Inferno Strip
No, not a trendy new club. Some people call it the verge, the treelawn, the hell strip, or the inferno strip. It's not technically your property, but you will be ticketed if you let the grass grow too long. It's where you put your garbage cans, between the sidewalk and the street.
My grass was about 8 inches high, and since i'm slowly replacing the grass that i do own with actual ground cover, buying a mower for that strip of land seemed insane on many levels. So Tuesday and Wednesday of this week i dug up THE ENTIRE THING - 3' x the width of the lot, which i think is 33 feet. So 99 square feet of grass that needed ripping up, and because i'm anal i shook out as much of the dirt from the roots as possible.
Day One: I started ripping. After the first 10 or so feet was done i actually took some of the pavers and mixed granite/quartzite (not totally sure what it is) from the back yard and made a little patch for the garbage cans to go. Plus, that's about 30 square feet i didn't have to buy plants to cover ;) The stones are free after all. I also put in 3 little pavers right in the center, in hopes of preventing people from walking on it too much. The next door neighbours all park in front of my house instead of their own. Whatevers ;)
Around 3 pm, the sky blackened and the wind whipped up suddenly. While i'm loving all the rain (haven't needed to water the new crabapple more than twice in the 3 weeks it's been in!) i wasn't thrilled about working in the rain, or having it rain while i was half done. So i threw my back into it and dug a hole in about 5 minutes and put in the Japanese Maple (Bloodgood, if you care ;)) just as the rain started. Free watering for new tree for the win!
Day Two: I had only gotten about 60 % done with the ripping of the grass on the first day. Ugh. So i got back to it, finding that second day soreness is a serious issue! I finished pulling up all the grass, went in back and assembled the new composter, moved into it about a third of the "mulch" i.e. the crap that accumulating from multiple years of the previous owners not raking. I dragged 3 bins of that "mulch" out front and used it on the newly bare dirt, and the maple, after checking that maples do in fact like acidic soil. Then i threw in the spare hosta and a giant patch of daylilies i had to move to make room for the composter, and the new ground covers i bought:
Vinca minor (Myrtle), Ajuga reptans (Bugleweed), Cerastium tomentosum (Snow in Summer), and Thymus praecox (Nutmeg thyme).
We'll see how they take, and if the neighbours all walk on them or not. The talls ones are meant for this summer only, and then when i have the cash dollars, and time, i can get more ground covers and make the entire thing green.
Photos someday. Right now it looks pretty lame ;)
My grass was about 8 inches high, and since i'm slowly replacing the grass that i do own with actual ground cover, buying a mower for that strip of land seemed insane on many levels. So Tuesday and Wednesday of this week i dug up THE ENTIRE THING - 3' x the width of the lot, which i think is 33 feet. So 99 square feet of grass that needed ripping up, and because i'm anal i shook out as much of the dirt from the roots as possible.
Day One: I started ripping. After the first 10 or so feet was done i actually took some of the pavers and mixed granite/quartzite (not totally sure what it is) from the back yard and made a little patch for the garbage cans to go. Plus, that's about 30 square feet i didn't have to buy plants to cover ;) The stones are free after all. I also put in 3 little pavers right in the center, in hopes of preventing people from walking on it too much. The next door neighbours all park in front of my house instead of their own. Whatevers ;)
Around 3 pm, the sky blackened and the wind whipped up suddenly. While i'm loving all the rain (haven't needed to water the new crabapple more than twice in the 3 weeks it's been in!) i wasn't thrilled about working in the rain, or having it rain while i was half done. So i threw my back into it and dug a hole in about 5 minutes and put in the Japanese Maple (Bloodgood, if you care ;)) just as the rain started. Free watering for new tree for the win!
Day Two: I had only gotten about 60 % done with the ripping of the grass on the first day. Ugh. So i got back to it, finding that second day soreness is a serious issue! I finished pulling up all the grass, went in back and assembled the new composter, moved into it about a third of the "mulch" i.e. the crap that accumulating from multiple years of the previous owners not raking. I dragged 3 bins of that "mulch" out front and used it on the newly bare dirt, and the maple, after checking that maples do in fact like acidic soil. Then i threw in the spare hosta and a giant patch of daylilies i had to move to make room for the composter, and the new ground covers i bought:
Vinca minor (Myrtle), Ajuga reptans (Bugleweed), Cerastium tomentosum (Snow in Summer), and Thymus praecox (Nutmeg thyme).
We'll see how they take, and if the neighbours all walk on them or not. The talls ones are meant for this summer only, and then when i have the cash dollars, and time, i can get more ground covers and make the entire thing green.
Photos someday. Right now it looks pretty lame ;)