Why do you need to do anything back there? Are poisonous snakes a concern?

You could put down mulch. Free mulch is usually available from people who trim trees and chip the branches. Then you have to get it back there somehow. Maybe they could set up their chipper to blow the chips right into the yard over the fence. What about a real shed to fill the area? I'm talking about a manly man's shed - one that you can park your riding mowers and golf cart in. Or build a play house for your girls.

Thanks for the fast reply. I originally didn't want to go into great detail, about the spot in question, but I'll try to be short. The spot is located just outside the window of our spare bedroom, which we plan to make into a play/relax room. The window is very large and is situated such that if you're in the right spot, you could be both calmed by the view and horrified by the 3-foot blades of grass and dandelions. Opening the window would most likely result in a higher than average flying pest problem.

Your other question also requires more clarification from me. The entire plot where the shed resides is about 35' by 11'; the shed has it's spot, then there's a central air unit, then there's the unwanted grassy area. The shed's placement had to be on either side of the central air unit, and one side was too small (the unwanted grassy area is between the central air unit and a fence). The shed location couldn't be changed, but I probably could have planned the outcome better.

I understand your "manly man's shed" criteria, I had one at my last house with a cement floor and the large capacity, but the slope of this yard isn't as shed-friendly, so I had to pick a spot and get something that would fit it. I like the idea for a play house, and I did think about a sandbox for that spot. These may be possibilities if I can get a handle on the current situation.

I hadn't thought of mulch, I will definitely look into that. Are you talking about laying down weed-barrier on the entire section then dumping mulch on it?

Does anybody see any problem with buying some vegetation killer from Home Depot/Lowe's, treating the area, then maintaining it throughout the season with vegetation killer? (actually, that doesn't even sound good....sounds more like environment killer)

Thanks again for your help!

- Dion

There are weed killers that you can buy that provide "full season" control. Round-Up has one, I think Spectracide does too. And every one of them will tell you that it is "safe" for children and pets after a certain amount of time. But if you are thinking about creating a play area for your girls I would probably be reluctant to use any of them no matter what the label says. If you plan to grow something else there in the future that is not a food crop, I personally would not be as concerned.

What are the light conditions there? Maybe you could kill everything with straight glysophate or even just a good low weedwhacking and plant some pachysandra or a similarly aggressive groundcover. In the right conditions these plants will choke out anything else that wants to grow there, and will look just fine from that bedroom window.

Thanks paulinct, I really like the idea of planting some type of groundcover, but I'm unfamiliar with how to go about doing it, or what type to use. If you can provide specifics, that just might be my next step.

I won't rule out the option of using a seasonal killer either, just in case the planting doesn't work out. I'm not familiar with the various types, like glysophate, so if there's a manufacturer or source I should, please include those specifics as well. As for lighting, the area of grass is bordered on two sides by a 6-foot privacy fence, one side by a 7-foot shed, and the other side by my house. There are no trees around it, so it gets whatever sunlight is available between late morning and mid-afternoon.

As you mentioned, I'll probably forego using the seasonal killers and use some type of groundcover if I decide to use it as a play area. But I'm leaning less toward the play area since we already have a good sized deck and a swing set.

Thanks for your help, great suggestions!

- Dion

1. Spray the area with Round UP. Now everything's dead, or dying.

2. Call your local tree service guys. They chip trees, all day, and have to drive miles, and miles (I'm feeling sorry for them already) to dump that truck full of wood chips. You say 'how about a free load of chips? Come dump that truck at my house.'.....they say 'we'll be over friday, or next time we're in the neighborhood.

3. You shovel the chips over the fence (that's not worth fifty bux to me: I'd call a fence guy, have him open the fence, have the truck back in and dump it, and have the fence guy put the fence back. Total cost, fifty bux), into that area, spread 'em around, and Voila! Instant play/walking/ pretty area, with nothing growing to mow. Every two years, get another load.

For what it's worth, as those chips break down, you'll accumulate wonderful mulch, down at the bottom of the play area, under the 'fresh' chips this year.

That sounds like relatively low light to me, so I think pachysandra will thrive there.

Around here (coastal CT) the common ground covers for shady areas are pachysandra, lily of the valley, and english ivy. Depending on who you talk to, these are either the perfect ground covers for problem areas, or invasive foreign plants that must be annihilated at all costs, with napalm if necessary, for the greater good. ;-) I personally think they all work very well as ground covers when planted in the right locations, at least around here.

Anyway, not knowing where exactly you are located but seeing that you are in zone six, I imagine that any of these will work for you as well, so long as your soil is not alkaline. But even then, these plants are hardy. Still, probably the best idea would be to go to a local garden center and ask what is the best groundcover plant in your area. They will know better than me for sure. Tell them your situation and I'm sure you will get some excellent recommendations.

Planting aggressive plants like these is easy given the right light and soil conditions; they will soon spread and take over everthing in the target area so long as you keep them alive long enough to establish good roots. Then your only concern will be cutting them back every year or so so that they do not invade your lawn. Not as hard as it sounds, especially for such a small area, but still necessary. Think of it like this: the properties of these plants that let them smother all other vegetation (weeds) and create a pleasing, uniform appearance are just as strong when they come into contact with your desirable lawngrasses. So where those plants meet your lawn, you will just have to cut them away now and then. Again, for an area as small as you describe this really isn't hard. Maybe even just a one beer job, twice a season. ;-)

Oh, and I think I spelled the name of that synthetic herbicide wrong yet again, it is "glyphosate," and it is the herbicide contained in "pure" Round-Up. Most formulations of Round-Up contain other active ingredients as well, mostly to make it seem to work faster (glyphosate takes a week or so). All of the season-long herbicides do for sure. But of all of these synthetic formulations, it seems to me that a non-selective herbicide containing only glyphosate is the safest. But that is not to say you shouldn't try the weedwhacking-the-hell-out-of-it approach first: with aggressive plants like those I mentioned I think this would probably work just fine.

Sorry to go on and on, hope that helps,
Paul

Thanks philes,

I think you answered a question I had for the first poster, regarding whether or not I need to lay down weed block or something. It appears as if it's just a straight dump-and-level. Correct?
My only questions with that are:

- What thickness should I try to attain/maintain?
- I've known people who, for various reasons (good and bad), mow their lawn and dump the clippings in a pile somewhere in their yard, and it looks as though the pile is just a mosquito/pest hotel. Should I be concerned about that with the wood chips/mulch?

If you know of anyone specifically in southeastern Michigan, pass them along. Thanks!

Philes! I typed over you too, I wish I knew why I am not being notified of that anymore, particularly for longish posts...

Dion, you don't need a weed block. You're shooting for 4-5" when dumped, which will melt down to 3" immediately, over the first season. If a weed pops up, zap it. That won't happen 9 times. I'm in Flint, btw, where are you at? And you're probably in zone 5.

Paul, that 'overlap' just happens. My posts tend to be (if you listen to my wife) too long, or if you listen to me, thoughtful. Overlaps happen. Also, I'm an online poker player, so two paragraphs really can take me an hour to produce, if somebody raises me, over on the poker site.

Question: totally off topic. Are any of our regulars also poker players?

Question: totally off topic. Are any of our regulars also poker players?

I'm the kind you wish were always in the game, which is why I don't play so much...

"I wish I knew why I am not being notified of that anymore"

I've been coming here for years and don't remember ever getting those notifications. If you were getting them, it must have been somewhere else.

Hey BP, maybe I'm just mis-remembering, but I would have sworn I have seen the "while you were typing" warning on the preview pages here in big red letters. I recently changed computers, so maybe that has something to do with it, but I guess I could just be totally wrong, too.

OK, back on topic...

I've never been notified. What browser are you using? I am using Firefox (3 beta 5 if anyone knows what that means) with AdBlock Plus. If there was ever any notifications, it could be that AdBlock prevents my seeing them.

Anyway, I was going to suggest 15 inches of mulch if you're getting it free. That chipped wood is very very good for the underlying soil. When you get a bunch of it, it becomes a very soft playground surface. No weed block in any case. The inches of mulch becomes its own weed block.

I'm using Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.14, with a recent version of ZoneAlarm. I used the same browser on my previous computer, but without ZoneAlarm. I think either the ZA is the problem, or I am imagining things.

These are all great tips, thanks to everyone. It looks like my approach will be to try a seasonal pesticide for this year, then make a decision on whether or not it will become a play area for next year or 2010. If so, then I'll go with the wood chip suggestion. If not, then I'll look to plant the ground cover.

Philes, I'm in Ypsi; I used the Zone tool on this website and it gave me Zone 6, but I can see how we're borderline with Detroit's suburbs' zone.

As for the off topic question; I do play NL Texas HE quite a bit. I'm decent, but I guess if I was really any good, I could afford to have somebody solve this problem for me.... :-)

Thanks again everyone!