Landscaping/gardening

[estrellita]

Now that it's getting nice out I'm ready to start planting some things outside! We will probably wait a little still because.. we do live in MN. Ha. But really, we could have a blizzard next week because you never know. Anyways, we are trying to figure out what we want to do where. Anyone else here want to help out or want to add their own questions/ideas/tips?

-How do you flatten out a yard? Ours is weirdly bumpy. We could till it all up but I still want there to be grass for E to play in this summer and we definitely can't afford to re-sod the whole yard.

-What is a good window box flower? We have window boxes along our two big windows and I'm trying to figure out what to plant in them. I'm thinking something lower?

-What are some good perennials we could plant? We are in zone 4 I think if that helps

And we saw these at Home Depot today.. they are annuals and I'm lazy so I'm trying to stick with perennials but I LOVE these. They also come in hot pink:

[amaranth]

No help here because I almost started a thread today asking basically the same questions. I went to the garden center and was so overwhelmed. Everything was gorgeous and I was intimidated I'd kill it all. I need a Gardner....
I have a vision but no execution skills.

[katespade]

We need to do some serious landscaping this year, and I have no idea what to do or where to start. The front yard just needs to be cleaned up, but we want to completely re-do the back yard.

I'm a plant killer.
I've never done any kind of landscaping, but our front yard is already set up to be absolutely gorgeous if we can figure out how to maintain what is already there, so I feel like I need to try. Haha.

[grover]

I had some hot pink knock out roses, some hydrangeas and a lilac bush at the old house.

New house has a ton of "I don't know whats" and tall grasses. The tall grasses will be removed once we know we have a dry spell, then we'll remove almost all of the mulch in the backyard and put sod in those areas. Right now, the dogs track mud in when it rains because the little pup jumps over the chicken wire into the mulch. The house that I really really wanted that we lost out on had just plain old sod across the entire back and that would have been perfect for me. I'm low maintanance when it comes to landscaping.

There is a raised garden bed, but I am thinking I will wait til next summer. That way when we lay sod, I can take that chicken wire and put it around the perimiter of the raised bed to keep both puppies and rabbits out of it.

[estrellita]

I'm glad I'm not alone! I keep looking at all these ideas on Pinterest but don't know how to actually execute the ideas, haha. I have some ideas of things I want to plant, then I realize they don't grow well here. And we have a few spots to work on. The window boxes, the front/side of the house, an area by the door, there are some hooks for hanging pots, and some container things either already here or that I want to do. Right now there are a few bushes but they're a little pathetic looking, lol. I think we might pull them out and replace them either with different bushes or some taller plants. There is something sprouting in the area by our door too. I'm not sure what but they look like they might be lilies? We will either have to see what comes up or pull them out! They're just in one small spot so if we keep them I'd want to get more so they're more even.

I'm still not sure about the yard.. I was Googling and it looks like we could use a lawn roller and see if that works. I might have to see if someone has one we can borrow, otherwise we might look into renting one. The lawn is SO bumpy and it's hard for E to walk in it so I'm hoping to at least even it out a little! How does that even happen? So weird.

[pooh8402]

No help here. I have a black thumb. My ILs keep putting plants in our yard and I keep killing them. My MIL was trying yesterday to convince me to start an herb garden.