Getting 2 huge overgrown planting beds torn out; replacing with grass? Sod, or seed? (flowers, landscaping)
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So I have these 2 huge planting beds (in S. NH). One goes along the entire right side of the house & is about 10 ft. wide. It has some very nice plantings along with a Hydrangea, & a Barberry bush. However it's infested with these horrible vine-like weeds that have some kind of connected root structure. Pulling them--doesn't get the roots out. Spraying them with Spectracide kills the tops for awhile & then they just grow back. Worse, they're growing all around & in some of the nice flowers & plants, to where you can barely see the plants or flowers for all the weeds.
I've had a couple of landscapers suggest tearing most of it out & replacing with grass. The latest one gave me a ball-park estimate of $1600 to do all that, & seed it, & $2K for sod, which he seems to think is better. He suggested an 18 inch strip of mulch along the side of the house with some flowers or small plants. And I want to keep the Hydrangea, & the Barberry bush, with just a strip or circle of mulch around them. And add a pretty bush at the other end perhaps.
The planting bed in front goes along almost the whole front of the house, then curves around & goes along a part of the (other) side of the house. It's about 8 ft. wide at the beginning, but then at the part where it curves around to the side, it must be 20 ft. wide. It's not as badly infested with the horrible vine-like weeds, but it has some. But it has a lot of other weeds that require pulling, or spraying. I think putting down mulch could do a lot to make it much better, but it'd be a HUGE amount of mulch, way too much for me to do myself. It has a couple of rhododendrons, & a pretty Holly bush that I'd want to save. I think the landscaper's idea is to do grass on a lot of it, but a much narrower planting bed (or 2). But I think I'll also ask him what it'd cost to mulch, & put in some more bushes. I haven't gotten an estimate from him yet either to plant grass in the front planting bed.
Any advice? Sod vs. seed? I'm a bit wary of sod & it not growing in properly, still seeing the seams, etc. BTW there's almost no chance I'm going to tackle anything like this myself.....
Nothing for nothing, but you have some nice plants in those beds. Here's my thought; save some money and just hire a good qualified landscaper to get in those beds to clean them up. After the clean up lay down a nice thick bed of mulch to keep the weeds down, and you're done. Maybe $600 worth of work. That would leave you with at least five years worth of money for annual spring cleanups.
I was thinking the same thing a LIcenter. Clean up the beds. Little by little...get those things you know are pullable weeds out. If you want, cut some taller ones down. Donate if you really don't want something nice...or move it. Including lower plantings that have spread more than you want.
BUT the thing is that vine-like weed you're talking about with the pervasive roots. Where is it in your pix? It may be your landscaper can focus on that first, separating out any nearby good plantings from the weed roots and pulling out those weeds.
If that's not possible you might need to dig up the good plantings around the weed roots to save them carefully while the weed/roots are taken out and the soil redone. Then replace the plantings.
Looking at your pix again,it may be what you consider a weed is just a fast growing ground cover that may need to be dug down, made in smaller patches and deep metal sides around the roots so it won't grow out more...but you probably don't want to get into that.
Nothing for nothing, but you have some nice plants in those beds. Here's my thought; save some money and just hire a good qualified landscaper to get in those beds to clean them up. After the clean up lay down a nice thick bed of mulch to keep the weeds down, and you're done. Maybe $600 worth of work. That would leave you with at least five years worth of money for annual spring cleanups.
I don't know the name of those weeds, but here are a couple of close-up pics. Like I said, the planting bed on the right side of the house is infested with these vine-like weeds that have some kind of connected root structure. Pulling them--doesn't get the roots out. Worse, some of those nice plants & flowers in that side bed--they have those vine-weeds growing up thru them. There's too many weeds to pull, & they just grow back anyway.
I had a book--"The well-tended perennial garden : planting & pruning techniques" by DiSabato-Aust, Tracy. It describes those type of weeds--I forget the name. The problem is; they're almost impossible to get rid of, once they're there. The author said the only solution is to dig out the whole planting bed so you get out as much as possible of the weed roots. Then spray with round up. You can try to save some of the plants, but if there's one fragment of the weed root still on it, it'll start all over again. The landscaper I talked to said with grass, those kind of weed aren't really a problem.
The planting bed in front is not nearly as infested with those vine-like weeds, so I think your idea to: clean it up, & after the clean up lay down a nice thick bed of mulch might work for that bed. The bed on the side--I still like the idea of grass, & keeping the Hydrangea, & the Barberry bush, with just a strip or circle of mulch around them. And add a pretty bush at the other end perhaps. Something manageable. I mean, I haven't seen such huge planting beds anywhere around here. I have a neighbor who has one bed in front that's maybe.....4'x8'. He keeps it perfect.
Oh did I mention I'm not really a gardener? I do the mowing, bush trimming, the Fall leaves (in NH!)--that's about my limit. And like a couple of landscapers have mentioned; it's way easier to mow than try to take care of huge planting beds. But thanks for all the helpful comments.......I'm listening.
I can't make it out well, but that tree on the right,mostly hidden by the house,with a few branches sticking out...is that a kousa dogwood?
Your area looks very nice.
I think the landscaper told me that that tree is a crapapple? (Oh excuse me, a crabapple). But here's a pic. And the pic shows the pros & cons of that giant planting bed area--I love those little pink flowers on the far right of the pic.
Yeah, it's a pretty nice area--kind of a middle-middle class town on the NH Seacoast. But, to bring up another landscaping dilemma, here's the view from the front of my house to the street. That's the view from my front windows. The giant expanse of asphalt street, & that guy's ugly fence, are not very scenic. I'm trying to figure out what kind of small tree, or bushes, to plant near the front of my yard to at least obscure that......
The tree I'm thinking of is the one in the first pic you have on here where, when I click to blow it up I can see the branches reaching out, deep green leaves hanging down and bright white flowers running along the top of the branches over the leaves.
You might consider stepping stones in the beds since they are so wide.
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