Trying to think of COVID friendly, fun, meditative, and healthy activity, look no further than creating your own Instant Garden. In just under 5 hours, our team (Rick, Emily, and myself), turned our drab front yard into a country oasis breeding new life to the front of our 1800s Hudson River home. Stemming from our COVID isolation we have made some welcomed improvements to our yard, thanks to phenomenal British garden shows on BritBox, various planting guides and magazines, and our passion and talent with landscaping and gardening. Using techniques from the Instant Gardner with Danny Clarke (our favorite garden show on BritBox) we brought our front yard back to life using clever design, imagination, recycled materials, and over 70 perennials. Check out the Before and After pictures of our front yard renovations (both the country garden the ocean inspired garden), plus a few pictures of the buying process!
Before
In reimagining our white picket fence addition, we decided to create a 28-ft country garden between the fence and the old foundation. After digging up the grass and tilling the soil, we removed over 40 antique bricks that must have been once part of the old foundation. From there, landscaping paper was laid. Plants were bought from Black Horse Farm and Lowes, both of which had huge markdowns on perennials since it is nearing the end of the season. When we returned, plants were laid out in a classic country garden feel, slices were cut in the landscaping paper, and holes were dug. We decided on black mulch to tie in the new shutters and mulched everything once the perennials were planted. Upon completion, some of the bricks and rocks were recycled as focal points in the new garden (the rest were saved for a later project). The new garden contains perennials like baby’s breadth, soapwart, primrose, yarrow, lupines, lilies, coneflowers, gayfeather, German satice, sea thrift, and much more. And there we have it – the perfect, tranquil front yard to emphasize our home, add curb appeal, and serve as a cutting garden perfect for flower arrangements and attracting pollinators.
After
As part of our Instant Garden Makeover, we also decided to tackle an unused eye sore between our two driveways. Although time and effort has gone into planting, mulching, and laying rocks in the past, we knew it was time for an upgrade (although we ran out of mulch) so the project will be completed at a later date.
Before
First, we began by pulling the various weeds that have built up over the past few wees. Since this area already had landscaping paper and cedar mulch, we laid out the perennials, which were inspired by the bright, wispy seaside plants along the sand dunes. We mulched the garden using the same black mulch to help tie that section of gardens to the house, but ran out so we had to thin the mulch out. Once we get a few more bags, we can lay the mulch thicker and finish up the project.
After
Our shopping adventures took us to Lowe’s Garden Center in Catskill and Black Horse Farm in Coxsackie where we made the most of their end of season perennial sales!
Pro-tip: When buying plants, make use of trugs (the purple and orange plastic containers). They make transporting plants simple and result in limited clean-up.
Plant Shopping
All in all, this was a fun, relaxing way to spend our Saturday night and Sunday afternoon as a family. Our Instant Garden was a simple and pretty affordable way to add curb appeal to the house and create something that will bloom and provide beauty year after year.
Our costs for this project were lower than what is presented below, because some of the perennials bought were for other projects and two trugs full for my grandmother. Here is a breakdown of the materials used and costs (including taxes of course):
12 Bags of Mulch (plus three bags of top soil for another project) from Lowes – $24 (Since some of the Mulch bags can holes in them the Cashier gave everything to us for 50% off so each bag of Mulch costed $1.25.)
Landscaping Paper – Free (Used leftover paper from last year)
Perennials from Black Horse Farm 12 for $36 – $236
Perennials from Lowes 50% Off – $79
Bricks and Rocks – Free (Unearthed from our digging and recycled to highlight the history and character of the house)
Total Cost: $339 Total Time Spent: 5 Hours
Upstate Vintage Living 