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Landscaping With
Raised Beds |
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By saying "3D" I don't mean that we are going
to landscape overhead and on the walls, I simply mean if your landscaping
consists of different heights and shapes, it will appear to be
"3D". If you are overlooking a mountain range, you
may feel relaxed because of distance you are able to view, the contour
of the earth, and the sensation of being free. If
you were standing on the great salt flats, you might feel small and have
little to no sense of where you are in relation to your surroundings.
This is why I feel it is necessary to add interest to your landscape in
the form of shape, contour and height. It is so relaxing to walk
through a garden or across a lawn that has been well thought out and
prepared with interesting features. When the trees and bushes
move as a breeze blows through them, it makes me relax and
enjoy life. However, I am not the kind of person to just
relax. Instead, I am compelled to start a new project. Many
times I work hard through the weekend and have to go back to work on
Monday to rest. Lately I have been so relaxed that I almost dug up
the whole yard. I learned some new tricks that I want to
share. I have always wanted my lawn to be the most beautiful lawn
in the world, so it seemed almost like a sin to start digging it up just
as it was coming out for the spring. Of course I didn't dig it
all up, it just seemed like it as I saw one clump after another being removed
from it's resting place. By losing some of it in the right places,
I gained more of something else even better.
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Picture one |
Picture two |
Already having trees planted, I
simply expanded an area for them to live. If you have a yard that is
primarily grass with some plants or trees already in place like I did, try this
experiment. Take your garden hose and position it around your trees
and plants to create an effect like the one you see in picture one. This
will help you imagine how it will look before you dig it
up. Make big, flowing curves that will allow your mower to
maneuver
around everything with ease. As you can see,
my trees are small. As you lay out your bed, make it a little bigger
than it you feel necessary as to allow for future growth. Of coarse you can always make the bed bigger but it is
harder to make it smaller and get the grass to grow back. In
pictures one and two, there is a ditch dug around the bed. One of
the reasons for this is to separate the grass from the bed. I put
the dirt over into the middle of the bed to raise it up. If your
beds are raised, you can see them much better and so can individuals
driving past your home. Raised beds are
much more beautiful than a flat place in the yard. You don't need to
haul in dirt unless you really want to. The dirt that you remove
from the edge will amount to more than you think. Dig your edge
(ditch) about 4
inches deep with a flat shovel like in picture two. After you have
done this, slope the inside of your ditch to about 45 degrees. All
of this dirt goes to the inside of the bed. Smooth out all of the
big clumps so that everything is smooth. Shape the bed to be as
round and flowing across the top as you can. There is no need for
any landscaping fabric. Grass can grow on top of it. I did not remove any grass in the center of
the bed. The dirt will kill out most of it and a little Roundup
will take care of the rest as it tries to grow. It appears at
this point that we have created a raised bed that is partially sunk into the
ground. And that is exactly what we did!
You see, when you add mulch to your bed, you will fill the ditch about
half way up and add about two inches over everything else. Two
inches of mulch and two inches of dirt makes a 4 inch raised bed.
Then when the mulch in the ditch starts out 2 inches below ground, it looks
like you have a 6-inch raised bed. The drop from the grass to the
ditch and then up the rounded hill to the center of the bed is "3D". When the grass is green and the mulch is in place, it is
beautiful.
Landscaping With
Raised Beds |
Look at the before and after
pictures of this tree. In the before picture, the mulch is in the grass
and as I mow around the tree, some of the mulch will be scattered by the
mower. With the ditch separating the grass and the
mulch, and the mulch being 2 inches below ground, the mulch won't be
scattered by the mower.
Another benefit is that the ditch will hold rainwater, and the tree will
like that!
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Before |
After |
This project was done during early spring and the grass was not completely out yet. In the
'after' picture the
mulch is darker only because it is just fresh.
Landscaping With
Raised Beds
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Half is mulched, the other
half is not
mulched |
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| This picture better
illustrates of how the 45º slope on the interior of the ditch defines
the curvature of the bed.
The mulch covers everything and plants can be added later. Though
this picture shows a project in process, I did finish it. The
grass looks beautiful and the plants are installed. I used plants
from an overcrowded flowerbed and the labor was free. I purchased one
small truck load of mulch at a cost of $15.00, and that is all. Now
I have less grass to care for - so the grass that I do have, I can give
more attention. Is it Monday yet? I'm tired!
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| If you like this story, look at
my section on how to learn astronomy
Try
my section on compost.
There is always something to do when you visit www.projectsandhobbies.com
Warren
Yates
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