| I recently moved our back fence to the edge of our property and gained about 10 feet of land by about 116 feet in length. Previously this area had a row of large pine trees which were cut down by our wonderful neighbor. About 6 stumps were ground down last year and just before moving the fence last week I had the remaining 10 or so removed.
This area was mostly weeds and some very tired looking grass, but only a small amount of larger (1" to 1.5" diameter) gravel showed. It was somewhat landscaped prior to our neighbor destroying the tree row, but over the last year it really was just allowed to grow up with whatever was left. Check out my neighbor's lawn trimming style....
I happily went to the nursery on Saturday and picked out shrubs that would grow to 10' plus to gain additional privacy from our wonderful neighbor. Then I rented a tiller and went to work on this section of the yard. Once the tiller dug in I churned up tons of 1/4" to 1/2" gravel almost the entire stretch along with many, many bits of black plastic sheeting. I had absolutely no idea that was there (we only bought the house last year). I tilled the area about 10 times trying to get everything mixed up and all of the trash removed.
I've raked and pulled all of the plastic out that was visible. But this area is mixture of stone and some soil and the remains of about 20 ground up tree stumps. Its ugly and a mess. And tilling has raised the level about 2 - 3 inches above the rest of the yard.
Not sure what to do. I can't picture anything growing there, at least not well. I could have it removed but it would cost me a fortune, at least thats my guess. I can't really cover it unless I try to do planters or something, because this area is the lowest point in the yard and it drains through this area. I could try and raise up planters and have areas between them to drain, but even if I got 1' of dirt on top of this mess, I don't know if anything would grow there. I've got 4 Canadian red cherry shrubs and some witch hazel sitting in pots with no where to go and its October in Chicago.
The rest of our yard is beautiful and I need to do something here, but I really need some good suggestions. Maybe a rock garden? But I still need to get some shrubs that will grow up for privacy.
I am fascinated by the alpine plants - would this be a possiblity if I create tiered planters and move the stone into these areas? I'll try to provide soil pics later today or tomorrow. Truthfully I personally spend an hour or so each day maintaining the yard and I don't really want to add to this schedule, at least not significantly.
Thanks for any ideas! | 
