Gardening Up Front

GardenLine | Yard & Garden | Gardening Up Front

Brian Baldwin

Go for a walk in your neighbourhood and you may notice a trend in gardening style. More and more people have begun challenging the neighbourhood norm by venturing out from the privacy of their fenced back yards to garden in the front where both they and their neighbours can enjoy the plants they grow. With this trend, the large front lawns which have traditionally dominated the North American landscape have begun to surrender precious ground to planting beds which bring more colour, texture and life to the fronts of our homes.

Horticulturists are often quick to criticize the over-use of front lawns. Certainly one of the main reasons is the issue of maintenance: can you remember the last time you were on your front lawn when you were not mowing, fertilizing, weeding or watering?

A less obvious reason for criticizing front lawn is that turfgrass represents about the lowest possible level of gardening creativity. If you don't believe that lawn imposes a limitation on your inventiveness, try to think of one imaginative thing that can be done with a lawn other than alternating the mower tracks to diagonal every second week. While this level of novelty may keep an accountant amused for decades, most people will eventually begin to see limitations in its entertainment value.

With its talent for stifling gardening creativity, it's little wonder that horticulturists criticize our over-dependence on lawn. Don't get me wrong. There are lots of people who dislike gardening for whom lawn is the perfect solution. With every aspect of its care mechanized and creativity discouraged lawn is ideally suited to those people with little or no interest in gardening. If you can follow the standard recipe calling for water, nitrogen, 2,4-D and a healthy dose of mowing, you too can produce an acceptable lawn. What is unfortunate however, is that many avid gardeners who complain of limited growing space also yield to the unwritten law of suburbia which requires that nearly half your prime growing area be devoted to turfgrass.

If you would like reclaim some of your front yard, and start being up-front about your creativity, now is a perfect time to get started. By designing and preparing your front yard planting beds this summer, you will have well-worked beds sitting ready for the addition of a colourful array of plants next spring.

The first step in reclaiming the front yard is to decide where you would like the beds to be. Ideally, planting beds should be located where they will provide maximum viewing from both inside and outside your home. This means you should step boldly away from that narrow strip of hard chalky soil along your front foundation, and put the plants where you will actually see them. Don't let existing structures such as sidewalks or low fences stand in your way. A well-designed flower bed will easily defy these elements, cutting a bold curve across them as though they were not there. Perhaps the only important consideration in positioning the beds is the location of mature trees. As a general rule, the further your flower beds are from large trees, the more successful your gardening will be. While beautiful shade gardens are possible, anyone who has gardened in both shade and sun will confirm that it's much easier to achieve a successful result in the sun.

Having decided on a general location for your beds, get out your garden hose and leave it sit in the sun for a while. Once the hose has softened, stretch it out on the lawn and drag it around the areas where you want the beds to be. The hose will let you visualize the edges of the beds you are about to create. Remember that beds do not have to align with existing structures such as sidewalks; in fact, the most impressive beds are often those which most boldly defy the rigid squareness of our urban yards. The beds can cross right over sidewalks, can go right through existing fences, and if two neighbours are willing to work together, beds can even disregard property lines.

Another thing to recognise is that your beds do not require railroad ties, plastic edging, bricks, trellises, gnomes or any other ornamentation. More than anything else, what your garden needs is one strong line. Most people are amazed by the sudden appearance of sophistication that a yard takes on as soon as a distinct line (edge) has been created between the turf and the planting beds. The transformation that occurs can be quite striking.

In creating the new edges, remember that a single smooth line will always make a stronger and more elegant display than a zig- zag pattern that appears to have be created by a convulsing snake. In laying out your beds it is very easy to get carried away with adding lots of little curves to the design. You should resist the temptation, and keep your curves long, smooth and simple. The easiest way to obtain sweeping strong lines is to permit yourself to adjust the hose only while holding it at its end. Pulling the hose in the middle will only introduces awkward little notches to the curve which detract from its overall form. As you continue adjusting the hose and trying different shapes, something inside you will suddenly say, "Stop! Don't change a thing!" At this point you have probably hit upon the shape that suits your particular space. Trust your instincts and stop. Observe the curve from inside the house and across the street. Wait a few hours and observe it again. If it's still pleasing to the eye, you've found the shape for your bed. If you don't find a shape that seems right, try again tomorrow.

Now comes the hard part. With a flat-nosed spade, you should cut a deep edging strip in the turf along the length of the hose. Be careful not to move the hose that is serving as your guide. Before starting to dig, sharpen the spade with a file. A couple of minutes spent sharpening your spade will decrease the work involved considerably.

Now you can follow one of two paths. The recommended procedure is to spray the area inside the bed with Roundup, wait ten days and rototill. The second method is recommended if you want to see a result in a hurry and are willing to maintain cleanly cultivated beds for the rest of this season. In this case you can simply turn over the existing turf - clod by clod - flipping each chunk directly upside-down so that all green material is buried one full spade's depth below the ground. When a lawn is turned over in this way, very little grass will actually regrow, and those sprigs that do find their way back to the surface can easily be removed during the period of clean cultivation.

No matter which method you use, do not throw the removed sod away. The fine roots of turfgrass trap large quantities of topsoil which should not be sent to the landfill. Any clods of turf that cannot be buries on site should be composted so that the organic material and soil they contain can be returned to the garden.

By preparing your beds in late August, you will be ready next spring to begin gardening in the front yard. Don't be surprised if next August a few more people in your neighbourhood follow your lead. Interesting front yards can be quite contagious.

Sustainable horticultural information, offered free of charge to the public with the support of the University of Saskatchewan Extension Division, the Department of Plant Sciences and the Provincial Government.