Ripping out the lawn in the front garden!

Some of you may have seen how I threw out the lawn at the back of our house and put in a pond because I was heartily sick of cutting grass all the time. See post here.

So, with the hard landscaping in the back garden having been mostly finished in the summer of this year, we decided to start on the front garden. Out with all the grass! and then commence with trying to create â??The Burrenâ? (google it) in Red Sandstone. The obvious danger with hard landscaping is that itâ??ll look too sterile and barren. This, we hope, wonâ??t happen with ours; although for the first six months it certainly wonâ??t look great until we start planting in it.

How our front garden used to look till the summer of this year.





Lawn ripped out and red sandstone stones laid down. I had to get a mini digger and driver to put a lot of it down as some of the slabs were far too heavy to lift. I got the stone from an old quarry and did a deal for all the loose ones.





We had a Blue Cedar, Copper Beech, 2 Crimson Kings and 3 Flowering Cherries in the front. These trees were left and we worked the stone around them; also leaving some open areas for shrubs.

 

Then in September, got some railings made.



In November I laid down some white cobbles in the gouge, They look very stark at the moment but I’ll soften that with pots and plantings in the New Year.



I’ve a long way to go yet. I’m getting seeds planted in my brother’s polytunnel because to buy those plants from a nursery would be prohibitive. (List of seeds below.) Also the area near the blue cedar will will be a conifer garden. The area near the top pond will be various shrubs to be decided yet. And the plants from the polytunnel will be planted between the cracks in the flags.




[align=center]Ground Cover/Patio crevices plants for front garden.[/align]




Pratia Pedunculata………………..blue flowers………………………….96 units
(to go with ferns and alongside tarmac)

Rhodan themum…………………daisy flowers………………………….24 units

Sedum Spurium……………………………………………………………24 units

Campanula (either Poscharskyana (blue) or Carpatica (purple)…………..48 units
Between beech and cedar

Viola Cornuta….(Victoria Cawthorne (pink)……………………………..24 units

Aurinia Saxatilis………………….yellow flowers……………………….24 units

Lysimachia Nummularia creeping jenny…………………………24 units
Beside two ponds

Fragaria Pink Panda (strawberry) ………………………………………….24 units
Between beech and cedar.

Sisyrinchium Idahoense “Album”………………white flowers……………48 units

Dianthus Alpinus……………red/pink flowers…………………………….48 units

Iberis Sempervirens…..candytuft………white flowers…………………….24 units

Armeria Maritima……….sea pink………………………….white flowers…24 units
……………………………………………………………….pink flowers…24 units

Lithodora Diffusa………………blue flowers……………………………….72 units

Aubrieta…………………………………………………………..pink/red…24 units
………………………………………………………………….blue/violet…24 units

Erigeron glaucus……………purple daisy……………………………………24 units



Total 600 units.


However, I would love suggestions as to what to do because my ideas so far are not set in stone. (Forgive the pun. :hehe: ) You lot are all very more experienced than me and could make very good suggestions.

 

I know the Burren well - a truly beautiful place so good luck with your project, it should look great. Glad you didn't get rid of those beautiful trees though, especially the cherry blossoms.

You really don't do grass do you?!

 

Yep, I think grass is the most successful weed in the country and it has everyone fooled. :D :D :D

 

Can you tell my OH that. I have a stealth manoevre going on, whereby I am gradually reducing the 'lawn' bit by bit...very, very slowly. I would do it all in one go, but he likes to see a bit of grass in the garden!

 

kindredspirit, very nice.

 

Thanks Sussex Gardener and Watergarden for the nice comments. :thumb:

(I'd forgotten about this post.) :dh:

My sister-in-law is busy planting seeds of the plants mentioned above in her polytunnel, except she couldn't find two, Pratia Pedunculata and Creeping Jenny. I'll have to hunt those out somewhere.

I'm absolutely delighted that I'll never have to do any lawnmowing again. :yho: Anyone want to buy a lawnmower? :D

 

Why not make a feature out of it, remove the innards annd plant it with something. :lollol:

Steve...

 

that is a huge project and it will look wonderful showing off the trees at their best without dead lawn underneath it! cant wait to see how it looks with the planting done

good luck with the project

Loopy

 

Thatâ??s the thinking I like, Steve and while Iâ??m at it, Iâ??ll make a little tombstone to go alongside it. :D

Hi Loopy,

Putting in the two ponds (which are circular cattle troughs picked up from a local Co-Op.) and laying down the flagstones only took two weeks as I hired a local man with a mini-digger. Iâ??ve outside sockets put in now and white cobbles in the cleft that you see in the middle.