general planting question

[dlhein]

Hi all you experts,

I need help. I want to plant a row of all one kind of perennial for an edging along one section of the side of our yard. It's about 75' long and all nice lawn right now. I want to make this as easy as possible because I'm no spring chicken. If I buy something in 4" pots can I plant them in a row however far apart it says without digging up the whole strip? Can I just dig 8" holes every 12-24" or however far apart they are supposed to be? (I would do whatever soil amendment called for in the holes.) And about the lawn --can I just cover it with however much mulch, maybe 2' wide, right over the grass? Will it just die? Will it take water from the new plants? I'm just not up to digging a 75' by 2' trench and hauling the topsoil to fill in what the roots take. This is on the east side, if that matters. Thank you so much.

[party_music50]

Not knowing what you plan to plant, but knowing that you want it as easy as possible, what you propose should work fine.

I'd recommend you dig the holes and plant. Then use several layers of wet newspaper to cover the grassy area around and between the plants, then lay thick mulch (several inches of compostable material or compost) on the wet newspaper. The newspaper/mulch layer will kill away the grass beneath and help feed the plants as it breaks down.

[Chris_W]

However, depending on the type of grass there is no real guarantee that the grass will die. If you just put down mulch the grass will come through it for sure. I would recommend spraying the whole strip with roundup first, wait to make sure the grass is starting to die, then spot spray any remaining green patches, put down newspaper, then put down mulch.

About your planting holes, though it is always better to amend the entire garden and not just the holes, if these are just easy to grow shrubs or tough perennials like daylilies then adding some good compost to just the holes should be alright.

Good luck!

Chris

P.S. - Doing things "easy" now might lead to more work cleaning up the grass or even redoing the whole thing later. Do a new garden right the first time and it can save a lot of time in the long run.

[Gardentoad]

When you use the round up be sure you get the regular one, not ther one marked "season long".
If you are worried about the spray drifting on other plants you can "paint" it on. I used a paint tray and a paint roller on the end of a broom handle and just rolled it on. Just get the grass wet with it to kill it. You need to be sure that you don't drip it across anything you don't want to kill and be sure you don't walk across it and track it in your lawn.

[JaneG]

What a great idea, Gardentoad!! Wish I had thought of that . . . I did a new huge bed and my arm was sore from pumping, spraying, pumping, spraying, and lugging the heavy tank around. Next time I'll use a cheap roller!

[party_music50]

I should clarify that I do not use herbicides or pesticides (except when desperate as in the case of a hornets' nest or something like that). I was not aware that there are types of grasses that will not be smothered as I described. duh.

The pundits no longer recommend that soils be amended when planting shrubs or trees. They found that it inhibits good growth because the shrub/tree roots tend to grow only in the amended soil. They recommend planting as I have described (dig hole, plant, then mulch heavily around the area with organic matter/compost).