Beginner Gardening: Choosing Plants for my Yard, 0 by saladsamurai

saladsamurai wrote:
Hello All - First post here. I have a lot of space around my yard for planting. When I bought this house (1st home) 3 years ago, one of the things that drew me to it was all of the beautiful landscaping the previous owner had done. Over the years, I have neglected the landscape to some degree.

I live just north of Boston for reference. I want to revive the beauty and I need some help; some experienced folks to get me going in the right direction. I feel like I am stuck in a chicken and the egg situation right now. I want to set out in choosing plants to grow. I also want to prepare the soil which has become slightly overrun.

What is my starting point? What is the best way to choose the plants that will do the best in my yard? I feel like I need to understand the soil to some degree. But I also know that I can do things to the soil to help my cause.

So far, I have been clearing the overgrowth in the area I will be starting with. In addition to weeds and unwanted grass, I have also been digging up unwanted plants. The area is overrun with the plant in the photo. The leaves resemble that of tulips, but there is no flower. They were cute the first year I was here, but now they have taken over and have even "jumped" the border of the garden and are sprouting up in the lawn! I have started to clear them from the garden, but there is a lot of root left behind.

Is it important to get that all out? Can I use a rototiller to hack it up and turn in under? The second image shows what the cleared area looks like as of today.

My post probably seems a little scatter brained, but I have a ton of questions. I'll wait to see if there is anyone out there before going any further.

Thanks so much for reading!

Edit: I don't know why my photos are upside down. They do show up that way on my computer prior to upload. :/


This message was edited Apr 23, 2016 9:55 PM