It took a lot of work to dig out all the roots (I’m sure we missed plenty,) and then extend the bed another two feet, pulling up the sod. I took my son’s advice; on paper a six foot wide garden looked great – it duplicated the dimensions of the porch very geometrically. But he noticed as I began to cut it out that it allowed for very little walking space before the hill sloped off. (Sometimes we need to be humble and accept the advice of chronic nay-sayers, because occasionally they’re right. It is also important to let the children have some say in the work they are forced to be involved with – it becomes more of their project that way, and they often end up enjoying themselves when Mom asks their advice and takes it.) It was actually fun digging up the sod, because we got a good system – one would use the shovel to cut along the base of the roots, and the other would roll it up like a carpet! They enjoyed that. (We then shook off the dirt so as to not waste good Bucks County soil.)
Have any of you ever had a garden that was completely over-run, but was just too visible to mow down and give up on? As you may have read in Part 1 or Part 1 1/2, the front of our house is just such a garden. First, everything had to be pulled out (except the rhodies). I wanted to get ALL the roots of the grasses and the failed groundcover out, in order to start fresh. I had tried sweet woodruff, which I love – so pretty and fragrant, and it stays green until long into winter – but it simply is not dense enough to discourage weeds. In fact, they've gotten along quite famously. So out came my former ground cover attempts - the sweet woodruff, the black plastic, the large chunks of pine bark mulch - along with weeds - grass, galisonga, and greater celandine, among others. I dug up all the hosta, intending to return a portion of it and move the rest to another bed. I didn’t have the heart to trash my sickly azaleas, so I moved them to the north side of the house (the next garden that needs revisiting! But that will wait until spring). It took a lot of work to dig out all the roots (I’m sure we missed plenty,) and then extend the bed another two feet, pulling up the sod. I took my son’s advice; on paper a six foot wide garden looked great – it duplicated the dimensions of the porch very geometrically. But he noticed as I began to cut it out that it allowed for very little walking space before the hill sloped off. (Sometimes we need to be humble and accept the advice of chronic nay-sayers, because occasionally they’re right. It is also important to let the children have some say in the work they are forced to be involved with – it becomes more of their project that way, and they often end up enjoying themselves when Mom asks their advice and takes it.) It was actually fun digging up the sod, because we got a good system – one would use the shovel to cut along the base of the roots, and the other would roll it up like a carpet! They enjoyed that. (We then shook off the dirt so as to not waste good Bucks County soil.) The next step was to cut the edge for the edging and insert it. A wise old landscaper suggested I nail the edging into the dirt with really long nails, to prevent it from heaving with the frost. Good idea, and fun, too. Angela became the expert hammerer. So we had a bit of a system: Teresa and Christina got the ditch ready, I held the formerly tightly-rolled lining in the desired position, and Angela hammered. This took several hours’ work, so the actual planting had to wait for another day. When all this was done, everyone got a candy cane! (Yes, well, we hardly eat candy in our house, and a package of Christmas candy canes can last a few years! They are a treat indeed.)
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWelcome to Growing Goodness! This website is dedicated to growing good things, both plants and children. It's a gardening blog with maternal overtones, as I discuss the goodness and value of plants, both wild and domestic. In the process I hope to help you pass a love of nature on to your children. Happy Gardening! Archives
August 2011
Categories
All
|