Can't Mow Between Fences, Created Pachysandra Ground Cover Bed

This is the 'after' photo at the start of the following season when things have had a chance to grow in a little bit

My neighbor got a new fence for his dog (and so I don't have to look at his yard) but it's too close to my fence so a lawn mower doesn't fit between. After weed wacking it a few times, I knew he wouldn't help take care of it so I went ahead and devised a plan to turn it into a huge groundcover bed using Pachysandra even though half the space between the fence is technical his land. Here's the process I used and some photos along the way.

To plan out the overall shape of the bed, I used a hose on the ground to create a gentle curve. Then I used an edger to create a line along the hose, and sprayed Round Up on the grass to kill it. In previous beds, I lifted the sod and flipped it over and tried to create the bed that way, but the grass ended up growing through the sod - so this time I just decided to kill it and put topsoil and mulch over it.

Not all of the grass died completely, so I used vinegar as a touch up because it kills the grass just as well as the Round Up and it's way cheaper.

Planning out the shape of the bed with a hose helps visualize the gentle curves, then I edge along it to create a hard line in the ground. Some people spray paint or sprinkle flour to create a line to mark the edge.

I was really lazy with this bed and after the grass died I didn't do a whole lot of amending the soil or tilling, I just dumped some topsoil over the dead grass and added some mulch. I spent about $72 on the Pachysandra plugs - if they weren't so expensive I would have gotten a lot more to create a full look, but I guess I can wait a few seasons for it to really fill in.

I love this photo, it's a little bizarre to kill off such a big patch of grass when I spend so much time and energy trying to keep the grass alive, but I like the contrast and the clean line I was able to create.

Here is an after photo trying to get the same camera angle. This was taken immediately after installation so the ground cover hasn't had a chance to grow in at all. I've been wanting a Buckthorn Fine Line for a while so I used that as the accent plant in the middle of the bed.

Even Chris came out to help! Photo evidence!

I didn't even realize until I looked back at this photo from about a year ago that the Buckthorn Fine Line has actually put on a good 6-8 inches of growth since I put it in. The photo at the top fo the page is the most recent.

This was right after install, and before the neighbor's dog took out a few trying to dig under the fence (eye roll emoji)