Thanks for this great video, it's exactly what I was looking for! I am planning to convert my parking strip the same way, but concerned about cost of cardboard, compost/mulch as the strip is 90x6 ft (540 sq. ft.). My area is quite windy -- would that be a challenge keeping the mounded mulch in place? Also need to figure out the best way to run drip tubing to cover the entire strip. One good thing is this strip is a different zone on the irrigation system, so won't need major modifications.
Thanks. Glad the video helped. I'd say wind won't be too big of an issue with mulch. You could get some tall landscape edging to help keep it in place.
The salts used to melt ice can definitely harm plants, yes, but we have't had any trouble. We don't use it ourselves on the sidewalks and our city doesn't use very much on the street, and I don't think it gets pushed up onto the parkstrip.
I want to simply sheet mulch my parking strip, but adding a few inches of cardboard, compost and mulch would turn it into a small mound. I have to dig it up, don’t I? 😕
We didn’t dig our parkstrip down mostly because we wanted to keep the tree. It did create a bit of a mound, so we tried to have the mulch taper down toward the edge and we also added landscape edging to keep it from spilling into the street. It works decently. We think it is good to keep the soil and organic matter and saves a lot of digging work too. I will say though that digging it out first would probably leave a cleaner looking final product.
Two questions: Where do you get the retro fit? Were the parkstrip sprinklers on their own valve? My parkstrip sprinkler heads are integrated with lawn sprinklers. Trying to figure out best way to proceed. Thanks for your wonderful videos!
Glad you like the videos! We get our retro fit kits at a local sprinkler supply store. The one we get is Rain Bird brand. In our case, the parkstrip sprinklers were not on their own valve but it worked out ok because we also ended up capping the sprinkler on the other side of the sidewalk and replacing that grass as well. You are right to recognize that it would be better to run the parkstrip drip less often and for a longer runtime than what you would irrigate grass, so ideally they'd be on a different valve. If that would require lot's more work, you could always experiment with a few different run times and frequencies to see how well you can make it work, and then maybe eventually add a separate valve.
It’s okay, but I think it would have been better to remove The grass so it doesn’t look like your bed is spilling out onto the sidewalk.. the black curb in the curb side is also pretty ugly.🤔
Digging out the sod is definitely one way to go and I agree that it might leave an overall cleaner look. On the other, landscape edging prevents any issues with spillage and not digging down allowed us to keep the tree and also keep the soil and organic matter of the grass/roots for healthier soil.
You have a very interesting park strip along with your front lawn. Very pollinator-friendly! It all looks so nice. Thanks for the advice.
Thank you! Glad it helped!
And now there are some lower growing Russian sages like "Denim and Lace" that will extend that season even further.
Again another amazing video. I have a side of my driveway that doesn't get any water and hope to do a native pollinator flower area there.
Thanks for this great video, it's exactly what I was looking for! I am planning to convert my parking strip the same way, but concerned about cost of cardboard, compost/mulch as the strip is 90x6 ft (540 sq. ft.). My area is quite windy -- would that be a challenge keeping the mounded mulch in place? Also need to figure out the best way to run drip tubing to cover the entire strip. One good thing is this strip is a different zone on the irrigation system, so won't need major modifications.
Thanks. Glad the video helped. I'd say wind won't be too big of an issue with mulch. You could get some tall landscape edging to help keep it in place.
Do things like snow, ice, and ice melt products kill the plants?
The salts used to melt ice can definitely harm plants, yes, but we have't had any trouble. We don't use it ourselves on the sidewalks and our city doesn't use very much on the street, and I don't think it gets pushed up onto the parkstrip.
Thank you for the cardboard idea
No problem
I want to simply sheet mulch my parking strip, but adding a few inches of cardboard, compost and mulch would turn it into a small mound. I have to dig it up, don’t I? 😕
We didn’t dig our parkstrip down mostly because we wanted to keep the tree. It did create a bit of a mound, so we tried to have the mulch taper down toward the edge and we also added landscape edging to keep it from spilling into the street. It works decently. We think it is good to keep the soil and organic matter and saves a lot of digging work too. I will say though that digging it out first would probably leave a cleaner looking final product.
Two questions: Where do you get the retro fit? Were the parkstrip sprinklers on their own valve?
My parkstrip sprinkler heads are integrated with lawn sprinklers. Trying to figure out best way to proceed.
Thanks for your wonderful videos!
Glad you like the videos! We get our retro fit kits at a local sprinkler supply store. The one we get is Rain Bird brand. In our case, the parkstrip sprinklers were not on their own valve but it worked out ok because we also ended up capping the sprinkler on the other side of the sidewalk and replacing that grass as well. You are right to recognize that it would be better to run the parkstrip drip less often and for a longer runtime than what you would irrigate grass, so ideally they'd be on a different valve. If that would require lot's more work, you could always experiment with a few different run times and frequencies to see how well you can make it work, and then maybe eventually add a separate valve.
It’s okay, but I think it would have been better to remove
The grass so it doesn’t look like your bed is spilling out onto the sidewalk..
the black curb in the curb side is also pretty ugly.🤔
Bad look and the mulch is so raised that the next time it rains, will wash that down the sidewalk. Better to remove sod and dig down.
Digging out the sod is definitely one way to go and I agree that it might leave an overall cleaner look. On the other, landscape edging prevents any issues with spillage and not digging down allowed us to keep the tree and also keep the soil and organic matter of the grass/roots for healthier soil.
You can see what it looks like now at the beginning of this video if you want: ua-cam.com/video/ZgnjRXIwpto/v-deo.html