Our client acquired a new piece of land, then built a dream house on it. We had the opportunity to design and build an organic landscape from the ground up, including lawn and areas for trees, shrubs and flowers.
With 8” of high fungal compost and amendments as a base, the beds were delineated and planted in early September. A winning combination of flowering plants and needled evergreens has brought four seasons of interest to the gardens. Outlying areas border wetlands, so we chose some native shrubs like bottlebrush buckeye to transition from cultivated to wild areas. The lawn was seeded later that month, taking advantage of natural cycles of rainfall.
One problem occurred during construction with existing maple trees along the new driveway. Excess compacted soil was mounded too deeply over the root flare, in one case causing the death of the tree. We used our air spade to remediate this situation and built a stone retaining well around several trees to keep the root flare at the proper depth.
Pumpkin Brook continues to maintain this property with monthly visits.