New to board and landscaping/gardening-HELP!!! lol

First off, I think this board will become my new home :) GREAT stuff!
Anyway-just a little intro-I live in Atlanta, and bought a home in Sept. It has a great fenced in yard. Two owners before me, I understand the yard was so beautiful you could have held a wedding there....then the owners before me not only destroyed the yard but the house-so when I got it on a short sale (great price) I had to first fix the inside-now that is done, I just finished fixing the sunroom w/plants, little table fountain, etc...and have my wicker/resin set there and a patio table/grill on the deck.

So...I'm new to the green thumb thing but I really want to deck out that yard!! It has a lot of potential..also a lot of trees-I have someone coming to give me an estimate to clean up the leaves, limbs, trim and also hopefully treat all the weeds/poison ivy in the back 1/4 of the yard. Because I have a big oak tree in a built bed by the sunroom there is an area that doesn't grow much grass to the left of the sunroom. The right side gets about 4-5 hrs sun-the back almost none in spring/summer-the center probably a cpl hrs at most-partial shade/sun.

I will try to get some pics soon so you can see and give my tips. I've been researching online/magazines best plants for shade/sun in zone 7B also. This is a daunting big task however...since I'm hoping once it's cleaned up and I have my blank canvas I can do most of the landscaping/planting myself....perhaps some help. I won't have the $ to have them do it all. But time is also critical as I'm a single working mom of two wonderful boys! I'm sure they'll love helping me plant some flowers/hostas in the oak tree bed. I have some drainage issues in that left corner also-but maybe they can run some of those big hose under ground..and with mulch, shrubs, etc it should help soak up the water that sometimes gathers w/heavy rain.

I'm going to be planting about 6 rose bushes on the sunny side along the fence...and putting a small fountain surrounded by rocks and flowers in the center...will have to use ground cover/shrubs for the back and that one shady side most likely. I also want to create to pathways from both sunroom exit doors to the center fountain.

The back left corner also has a NASTY moldy shed that I will be getting rid of and getting a new one...Ideally I would plant some fast growing trees but it may take a while...and that is the only corner that if the shed isn't there would be visible to the neighbors to much-so I have to look for a at least 8ft tall shed (new one) -plus it will give me room to store garden stuff, my tools, etc...

Here's my question though-if I plant most everything this spring/early summer....once fall comes around again I get I mean thousands of leaves from the oak (and the oak/nuts)...and other trees...If I have new mulch and shrubs or say grasses (for shade)....how can I go about cleaning it? Won't the leave blower just mess it all up? I've never burned leaves...but there was a spot they used to do it...how do you guys discard them? I mean some for enriching the soil is fine but I'm talking about excess here.

Currently I have about 14 piles of leaves around the yard lol. I already removed about 8 -10 bags from front and back. I'll post more about the flowers/roses I'm thinking of in another thread-this is long enough.

You can buy at Lowe's a mulcher that attaches to the bottom of your mower. It will mulch the leaves as you cut. You can blow the leaves out of your beds with a leaf blower just don't hold it to close to the ground or you will disturb your mulch.
It costs about 40 to 50 dollars. I can't remember for sure.

This message was edited May 12, 2009 7:11 PM

If that big old tree in your yard is a live oak with smallish narrow leaves, they take forever to decompose-better off raking and putting out on the curb. Consider hydrangeas in the shady areas.

Yeah I was going to say those leaves seem to not decompose well at all! I have the leaf blower and mulcher ....the problem is around the oak there are thousands of acorns that fall off in autumn..I also get lots of small limbs so it's not easy to use the mulcher. Ideally I'd own a shredder/chipper I could use all the time...have to look into the cost of those. I'm guessing in the fall rather then wait till it all falls-I will have to maintain once every week or so.....blowing into small piles and dealing w/it on a regular basis. If it weren't that expensive I'd love to lose some of those trees ha!

Along with putting the hostas and hydrangeas in the area you might try putting camelias, ferns (love the dampness you will only have to probably add some peat moss for drainage if soil is heavy clay like mine.) I've also planted wild gloxinas, elephant ears, bleeding hearts and some others I can't remember right now in mine last years and their doing great and all came back. Have poison ivy problem too and found that if I can find the main root and kill it the vines shrivel and die. People that had the house before me put landscaping plastic down in the beds. This resulted in the poison ivy making a HUGE root system under and on top of the film and it was almost impossible to control the ivy. I live near woods and have about an acre or more in beds) Finally last year removed the film from beds and was able to get 90 % of the ivy rooting out. Also existing shrubs (Azeala, rhodos, boxwoods, creap myrtles) that had poked along began doing a lot better and are blooming like mad this spring. Laid paper instead of film. This seems to work for me. (I found by using the hose and spraying on ivy as I was pulling, it was easier to remove vines and I didn't break out with poison ivy all over) Also easier to remove most of root system after heavy rain. What ever you do, don't plant ivy this becomes a big problem once est. and can kill other plants.

Also check out the market place here, I have gotten lots of plants here.