I have just planted a Japanese Maple (Bloodgood) in a pre-existing planting bed in my front yard. The tree is about 6 feet high, with a diameter of about 46 inches. It is sitting in the approximate center of a bare patch of ground (old planting bed for now-dead birch trees) which is a quarter-circle with a diameter of just over 9 feet. The little thing looks ludicrous there. I would like to reduce the size of the bed to a circle of appropriate diameter and sow grass in the rest of the space. When I ask nursery people they talk to me about drip lines, not having competing plants, etc., but won't be specific. And trying to look this up on Internet or these forums just yields too many irrelevant items. I have no experience with these sorts of things, but can't afford to pay a landscaper in the current economy.
There is urgency in that I am trying to put the property in shape to be sold and so would like to plant grass ASAP to improve the aesthetics. Can someone please suggest what I should do?
Thanks.