It's been more like a razed flowerbed. Last summer, I started to clear and replant the small raised flowerbed in front of Roseholme Cottage, and found myself stymied by the mechanics of getting some fresh dirt delivered. Prices were...disproportionate. Amazon didn't have what I needed and the nearby places couldn't keep it in stock for anything but in-person shopping, and they sold out quickly even at that.
I spent the height of the pandemic avoiding any in-person contact that wasn't strictly necessary and the garden wasn't. So it sat, weedy and unhappy-looking.
The weeds came back in force this year and decided I'd had enough. I'm vaccinated, the pandemic appears to be receding, and -- best of all -- the pile of chipped-stump "mulch" in the back yard has been sitting for a couple of years. The stuff at the center is pretty fair dirt.
So Sunday, I spent the afternoon weeding the raised back back to bare earth (and weed-barrier ground cloth, the existing layer of dirt having become pretty thin). Then I hauled three wagonloads of mulchy soil around from the back yard. It still needs a couple more, and probably four bags of garden soil, and then I can see about filling it up with wildflowers and maybe a few fancier ones. This keeps the bees out of trouble, too -- otherwise they like to hang out around the front porch, hoping the hostas, mint and catnip will bloom. (We have even more mint this year. It co-exists with the catnip and they're not difficult to tell apart.)
BUILDING A 1:1 BALUN
4 years ago
2 comments:
Why not try flowering shrubs instead of everfailing wildfowers which always turn to weeds? In any case you need to hustle since it's getting late in the spring planting season - or wait till Fall. Google shows there was once a big tree there, so I'd go for shallow rooted azaleas or variegated acuba which can be showy and easy. (If the soil is on the acid side that would help.)
I like wildflowers, and don't consider them a "failure" if the bed gets weedy when ignored. Also, that flowerbed is over the water supply pipe and to one side of the drain, so it will not get a tree or shrub.
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