Facing my Hellstrip

Welcome to October. I think it is my favorite gardening month. So much to do and so much better temperatures to do it in!

I have realized many people gave up on their gardens because of this past hot and dry summer, I have to confess I am also one of those people. I realized as the drought continued that there were many changes I needed to make. I did make the garden a bit bigger and I added some carpet roses for continuous colour but I knew the bigger changes needed to wait until the Fall. And I was kind of nervous about some of the things that I wanted to do because it meant changing the garden in a big way. I need to stop focusing on this specific area but to plan for the whole landscape design.

After interviewing Hell Strip Gardener, LessLawn advocate and Author  Evelyn Hadden on my radio show, Down the Garden Path. https://down2earth.ca/evelyn-hadden-hellstrip-gardening

I knew I had to go all in and tackle this challenging area of my yard and stop spending so much time worrying about the lawn.

Here is a picture of my Hell Strip area. It is the edge of one of my gardens that surround my beautiful blue spruce. This area is bordered by the driveway and the street. It is South facing and gets a lot of abuse all year long.

I am lucky to not have a sidewalk that cuts into this space but it will be very important in the landscape design to balance this space and have new plants that flow nicely with this established garden. And these new plants will have to be tough enough plants to withstand the winter weather and all that the snow plows can throw at it. It’s obvious that the lawn isn’t making it so it is time to think outside the” landscape” box! I am ready to go for it. So follow along as I get started on my Fall Landscape Project.  I plan on ordering the mulch and laying down the cardboard and dealing with this area once and for all. I promise to take photos and keep you updated on my progress.