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Making an Entrance: Sidewalk Landscaping Tips
Don't walk on the wild side! Learn how to deal with the neglected sidewalk "hellstrip" in your landscaping scheme.
What's the main trouble area in your front yard? For most homeowners, it's the area around the mailbox or that lonely strip of grass that is separated from the main yard by a sidewalk or driveway. Often referred to as the "hellstrip," it comes with its own set of problems and is not usually a top landscaping priority for most people. But landscape designer Jenny Peterson and gardener Rebecca Sweet have some excellent suggestions for how to improve this area with minimum maintenance.
The first thing you should do is check with your neighborhood homeowners association (HOA) and see if there are any restrictions regarding this area of your yard. If so, your options for upgrading it may be limited but still preferable to its current state.
The hellstrip area takes more abuse than any other area of the lawn because it is usually closest to the street where the temperatures are more extreme. In the hot summer weather, the heat from asphalt streets and concrete walkways can have an adverse affect on whatever is growing there. If you live in colder climates, this area is often subjected to heavy snow and rock salt by snowplows performing winter road maintenance.
Even when the weather is mild, the hellstrip area is vulnerable to constant pedestrian traffic and dogs. With this in mind, make sure whatever you plant in this space is extremely hardy and drought resistant.
Here are some helpful tips from Peterson and Sweet on how to solve or minimize hellstrip problems:
- Amend and improve the soil in the strip for new plantings. Add gravel or pumice for better drainage.
- Create a pathway from the street to the sidewalk using an attractive combination of flagstone and concrete. This provides easy access to visitors who park on the street.
- Avoid using shrubs which could scratch vehicles or harm pedestrians such as yuccas.
- Use low-growing, soft plants such as wildflowers, succulents, flowering perennials or small ornamental grasses and don't overcrowd the area.
- Consider constructing several raised beds with edible gardens for this area.
- If you don't want to deal with grass or plants at all, redesign your strip with a combination of river rocks, small boulders and granite along with flat footpaths to provide easy access for visitors. Ivy is also a simple, low-maintenance alternative to grass.
- Keep in mind that anything you do to your hellstrip to improve it should blend in with the rest of your yard and not detract from the overall curb appeal.
- Take a look at how your neighbors and other homeowners in the neighborhood have addressed this problem and draw inspiration from the most creative and successful examples.
See some creative solutions to landscaping where the sidewalk ends:
