Half the people who come to Theory Corner are cartoonists, and I hate to say anything that'll offend them, but.....it has to be said....most cartoonists live in homes with ugly backyards (above). I wonder why that is? Maybe we just have our minds on other things. Maybe most cartoonists can't afford expensive landscaping.
Lately I'm considering doing something about my own backyard (not shown here). It's not ugly, but it's not exactly beautiful either. I wonder what I could do to beef it up that would require almost no exertion and almost no money?
You can learn a lot from comparing these two pictures. For me Lesson #1 one just jumps out at you: plant evergreen trees. The pine tree is the only plant in the two pictures that looked equally good in both winter and summer. The Wisteria tree (the weeping willow-type tree on the right) on the other hand, looked great in the warm weather photo (above) but almost vanished in the winter picture (top). lots of trees and shrubs are like that: great in the summer and horrible in the winter. I don't know about you, but I want a garden that looks good all year round.
Lesson #2: Wooden fences help a lot. I like the Japanese kind (not shown). If you're stuck with a neighbor's wire storm fence then grow thick, fragrant jasmine vines on it. Jasmine is free. You can grow it from cuttings.
Lesson #3: A nice ground cover helps. Grass usually requires mulching, and fussing over weeds that grow in the mulch. All of that violates the lazy gardener's code. The couple that laid down the grass in the top two pictures avoided mulching. They just cut the existing grass short then covered it with black landscapers fabric held down by rocks. After a few weeks the existing grass and weeds died under the fabric. New grass was planted and...well, you see the result.
Interesting, huh?
BTW: Thanks to Rogelio I'm able to identify the blog that I stole two of these interesting pictures from:
http://aubreyandlindsay.blogspot.com/2010/06/privacy-screen-project-final-reveal.html
7 comments:
I'll have to remember this if I'm ever going to live off campus in college, which will probably be sophomore year so I can also save myself a lot of money. My mom usually hires people to mow the lawn, so right now, I don't really have any gardening issues.
Going from a back yard grassy mud flat to a water feature with barked plants and trees changed my role from tedious grass cutter to plant nurturer. If putting in trees, be sure your landscaper removes the burlap before planting 'em!
Water features can be restful, but love to grow algae. If fish are added, you'll also enjoy meal-seeking racoons and birds.
Ultimate Lazy gardening? Perhaps a flat of AstroTurf's the answer?
I live in a rented house so the landlord mows my lawn. If I didn't have this luxury I would replace my front lawn with flora and shrubbery, and let the back yard grow wild, who's going to see it other than me? This is of course assuming I didn't have children to do the work for me. Monet's beautiful garden at Giverny was not tended to by gardeners or landscapers, he knew very well that's what his children were for.
I think another key to lazy gardening would be just to look around and see what grows on the side of the road. Where I'm at you can find daisies, buttercups, daffodils, morning glories, tulips, rosemary, and lots of lavender.
Also I wouldn't imagine plants discriminating too much between the winters and summers of southern California. So I would encourage you getting that Wisteria just because it's SO beautiful.
The blog post these are from if you're looking for it.
http://aubreyandlindsay.blogspot.com/2010/06/privacy-screen-project-final-reveal.html
The best backyard I've ever experienced was one that edged woods that were mostly pine and instead of grass the lawn was a combination of moss and clover. It was the softest and greenest lawn I've ever had the pleasure of lying on, and a lot easier to maintain than grass. I've never understood the grass lawn phenomenon. They're way too labor intensive to maintain. Especially if you live in a place where grass doesn't grow naturally. Where I live, in New England, the landscape wants to be deciduous forest, but some people will still raze all the trees that grow naturally on their property so they can have a front lawn which they mow and then never use. It's absurd. Who are these people who have nothing better to do than fight nature constantly for zero reward?
Rogelio: So THAT'S it!!!! Many thanks for the link!!!!
Adam: Wow! Sounds like good advice. Maybe that's what my Southern California lawn needs. Clover grows wild all over this region.
Alberto: Wisteria trees look great but they take 6 or 7 years to produce flowers...at least that's what I read. On the other hand we can all be thankful that the people who lived in our houses before us planted some long term trees.
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