Help me decide what to do...

thatguy · Dec 29, 2007

I am looking for suggestions for a couple things around the house..

1) Mailbox area - when we had the driveway paved I didnt think to ask them to pave in front of the mailbox. It was getting very muddy around it so I put the gravel there, but as you can see it is shifting.. Any suggestions about what I can put there inplace of the gravel?

2) Tree line - We planted these emerald aborvitae (suppose to only get about 12' tall and 3-4' across) on the fence line as a border.. The trees are about 12' apart currently. We are thinking of planting more aborvitae between the current tree, but I am open to other suggestions for plantings.. I would like to have something evergreen, and it can be a bush or shrub.. Suggestions?

thanks

Brian

ToadHill · Dec 29, 2007

For the mailbox I'd buy some blacktop patch and put it in that area, you can get it in bags at most home centers.

If you have deer in your area arborvitae are deer candy. You may try to get Junipers (shy rocket) the have the same upright habit, and the deer won't ear them.

rtdiggr · Dec 29, 2007

Beautiful house first off [we have a similar house style built in 1871]

For around the mail box you can buy asphalt in a bag [you will need quite a few bags] then tamp in down.
Or you can do the same thing with concrete.

For the trees you can plan white pines or spruces possible in a W pattern all the way down, they will certain get larger then the type of cedar you have there.
Or you can look for a scot pine [christmas tree] they look nice and full. it does that about 10 to 12 years till the get to x-mas tree size.

Shane

greenthumb · Dec 29, 2007

what about from where you took the picture of the tree line a pasture a pole barn that matches the house and a few cattle to roam and fill the freezer

Podunkadunk · Dec 29, 2007

Awesome homestead!

I'd use the same tree that you have, otherwise growth patterns may differ and make it look funky.

Podunk

thatguy · Dec 30, 2007

thanks for the compliments on the house.. We have been in for a little over year now and know we made a great decision when building..

For those that are interested - here is a link to more, better, house pics

http://s49.photobucket.com/albums/f292/Tracy_Brian_House/

Also check out the sub albums for pics of Snicker our dog.. he is way too cute.. IMHO

Thanks for all the tips for completing my tree line.. We must have gotten lucky because the deer have not eaten the arborvitae yet (but I do spray them with invisible fence)...

I think Podunkadunk and I were thinking along the same lines.. I think we would have to do something completely different or stick with the same trees or it could end up looking odd..

thanks for all the advise

Brian

bearhawk · Dec 30, 2007

Can you put the same bush in the center of current ones just offset by a few feet? Like the W pattern suggested earlier.

Jim

dmccarty · Dec 30, 2007

Its hard to tell from the photo but the gravel in front of the mail box looks like its just stone with not much if any fines. The fines help lock the gravel togather. Try to put down some road base which in NC is called ABC. Its a mixture of different size gravel up to about 2 inches and lots of fines. The stuff locks up tight. Our mail box is in one spot where four house have boxes for both mail and newspapers. No problems with the gravel in that spot.

There are some other areas that pot hole up due to water on the road but people dont want to spend money to raise the road bed up a couple of inches. I grade the road every 3-4 years. One of the neighbors patchs the potholes.

Later,
Dan

thatguy · Dec 30, 2007

bearhawk said:
Can you put the same bush in the center of current ones just offset by a few feet? Like the W pattern suggested earlier.

Jim

I am about 5 ft off the property line, so off setting them back a foot or so is possible and what I originally planned to do if we plant more of the same trees..

Brian

thatguy · Dec 30, 2007

dmccarty said:
Its hard to tell from the photo but the gravel in front of the mail box looks like its just stone with not much if any fines. The fines help lock the gravel togather. Try to put down some road base which in NC is called ABC. Its a mixture of different size gravel up to about 2 inches and lots of fines. The stuff locks up tight. Our mail box is in one spot where four house have boxes for both mail and newspapers. No problems with the gravel in that spot.

There are some other areas that pot hole up due to water on the road but people dont want to spend money to raise the road bed up a couple of inches. I grade the road every 3-4 years. One of the neighbors patchs the potholes.

Later,
Dan

I used the #57's (no fines or dust), that came off the drive when they prepped it for paving, around the mail box, not thinking they would shift so much..

right now I think I will try the cold asphalt mix and see how that goes.. I will need to dig up the gravels that are there first...

thanks

Brian