Building A Front Porch Oasis Part 3: Landscaping
Welcome back!
In our previous posts, Magnolia Property Solutions has finished the build of our newest renovation project in Maryland. Today we dive into how the landscaping tied in to bring this front porch alive!
We removed sod and repositioned it around the property where needed, to fill in low spots in the grass, or cover other areas where plants or bushes were removed. A gas weed trimmer/edger was a great tool to cut the sod into squares, and then remove with a shovel. A garden hose is a great way to get a good feel for the line you want to create, if you want to have some curve to it and not be strictly linear with the house.
We trimmed out the landscaping with bricks that were obtained on Letgo for about $.50 each. We planted a variety of gorgeous plants, including Red Yucca, Pleasant White Azaleas, Blue Rug Juniper, Dynamite Crape Myrtle, Spanish Lavender, Weigela, Lemon Thread False Cypress, 5 strawberry plants, Icee Blue Juniper, Dwarf Alberta Spruce, Mountain Juniper, Sweet Autumn Clematis, Creeping Phlox ‘Emerald Pink’, Japanese Maple ‘Crimson Queen’, Emerald Spreader Japanese Yew. and liriope. Some of the plants even came from the neighbor, which we know will grow well, and can help create a tie-in between homes in the same neighborhood!
We then recycled A LOT of old cardboard, creating a weed barrier that will serve 3 purposes: it will provide a barrier that will prevent most grass from reemerging through the mulch, as it “suffocates” the remaining grass over the next couple of years; it will biodegrade under the mulch and become part of the plant food; and IT WAS FREE!
After the weed barrier was down, we spent about $150 on irrigation supplies from Lowes, and ran tubing to all the plants. This was much easier than expected -- and the system is programmed to come on each morning with sunrise (using a photosensor). It waters the plants on drip for 30 minutes, and then turns off. This wastes virtually no water, as each nozzle is directly on each plant, and not spraying water needlessly on surrounding grass, or the porch, sidewalk, etc.
For the mulch we went with a locally produced black mulch to accent the roof and shutters. It took 2 yards (2 pickup truck loads), but these are only about $40 per truckload when you buy in bulk from your local landscaping supply yard. It would have been several hundred dollars in mulch if buying it by the bag from HD or Lowes…
This project is almost complete! Make sure to check back for our final post where we will share our finishing touches and reveal the final product of this Maryland front porch oasis!