My New Bed

I know it's been a while since I have blogged about anything, but give me a break . . . I've been busy. Work was crazy as always in the spring and I have been trying to get a few things done around the house. But I did finally finish one project . . . a new planter bed in my backyard. When I moved in there were a couple random small beds in the back yard, but other than that it was just not so good grass and weeds as far as the eye could see. I had to do something so I forced myself to get started on my own landscape . . . and actually doing some real landscaping and not just flower pots although I have plenty of those. I will post pictures of those later.

This was my starting point. It is an odd area of the backyard off the patio, but the gate between the porch steps and with the air conditioner. And to make things better there was a random little bed with two Arborvitaes and a Clematis in the middle. So I got started. First step was to buy the hot green marking paint so that I could mark out the bed and make sure that it was exactly where I wanted it. Yes, I know the easy way is with a garden hose, but that would not let me play with spray paint. Once I had the bed where I wanted it then came the round up. Gotta make sure that all of the grass and weeds were totally dead before I started to pull them out. Can't have grass filling it back in when I am done!! Then came the absolute brutal task of cutting out the sod by hand. It was tight spaces and not a big enough area to really use a sod cutter so the spade became my friend. OUCH!! I had blisters and my back hurt for days. Next step, was about 4" of compost. The soil was not so great so it really needed that layer of compost. Then came the planting . . . I had been thinking of what I wanted to plant for a while, then my growers didn't have everything that I wanted so I had to make some sacrifices. Anyway, the final plant list for this bed is Quick Fire Hydrangea, Knockout Rose, Allium Summer Beauty, Geranium Max Frei, Karl Foerester Grass, and then two flats of Apricot Cora Vinca (I had to have some annual flower space). In any case, that was my project for last week . . . now onto the next.