Driveway Entrance

[sheepdog 10]

I finally after about a year of messing around with it managed to put the finishing touches on one side of my drive way entrance. This one has been a real challenge. The big problem has been keeping the grass out of the Irises. There is a narrow strip of grass just behind the dog stature and the irises about 2 foot wide between them and the flower bed. it's sloped pretty bad too, which makes it difficult to either mow or cover with something to kill out the grass. I'm not really sure what type of grass it is, hired girl says crab grass, Hubby says fescue, but it is the toughest stuff I have ever seen. I pull and pull and pull some more and it just keeps coming back. Even wide strips of mulch won't slow it down. It sends these long runners for many feet under ground both shallow and several inches deep that puts it right back to growing again. I've pulled out long strips of root/runners 2 or 3 feet long. As a matter of fact, I saw something this year that I would of never believed if someone had told me if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. I was, as I often am, pulling that god awful grass out of my irises. Was trying to be thorough and get it all. Yea, right, like that is possible. Anyway, I saw this one sprout right next to an iris leave. I moved the iris leave back so I could get to the base of the grass sprout to pull it and I didn't see the base. So I looked on the other side of the iris thinking it was on that side. Still didn't see where it was coming out of the ground. After looking at it for another minute I suddenly realize that the grass stem had actually grown right threw the middle of the iris leave and was coming directly out of the leaf itself about 6 inches off the ground! Now that is some tough, invasive grass when it hides inside another plant!

 

I am trying to foil the grass and although it's not completely under control I have a pretty good handle on it. I covered a large area of the project with pieces I cut out of my old swimming pool liner, it's tough and should last for quite a few years. I hope anyway. I have it under the pink and white stones in front of the box with the mum growing in it, and all the way from the edge of the driveway back to the irises. I mixed up some homemade weed killer, with vinegar salt and Dawn dish washing detergent and sprayed a stripe in the grass walkway behind the display, between it and the flower bed. Also sprayed along the edge of the driveway. That blasted grass has sure been a challenge. I have it slowed down a little but not completely under control yet. It sure has been a chore though.

 

[yordan 10]

Nice job! A lot of effort, but it's worth the pain, the result is really nice!

[sheepdog 10]

Thanks. I was looking at it today, it already needs touched up, something scattered a lot of the white stone out of place and onto the mulch area. And of course that bloody damn grass is creeping rapidly back in the irises. Hope we get some rain soon. I spent over 2 hours last night watering until it just got so dark I couldn't see at all, then got up at 7:30 am and started again until 11 when I had to quit to go with hubby to a doctors appointment and still didn't get it all done.