Today Duston and I made a little video to show you the progress I’ve made on the rental house that sits at the front of my nursery.
The plants I’ve chosen really serve a dual purpose, one, they make the yard look really nice, and two, I plant things that I will be taking cuttings from to grow in the nursery.
Since we are located right on a very busy highway, the front yard really does take some abuse in the winter from road salt, so I had to find out which plants could handle it and which ones to keep away from the street.
And then there’s my new sign. You can’t miss it! I leave it up all year ’round because it would just be too much work to take it down and put it back up year after year.
4850 North Ridge Rd, Perry, Ohio
If someone pulls in the driveway and I’m not there, they’ll see this sign:
Ok I am going to show you some pics of what we started with and then the video to show you the end result.
Before
After
I had a new sprinkler system installed as my old one finally quit. However after all the hose pulling and digging was over walking on my lawn reminded me of WW1 Battlefield pictures. I am contemplating borrowing a plate whacker to smooth it out as the lawn roller would not be enough, Any comments or suggestion?
Rod,
I’m not sure that’s the best approach, that’s the extreme opposite of aerating the lawn. I had a sprinkler system installed last year and I just used topsoil to level the trenches and re-seeded those areas. ???
Your attitude is much like mine. I am constantly changing things.If it doesn’t hit me just right —it’s out of here! A thought for you to consider. In most of the West we are in dire need of conserving water. The parking strips take so much water to keep looking good. Wondering if by chance you have some pictures or done any nice looking parking strips in your business? Such as rocks,ground covers etc. It would be nice to see what you could come up with. What a nice job on the house make over! Just hope your renters see the work and beauty that goes into and respects it. Enjoy your Emails!
I love the new look of the house and yard! One question though. Do you think the house front would look more cohesive with a slightly darker shade of the taupe paint, on the foundation, instead of white? I like the foundation on the rest of the house, but that white just sorta grabs all the attention and not in a good way. Almost looks like you ran out of the original color! 🙂 otherwise, a great job overall…I can’t wait to come up sometime and see it in real life…
Cathi,
The white you see is actually a plastic lath that would look better painted, but not way up on my priority list. Rental house.
Hi, Mike
That must have been a lot of work and it looks good. Who did the house repairs, you or Dustin?
1 question I have about the landscaping, please. I have always read that the mulch should not be right up to touching the plant. There should be a space around the main stem or trunk. Yours seems to be right up to the plants with no space – or it may just be the angle of the picture makes it look that way.
Your thoughts, please.
Joe,
I always mulch right up to the base of the plant, but no more than 2″ deep. Any deeper would be dangerous to the plant. Most of the outside home make over was done by a contractor.
Great transformation and I love all of your ideas.Thank You!
Hi Mike.
This project turned out really nice but I have a question. Aren’t some of those plants too close to the house? Once they start to mature they’ll be up against the house, especially the beautiful maple tree you mentioned in the beginning of the video. You also planted a couple of hydrangea close to the house. They get really big as well. Thanks.
Sandra,
The maple trees are plenty far enough away from the house as are the hydrangea. The hydrangeas will be pruned aggressively every fall. And in my world, landscaping is never permanent, I’m always changing things for various reasons. But I’m also an aggressive pruner which creates tight, full plants.
Really nice job. Enjoy it!
Hi Mike,
This was a good video, Thank You… As I have no artistic flair to know how to put plants. I Like the Arc of plants! And boy, i sure know about the Snow Removal Guys! What i was writing about was, i noticed your edging around your plants. Boy, i really like the soft edging job you made.. I watched one of your videos where you showed how to edge with a shovel, and i wondered if you did that with a shovel (a lot of work!) or a manual edger, or an electric edger?? I can’t do it with a shovel, to hard for me, to much to edge, but it really tops the look off all areas So Nice Thanks again for your ideas on Landscaping your house!
Kathy
The redo looks great ! To the person who did not like the new windows, the multi-paned windows on the porch probably were not original to the house and the new matching ones are far more pleasing to the eye.
Do you “hire”out? LOL Only kidding,but you probably could improve most any property by a transformation and plants.
Great job Mike! I think it looks very nice. You remind me of my hubby with the attitude, “I don’t care!” LOL He loves plants also but doesn’t like to get in the dirt like I do.
Thanks for all the information, the time you put into emails and videos for those of us who look to you for expert opinions. I hope to one day have my own little green house, so I can sell plants also. I love growing them.
People like quality and efficient workmanship very nice, blessings as you grow, very nice…m
Great work!!! Now for finishing touch, 6 panel kit for front windows(very cheap)and of course window boxes showing your great plants and flowers!
The remodeled result looks nice, but I really wish that you had replicated the original windows. It’s something that you just don’t find anymore. It would have been a tribute to the history of the house.
Faith,
That would have been really expensive and not practical for a rental.
Mike the house and landscaping is so pretty. Great job!!!
Can you tell us how you go from the before flat yard to the after raised beds ready for planting?
What do you build them up with?
How do you make your trench between beds and grass?
Does that need be-doing and if so in how long?
How many inches of beautiful mulch and what’s underneath
My 1st sale went great; more to come each weekend; I just stick my sign on our busy road and people come. THANK YOU THANK YOU!
Judi,
I decided to widen the driveway and used the soil from that to build the beds around the house. The edge is done with a spade. Mulch is about 2″ deep.
Hi Mike, I don’t know much about landscaping. I’ve heard that daylilies can handle salty areas. It’s probably not the look your going for. I was just wondering if they can?
Bill
Bill,
I’m sure daylilies are fairly salt tolerant, they are planted all over shopping mall islands.
Beautifully done – remodel and landscape. I have two questions for you:
1) Any thoughts about planting some fast-growing trees to cut down on the traffic noise?
2) Do you refresh the mulch? I know that you believe in high-depth mulching and it makes sense (and looks beautiful) but I was wondering about refreshing mulch (due to weather-fade, breakdown, other factors?
Thanks Mike – great stuff.
Scott,
In mind a fast growing tree translates to a really poor quality tree. And with the salt I wouldn’t attempt to grow trees that close to the road. Road noise is just part of living this close to a main highway. I don’t do high depth mulching, only 2″. I replace it when it breaks down, usually every two years.
Love Coral Bells, but they fry in the sun here in eastern NC. I learned that the hard way.
Wow, what a,transformation! Love it.