As you know, we’ve been working on our landscape when we can (actually when the weather allows us to.) The past week we decided to break up our yard with tree islands before we ordered more sod. This way we wouldn’t have as much square footage to cover with grass, and it will give some serious curb appeal to our property.
Landscape designers charge BIG BUCKS to do this for you, but I’m going to show you how easy and inexpensive it can be.
Materials for designing your island
-hose/rope/extension cord (long enough to make your design)
-flour
-weed and grass killer
The first thing we did was use an extension cord to map out what we wanted our island to look like. We laid the cord on the ground and moved it around until we had the shape we desired.
Next, using flour (because that’s what we had on hand) I sprinkled it directly on top of the cord to “draw” my shape onto the ground.
When I was done. I lifted the cord up, and was left with my outline.
The next thing we did (only because the grass was so long, and we wanted to make sure the grass killer would penetrate everything) We used our weed wacker and cut the grass inside our shape as low as possible, and then sprayed with Round-Up.
This is how it looked three days ago…
Here’s what it looks like today…
The next few days will be spent raking up the dead stuff, and prepping the area for plants. I’ll show more in the next few days, but now I’m off to HD to go get supplies.
See you soon!
I love how you used flour! Better to use what you got, than run out and buy something and possibly forget which project it was for (or is that just me?)
Jessica
stayathomeista.com
Exactly…I try not to spend money unless I have to! 🙂
How exciting! Can’t wait to see it with plants.
Another alternative to that is laying down newspaper and piling your top soil or mulch on top. The round up could effect the soil where you’ll be putting the new plants in. I’ve done the newspaper method for all the areas I’ve wanted to remove sod and it works great.
Happy planting!
Thanks for the tip Mindy! We are actually removing about 3 inches of soil, and adding a new mix so I don’t think it will be affected too much, considering we haven’t really had any rain to wash it into the soil. 🙂
Ahh.. how fun! Cant wait to see the final product 🙂
Smart. I am a complete dummy when it comes to anything landscaping, but this tip is helpful. I wanted to let you know that I am passing down the Liebster award to you. Hope the weather is better.