Planting and garden beds in South Portland, Maine.
A foundation bed in South Portland is often the most visible piece of landscape on the lot. Neighborhoods like Willard, Pleasantdale and Meetinghouse Hill were zoned for 6,000-square-foot lots, so the bed between the house and the sidewalk is what the street sees. The city also limits what can grow there: under its tree and vegetation ordinances, plantings within 30 feet of an intersection are held to three feet tall to keep sight lines open, and vegetation that encroaches on a road or sidewalk has to be trimmed within 48 hours of notice.
Choosing plants for organic-only care
The Landcare Management Ordinance keeps synthetic pesticides off gardens and landscaped areas. That favors plants with few pest problems: native shrubs, tough perennials and groundcovers that close over bare soil. The city itself is planting natives along the shoreline of the Hinckley Park ponds, which the comprehensive plan says have had harmful algal blooms caused in part by soil erosion, while it checks whether runoff and fertilizer upstream are adding phosphorus.
Nothing, organic or otherwise, may be applied within 75 feet of a water body or wetland. A bed along Trout Brook, Kimball Brook or a salt marsh edge is built with compost worked into the soil at planting and then left to mulch and plant cover. Kimball Brook alone runs about 1.7 miles through a utility corridor, low-density housing and the Hinckley Park ponds, so a good number of back yards in that part of the city sit inside that buffer.
Sand on the terraces, silt in the low spots
Windsor loamy sand, the city's most common soil, is described in the plan as strongly acidic, loamy sand in the top 53 centimeters over loose sand. Beds on it dry out fast and need organic matter and mulch to hold moisture. Scantic silt loam, the second most common, holds water well, and in its wetter spots, shrubs that tolerate wet feet do better than anything that needs sharp drainage.
Our beds are finished with clean-edged mulch and matched to the site, from a single strip along a foundation to a full front yard. Where a bed sits under oak, apple or cherry, it is worth knowing that browntail moth and winter moth both feed on those hardwoods in South Portland, and the city tracks both.
Plantings · Mulch · Garden Design
How we handle planting & garden beds
We build planting beds that look better every year — hardy perennials and shrubs matched to your site, finished with clean-edged mulch and stone accents. From single foundation beds to full hillside plantings.
See the full planting & garden beds service page or everything we do in South Portland, Maine.
Planting & Garden Beds in nearby towns
- Planting & Garden Beds in Portland
- Planting & Garden Beds in Cape Elizabeth
- Planting & Garden Beds in Scarborough
- Planting & Garden Beds in Falmouth
- Planting & Garden Beds in Westbrook
More services in South Portland
- Hardscaping in South Portland
- Retaining Walls in South Portland
- Landscaping in South Portland
- Landscape Design in South Portland
- Hydroseeding, Sod & Turf in South Portland
- Lawn Aeration & Overseeding in South Portland
- Fall Cleanup & Leaf Removal in South Portland
- Commercial Mowing & Cleanups in South Portland
- Excavation & Land Clearing in South Portland
- Septic Systems in South Portland
- Tree & Shrub Services in South Portland
- Tree Removal in South Portland
Sources for the local facts on this page
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