One of the things we decided when doing the re-landscape work out front is that we didn’t need them do to the planting for us. Fact is, we enjoy building a garden. We are also quite capable of doing it, as I think we’ve demonstrated, and so the idea of paying for the time, not to mention the mark-up on the plants, for someone else to do it struck us as silly.
That’s why we salvaged as many plants as we could from the old garden. And why Katherine and I were out digging stuff up today.
The new garden provides a few new added twists. Before, it was a matter of “find a gap, figure out if it will interfere with a sprinkler, make some broad aesthetic judgment about if it will Look Good There, dig a hole, plunk it in.
Now …
- The beds all have a layer of weed-block fabric under them. That’s net-net a good thing, but, but it makes planting a bitch. So we’re cutting out the weed-block in the full areas we’re doing planting in. There’s plenty of mulch, and I like to plant bulbs.
- There’s plenty of mulch. By which I mean inches of it. And I can’t just toss it hither and thither while planting. So I’m having to move it all onto tarps, do all the planting (after cutting out the weed-block), then shovel it all back. All the while not getting dirt and mulch onto the rocky swales, which are also quite attractive. It makes it all, logistically, much more of a pain.
- Oh, there’s a drip system. This is a Good Thing, water-wise, but it does mean that each plant (or most of them) need a tie to the water line. And where I have multiple plants in an area, deciding which ones get their own line, and which share, and what the flow rate should be, etc.
- I’m planting from the scavenged plants, but I may very well have “holes” in the collection that need to be purchased in the spring. Planning and plotting for that is added work.
All of which adds up to a longer effort than usual to get things put in. I got two “zones” done up, though, and it makes the yard look a lot less stark. I will try to get a picture taken, once the sun is back. I hope I’m able to get more done tomorrow, but the weather is sounding dicey.
Most of the big roses I saved are in pretty rocky shape, but I chopped them back substantially, and hopefully there’s enough of their root system from my excavations that they (and the other plants) survive and “start over” And, if not, I’ve now placed a “marker” for next spring.
All the plants I got put in got a shot of Miracle-Gro to hopefully get them established before winter sets in. Good Lord, it’s already October.
I also have a few sprinkler heads in the remaining lawn to realign or replace. We’re pleased with the remaining swathe of grass in front — it’s more than a path, less than a lawn, and quite manageable.
Katherine was a lot of help. She was both interested in helping (since her friends up the street were away), and actually net saved me time and effort. Yay! I used her for a lot of go-fer work, but I also tried to let her do some things, or consult on some items to give her some pride of ownership. I think it worked.
Long day of work in the yard (following Margie’s strategic error of letting me go to Home Depot on my own), but a good day nonetheless.