Making over your yard could help you smile when you pull up at your house and could gain all-important curb appeal in attracting buyers.
At an Atlanta home, King Landscaping transformed the front yard while helping the homeowners minimize their impact on the environment.
The homeowner wanted to organize and update the design, which another professional landscape architect created for the front yard years ago, says Holly Brooks, principal with King Landscaping. Edible plants were incorporated into the front yard landscape rather than the traditional backyard row garden because it was the best sunny area on the property.
No chemicals were used, and the soil was tested and organically modified, which will be an ongoing effort.
“Healthy soil is crucial for plant vitality. Most people don’t realize that commercial chemical applications, common in today’s landscapes, kills the soil’s natural biology. That biology has to be restored to have a successful landscape,” Brooks said.
Before: Weeds taking over the Fescue lawn.
After: A Zoysia lawn, which is drought-resistant grass that requires little watering and weeding to maintain. “It will further their efforts to keep things as sustainable as possible,” Brooks said.
Before: No edging
After: Concrete cobble edging. If they used natural stone for the edging, the Zoysia grass would have run in between the edging. The cobble edging enabled them to get tight joins between the pavers to keep the grass out. Edging is not always necessary for turf areas, but if you have straight bedlines, it is the only way to make sure your bedlines don’t wander due to normal maintenance practices, Brooks said.
Before: Trees blocked the view of the house and shrubs were overgrown.
After: Thinned out the trees, which anchor the landscape, and shrub masses (some shrubs were removed). “We took the approach of cleaning up and simplifying what was there. The existing landscape had good structure,” Brooks said.
Before: Plantings were largely evergreen, with little flowering.
After: Organized some perennial areas to bring beneficial insects into the yard, which is essential for a sustainable and organic garden.
Before: A few herbs, such as lavender, planted.
After: A garden that this winter had vegetables such as cabbage, kale, broccoli, asparagus, red mustard and parsley anchored by hedges and other perennial plantings to keep the appearance clean. Garlic was also planted several places to attract beneficial insects, eat, and to help ward off pesky mosquitoes.
