Thursday, June 17, 2010

Ready to start

It takes a lot to get me into gear. I can live with stuff that's broken or suboptimal or ugly for quite a long time. But when the switch clicks and I decide I can't live with it anymore, I like to act decisively.

That has now happened for my front yard, or what my neighbors probably call "the Sahara desert" behind my back. It's devolved from mostly moss when we bought it, to mostly bare dirt now. The railroad ties that form the retaining walls that keep the yard from completely washing away into the street are falling apart. I've long known we needed to get a landscaper in to built new retaining walls, plant ground cover, lay some sod (I'd rather not have much lawn). But I didn't know where that stood on my priority list of things I need to hire someone to do. Walking back toward the house with the kids after a stroll around the neighborhood this evening, I realized that the time was now. I can't live with this horrendous hellscape anymore.

So I'm going to call a local landscaping firm. What I'd like is for them to rebuild all the retaining walls, plant a hardy, shade-loving ground cover on the front slope, remake the azalea beds around our large shade trees, and put down a minimum of turf that would have to be mowed or watered. I'd be open to turf alternatives.

What should I think about or know before I make this call? Any recommendations for landscapers in the area? Can I do this without ending up paying a fortune for an underground irrigation system?

1 comment:

Ali said...

I'd check out the folks at the Plant Outlet on Hogan.