Garden Progress: Before and After Front Landscaping Update

The front landscaping has been evolving slowly. The goal is to keep it looking nice while transforming it to mostly edible or medicinal plants. Last year I planted a bunch of blueberry bushes, some currants, and of course continued to cultivate the monster Rhubarb plant. I was going to replace the barberry bushes, but then found out that they are good for herbal medicine. Mother Earth Living has a nice article about their uses here.

I snapped a few pictures before I started digging in.

Aside from the need to weed -- The overall landscaping base from when we moved in is off balance.   According to my landscaping books, when the house is not symmetrical it is best if the landscaping balances that out by being heavier/more dense on the side where there is less house.  So the left side should have more landscaping and a larger density of plants.

The books also suggest that the line of the landscaping heights should follow and compliment the roof line. I drew a diagram to illustrate this plan about a year ago now. It has taken me AWHILE get organized for the implementation...

Here are some of the steps needed:

• Move the pine tree from left corner to align with roof line
• Move the barberry and butterfly bushes from the right to the left side to extend it and balance with the house
• Order a rose bush with hips (edible and medicinal) for the right side
• Plant berry bushes (this was the phase I did last year) -- but they have not bushed out as much as I was hoping so I needed to make some adjustments for that
• Since the rose bush (supposed to be 4 feet wide eventually) was just tiny, I decided to move up my hydrangea bush from the side garden to the right side as well. 

I encountered one major problem on the right side -- the landscaping dirt was getting too high relative to the house's siding, almost touching it in fact. That encourages termites and plant damage to the siding etc.  I spent about 4 hours shoveling and excavating the dirt from the right side of the house and wheeling it out to the back yard, about 15 wheel barrels full.
I also decided that I needed a pretty border of perennial flowers the keep things looking nice, especially until the other plants grow to their full sizes. Here are some quick "after" pictures of what more than 20 hours of digging in the dirt accomplished:

The new rose bush is that tiny pair of green twigs next to the front porch. Also notice that now the dirt plus 3 inches of mulch is still at least 5 inches below the siding and slopes down from there.  Whew! It makes me happy to see some progress.  Now on to painting the house, updating the shutters, changing the awning, a new front door...   All in good time.