyman

Water regularly

Establishing your plants properly starts with ensuring they are watered correctly. Follow the watering instructions provided on the plant tags. However, be prepared to adjust your watering schedule as needed to account for changes in weather conditions. The general rule is to avoid letting the soil become too dry or overly saturated. Pay close attention to your plant’s leaves – if they start to change color or droop, that’s a sign they aren’t happy with the current watering situation. Remember, plants will communicate with you if something is amiss.

As Myers shared, “There are no failures in gardening. If a plant isn’t doing well, move it to a better place or give it to a neighbor. The most important thing is to have fun!” The key is being responsive to your plants’ needs and adapting your approach as necessary to help them thrive.

FAQ

How do I know if I need to add compost or topsoil to my flower bed?

If the dirt in your flower bed or garden is clay-heavy or too thick, it will easily clump into a ball when you bunch it up in your fist. On the other hand, if your dirt has a high composition of sand, it won’t hold moisture. You want your dirt to be fluffy when you rake it. Lay out topsoil and compost bags side by side, slice them open and mix it into the existing dirt. It should have a nice rich dirt color, not too muddy and not too grainy.

How do I dispose of extra bad dirt from my yard landscape project?

Excess bad dirt, roots, and weeds are inevitable when tackling any exterior landscape project. What do you do with it? Most community or county dump yards do not accept dirt, and most dumpster bins do not want dirt dumped in them. Furthermore, if you have rented one, the company may charge you more money if they find dirt in it.

If there is a reasonable amount of excess garden dirt, weeds and roots, you may consider starting a composting pile in your yard. Eventually, you can make this dirt good dirt. If there is a lot of excess, you can post it on a local community website or app for free dirt fill. Someone may come and get it. You may be surprised; someone may want it. One man’s garden excess may be another’s desire – especially if it is free. As a last resort, pay attention to construction sites in your area and consider calling them and asking if you can dump the dirt in their soon-to-be-cleared-out lot.

Should you put landscape fabric under mulch?

“Landscape fabric belongs under stone so the stone doesn’t disappear into the ground,” says Myers. “If you want to keep weeds out of your garden, use cardboard or newspaper as a layer under your organic mulch. Over time, these layers will break down and compost to improve your dirt.”
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