Thanks for the encouragement, Donna & everyone! :-) My back is hurting just thinking about this job, but I think it'll be worth it. We'll have to put metal spikes & a snow fence around it in winter, though, on the street side - the snowdrifts from the plows can be 4 feet high, and they use lots of salt here.
Wilma, your front yard looks beautiful!! Thanks for sending the pic - it's great inspiration. Exactly the type of plantings I had in mind, but I was having trouble envisioning it. And I love your water gardens too.
Christine, thanks for the tips too. I'm glad to hear about your clay experience. Looking forward to pics in the spring!!! (or now, if you have some of the work in progress, or of your small perennial garden.) Back problems - ouch. I'm all too familiar with them. Never really understood how debilitating they were, until experiencing it first-hand. Hope it's not bothering you these days.
Just last week we learned in our Soils & Fertilizers class that water doesn't like to migrate from one soil texture class to another, eg. clay to sandy or whatever. When the water sits in one layer on top of another one it's called a "perched water table", and many golf courses apparently do it on purpose to reduce the amt of water they need. So, your water should pool nicely on top of the clay, and be more available in your triple-mix. Conversely, the perennials' roots may not grow further down than where the clay starts, and would grow outwards instead. This soil-layer business is apparently a big problem in some new housing developments, where the builder puts topsoil down on top of clay - the homeowners then water their lawns faster than the rate of infiltration, as most people do, and it can take as little as 3 years for the resulting erosion to wash all their new topsoil down the sewers!!
Our prof's solution to almost any lawn problem is to toss coffee grounds onto it every day...the worms & other soil organisms come up & eat the grounds, and in doing so they mix & amend the soil. She says it's the lazy way of keeping your lawn in good shape.....woo-hoo! Lazy is good. :-)
Sandy,
I'd heard that that might be a good way to go, too - both cover, and then turn over. I think that's what I'll do. The faster the better! I wonder if it's possible to get the grass killed, turned over & the area planted all in one growing season? Guess the plants would need extra winter protection that first year - ??
I have a couple of good books on the topic of front yard gardens...Taunton's Front Yard Idea Book has some beautiful pics, but I especially like Liz Primeau's Front Yard Gardens: Growing More Than Grass.
http://davesgarden.com/gbw/c/297/
She tells the whole story of how she gradually turned her suburban front yard from lawn to garden, over the protestations of her husband and the imagined protestations of her neighbours. They ended up really liking it, by her account. It's a really good read, lots of good tips & plant lists, full of gorgeous photos. And Canadian!
Thanks for the tip about lungwort, Wilma. Guess it's time to draw a plan & make up a plant list. Hmm....good plants for dry shade in acidic clay under a pine tree....eek.
Shannon
