One Week

After 5 days away from the house, I'm pleased to report everything seems to be settling into the new bed (but I'm sure it's been easy for them with all of the rain and mild weather we've been having).... with maybe the exception of one of the miniature daylilies. The sunflower seeds and the dahlias are already sprouting (yay!). I also threw in some "chinese lantern" seeds last week... Hope they do well. It seems like a really neat perennial... but no sign of them yet. All of the annuals Mom and I added last week seem happy... I just need to add some mulch, I think!

Big Day!

I can't believe it! After many long hours in the sun today..... and one "coffee break" while it rained...... the flower bed was completely transformed today! I spent most of the morning buying and delivering thousands (literally!) of pounds of "good soil": 30 (40 #) bags of top soil, 6 (50 #) bags of sand, 13 (40 #) bags of compost and "fertilizer", and 5 bags of pine bark mulch...... luckily my mom was here to help me mix and spread out everything.




Then we walked around the house scavenging plants.... I'm trying to stick with oranges and reds with little splashes of yellows and purples and white. We found some "heavenly bamboo" nandina, ginger, day lilies, african irises, rosemary, black eyed susans, and an angel trumpet..... The only "bought" plants (so far) are a swamp mallow, a shasta daisy, a "mouse ear" coreopsis, a miniature azalea, and some "bulb" caladium and dahlia. I also threw in two packets of sunflower seeds.... I'll probably buy a couple more shasta daisies...and a pineapple sage or two... and some annuals of some sort for the front of the bed.....

I still can't believe how much was accomplished today! Thanks Ma!

The ever expanding project

Well.... I've spent quite a few hours this week digging. And digging. And digging. I now lovingly refer to my new flower bed as "the lap pool". Unbelievably, I think I have another hour or two of digging to do! But I'm proud to report no "cable" casualties (knock on wood...) and only one "why in the world did you not put on any sunscreen?" from John. After the "big dig", I guess the next step is hauling in a BUNCH of "good dirt"..... But, after that, the fun begins.

Motivated by Lori's suggestion, I've decided to extend the flower bed a bit behind the pond. Not all the way around the pond this year, but it's a good start, I think. The length of my goliath project will be somewhere around 24 feet..... It's raining again today unfortunately... but maybe this weekend I'll wrap up the excavation phase. And besides, I was supposed to be preparing for a neighborhood garage sale that starts tomorrow at 7 am! Nothing like procrastination!

Oh No - or should I say SNAP!

Cold snap that is! I finally got all my baby plants into my bed, and it's supposed to FROST tonight! I covered them all up - lets hope for the best. They are right up against the kitchen windows, so hopefully their inefficiency will keep my babies warm!

Where's jill?

Wow....I'm feeling behind. You're gardens look great - and you've done so much work. This is what I had originally planned on doing:
Mark hates mowing around all those roots so I was going to do a big bed around that front gumball tree. I may still, if I happen to get a big envie to plant. Otherwise - hopefully I'll come in strong in the 2nd half of the contest - from my new house. :)

Our (blog) spin-off??

So.... if Jill's NHS 89 blog is "Happy Days"..... does that mean this one is "Laverne and Shirley"?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mVKUpT4g5k

How to win bird friends and influence neighbors....

Yesterday I spent most of my "free" day sans CJ digging in the dirt.... Well, I think "dirt" may not be quite the right term-- more like "water-logged, back-breaking, how-in-the-world-it-sustains-any-life clay". The fun thing, though, was I got to make friends with a few of my bird neighbors. Funny how it may be easiest to make new friends through their stomachs.... A pair of robins kept me entertained by frequenting my new "fast food drive-thru" excavation, ridding it of any unearthed grubs and worms.....

I also found it humorous that I had a pair of "supervisors" all day in the form of my maple tree, "Mr. Barkley", and my dog, Chewy.

The unfortunate thing I've discovered, though, is there are a few TV cables that run straight through the bed..... something I realized after I had sliced through a bit of our own TV cable insulation with the shovel... Oh, well, I've found another use for "duct tape"! But I decided to be a little more careful the rest of the day... knowing how many placating dinners I'd have to cook for the neighbors if I sliced through THEIR cable line....

After hours earth-moving, I've also come to the conclusion my bed might be a little ambitious.... But I did make progress.... probably an area of 7 feet by 4 feet.... which is only about half of the size of the flower bed I intended to make..... I'll keep on (carefully) digging, though.... as soon as the latest weather front moves through.... and resaturates the clay for me!

Lori's Garden Update

Well I got a lot done on Monday. I wasn't supposed to be off, but we wound up taking our 14 1/2 yr old dog Bandit on the "big car ride" to the vet. So I have now decided this will be Bandit's memorial garden.

I put in some more plants - 2 calla lillies, an orange bird of paradise, and some smaller colorful plants. I also put in the garden stones. What do ya think????

Lori - Week 1

I started working on my garden today......attached is a photo of what I started with.

I began by purchasing the two hibiscus shrubs at $15 each - I decided they should flank each side of the bed. This weekend I dug out the bed area, and refilled it with 2 bags of soil. The area was
full of 2 things: clay, and construction debris (including nails and all of the broken glass from Katrina). A photo is attached.

I still have to plan the rest of the plantings - since we don't "finish" until July 4th - I am considering doing some things from seeds....what do you think??

Stephanie's garden area

The Plan:
To do a good sized bed around the 3 crepe myrtle trees... and maybe hide the ugly fence with some tall flowers and bushes......

Let the games begin

And awaaay we go!

This is Lori's before picture...