Making a Perennial Garden in a Fence Row?

15 years ago

I just stumbled across this forum a few days ago. I've been in the Home Forums and some of the Garden Forums, and I was so glad to see one especially for Tennessee. Sorry I missed out on the MTPS. I'll look forward to that in the Fall. So my question is about this . . . we have a chain link fence that is our fence row/property line in our backyard. It is about 75 feet across and divides our yard from another family's old cemetery. Not a problem for us, although it used to go without being maintained and would become overgrown. The fence row has about 3 small to medium sized cedars that we just can't cut out right now plus a couple of other trees to provide shade from about 11:00 a.m until dusk. So it will get morning sun but be shaded the rest of the day. I'm wanting to prepare a perennial bed to dress it up a bit. A nice mulched area about 4-5 feet wide that curves is what I have in mind. Now how do I go about this? I've never done anything like this before. How do I prep the area? Should I till it or do I need to hoe it out because of tree roots? I'd read about putting newspaper and mulch down in the fall to kill off all the weeds/grasses over the winter, but I want to do it now. If I get this far, what perennial plants would you recommend? I had in mind some daylilies, hosta, irisis, and lamb's ear spaced out in clumps. Mostly low maintenance type plants would be nice. Plus, we have 2 toddlers who play in the back, so the plants will have to fend for themselves if balls or toys get tossed in the bed. What do you think? Has anyone done something similar? Here's some pics of what it looks like in the late afternoon. Thanks so much!

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Comments (3)

bigorangevol
15 years ago
Cindy you could have totally filled your flower order at the Middle Tennessee Plant Swap on Saturday! Regardless, welcome to the TN Forum; glad to have you aboard!!!

Lavonne and I live off of 65 & Harding and if your anywhere close to us I'd be glad to drop by and bring you some Daylilies, Iris and Hosta. I'll also be free with advice as to how to work your beds. Catch me on a slow week and I may even help you do it. I can bring the chain saw and get rid of those Cedars for ya if you like.

If you don't get a pretty fair amount of sun, Iris' probably won't bloom there. We have some in a tree line that grow great foliage but never bloom When I transplant them in full sun they go nuts.

Mark your calendar for the fall swap on October the 18th.

Shoot me an email or give me a call at 310-4155.

Jeff
cinlo
Original Author
15 years ago
Jeff, Thanks so much for the offers! I'm a new stay at home mom with a 2 1/2 yr. old and a 10 mos. old. Playing in the dirt and learning about plants has become my new hobby when I'm able to get out there, so it's kind of sporadic depending on what's going on with them that day! I'm mostly a container gardener with annuals and herbs, but I decided to try some perennials in containers, too. I have some hostas and heucheras planted together in some pots, and I've found some good deals at Lowe's with their discount plants. I've got a couple of containers of calla lilies to get out. The only in ground plants I've worked with in our landscaping that has been successful are the variegated and solid monkey grass (lariope?) and few hosta (unfortunately all but 2 have died). This year I've added some coreopsis in an area around a tree, and I decided I might try the larger bed in the fence row. But how do I start? Do I need to use Round Up to kill off the grass/weeds first or just start tilling and hoeing or slow down and use the newspaper idea and wait for next year? I want an area that's informal obviously and fun without needing constant care as my little ones already get that!
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bigorangevol
15 years ago
I'd shoot the Round-up, wait for it to die, then take a tiller to the area to break it up, get rid of all the garbage debris (I actually sift and screen our dirt but I'm a little anal about that), add some nice dried up horse manure or compost material to it maybe even some sand, then till it again to mix the dirt and manure together so you have a nice soft rich bed to start with. It's like building anything... your base/foundation is the most important part.

Unless you put in a 6"-8" barrier around it you are going to have Bermuda crawl back into the bed. I detest landscape fabric but if you use it as a side barrier with plastic edging you will put up a serious hinderance to the Bermuda.

Lavonne and I have a compost bin that I made so we always have dark, rich, worm-laden compost to add to our beds. Everyone with flower beds needs a compost bin!!!

That's what I'd do to start. I really over-work the beds to begin with because now is the easiest time to get it right - BEFORE you have established plants in the bed.