New England B.S. Thread

I like 'em, I think I just planted the little guy too close to the house and haven't kept up on pruning the one that was here when we moved in so it's gotten BIG. Might bring that down to about the same size as the little one. That one gets done over the winter.

@deanosaurus after a quick goog, I'm thinking I might just put the kibosh on the whole thing and put in some holly. Again, my uneducated quick google says those grow big too, and can take a hard prune down to nothing if ever needed

 

The roots shouldn't be too deep - for such tall shrubs they tend to have relatively shallow roots, no taproot. If they're well established they might be up to 24" deep (probably half that) and pretty dense, so plan on needing to fill topsoil back in for whatever you plant in their place.

 

My evergreens got too high. But they did come back. Eventually

 

Yup, I am not a plant guy so my words might be wrong - but I knew they were more "surface roots" than usual. Now that I have a potential plan at least, I can do that in the spring. The other plan is give them the boot and then put in potato beds/other stuff instead. That section is weird though because there's no fence between us and the neighbors yard, so it would be a little weird to drop a couple raised beds there :|




On a semi related note, I'll be the weird guy mowing the lawn in the dark tonight. Mowing the lawn at 6 PM is not weird on July 18th (random date), but when it gets dark at 4:45....for some reason it's weird? Oh well. Broke down the leaf drift piles at lunch so they should dry out and then mulchy mulchy!

 

@GarlicFarts

I know a little...PM/call/text me if you want

 

Yeah you do!!

 

Thanks Dennis! I'm going to take a whack at this, I know enough to be dangerous I think. That looks great.

A HUGE part is I just don't care. I know exactly how to get things looking like you got there. But then I look at a clover green lawn and think "yeah looks good to me"

 

As I've been destroying more and more of my lawn with my new toy tractor, I've been reseeding with a mix of some grass seed the PO left behind in the shed, and some Dutch white clover. My main goal is 'not bare dirt' since I'm no longer in the suburbs, and as little mowing as possible. In fact, we've installed a bunch of raised bed vegetable gardens in the back yard and 'lost' about half the grass back there to them and a hot tub, so we're considering wood chips for the 'pathways' in between everything, and losing the rest of the grass too.

 

Hey man, thanks again for everything . Just be aware that unless the chips are somehow bordered they tend to float/migrate everywhere. Having seen your property, not necessarily my first choice. Take care, wanna take up you up on your offer for some light wheeling in the NEK.. Glad your loving the tractor!
D

 

I'd like to lose some more grass but not getting agreement from Mrs. SpruceMica. Luckily for me she doesn't mind mowing.

 

I don't mind the mowing. For me it's dumping water and chemicals onto something that does nothing but look good.

That's why I'm dumping clover seeds. Feeds the bees, and we don't water the lawn so

Edit and no chemicals. We use vinegar for the weeds in the rock beds.

 

We'll have to see if there's another chance to get out there this season, I'll be out hunting for the next few weekends, but if there's a chance after rifle season ends I'd be down for some back roads touring in the NEK.

 

Yes, I think the rhodo is too close to the house. I do not even like to plant rhodo next to the house at all. Having said that you can prune them HARD.

I dislike yews. They have no really redeeming qualities. They look the same year round, they are difficult to prune and make look good unless you are letting them grow bigger and bigger. If it were me, they would be gone.

The hydrangeas and I think it is a Emerald and Gold Wintercreeper (euonymus fortunei). Hydrangeas are nice. They can get big and you can train the to be tree like which looks pretty cool. The emerald and gold are impossible to kill and can be invasive. I am not a fan because they can take over and I am not in love with their looks.

The next ones might be an upright cypress. Not sure. Decent plant for screening. Not much other redeeming qualities. Lop it off and see what happens. Cut the main trunk lower and then prune the remaining branches that show above the cut to make it look as halfway decent as you can. It will still probably look like shit.

I can't tell what kind of tree it is either, too far away. It looks full and healthy, assuming that it has no leaves because it is fall and they have come off. I would prune it taking off no more than one third a year for three years to get it down to the size you are looking for. It will not like taking too much off all at once. Also, try "raising its skirt". Which is pruning the lower branches off and showing a little more of the trunk.

I can respect your opinion regarding the garden from VT that you posted but sometimes if you want to grow certain plants sun exposure limits your choices of where the gardens can grow. They could have made the vegetables in the garden a bit more stealthy but meh, to each their own.

 

A couple more thoughts....I am not a fan of holly plants either. Checkout cottoneaster(low growing) and viburnum. Love viburnum. Many different varieties, all with great 3 season color. Spring flowers, nice aroma, interesting leaves and color during the summer and great fall color. Do you have shady areas or all in sun? Astilbe is a nice plant, as are hostas(they die off at the first frost so they are good for areas next to walkways because once it gets cold you cut them off at ground level and you have a place to stick snow, you can walk over the top of them without damaging them and they are hardy). Check out some ornamental grasses and some Japanese maples, they can be great specimen plants.

 

My lawn went to clover after the drought. Oh well. Lime weed an feed in the spring. No sense doing anything to it now. With winter at the door step.

 

Beautiful azaleas!

 

You aren't by any chance is Sharon, MA are you?

 

I'm in Connecticut

 

Great idea on the viburnum
Maybe some upright sedum for late season color?

 

I asked only because sister owned an identical house on a lot that looked like yours. It's eerily similar. Maybe it's just the camera angle. They were on a hill and had a long driveway that sloped down like that.