How To Makeover Narrow Side Yard Into Strip Garden Or Pathway

Landscaping narrow side yard has conflicting problems due to little space availability. Moreover if your home is situated on a small lot with little space between your house and your neighbour. Other consideration you must keep in mind that you might deal with the right next house’s foundation. This is even challenging for most experienced gardeners. Thus, in this article you will find some ideas that might help you to turn the narrow side yard either to be small strip garden or just use it as a pathway to the back of your home.

• Making a low wall of interlocking pavers along the side of the house can be very attractive and add definition. This will also allow plenty of new soil (compost for instance) to be added and worked into soil that is usually mostly hardpan (dry, hard clay, sand and silt). Most soil around the foundation of a home is depleted of nutrients, so adding rich moisture retaining amendments are important to the health of any plants you might add.
• If there is a sidewalk along one side of the house, putting down landscape fabric, newspaper or cardboard between the house and walkway and then adding mulch or decorative stones, river rock, etc., can be an easy fix that will make the area look clean and neat.
• Setting containers along a mulched area such as this can really dress it up and make watering very easy. If it is on the shady side of the house, this could be a good place to give your houseplants a few weeks outdoors.
• When it comes to choose plants, consult to the local nursery how big the plants will grow. Consider dwarf plants that usually grow in Japanese garden. Additionally, always start with less expensive plants and read the labels, which should tell you how wide and tall the plant, will be when it is full grown.
• If you do not use one side of the house on a regular basis, planting groundcover can be a simple yet attractive way to solve a problem area.
• A note about safety — when planting along the side of your house, make certain none of your flowers, shrubs or trees cover a window or provide a hiding place for critters with two legs or four.
• Consider using pebbles as the ground cover, since they are low maintenance and they are attractive to function as walkway to your home.