Tuesday, April 27, 2010

New 'Woodland' Flowerbed

My latest 'little' project has been making a new flowerbed under this tree. These photos are from 18 months ago to show what it used to look like. Grass has never really grown here and since I made the patio, the water just rushes off the patio and down here. I made the flowerbeds either side of the path, but after all the rains last year there was virtually no top soil left so there was no chance of growing grass around the pavers.
Adam's suggestions was a series of gravel boxes to trap the water, but that didn't really fit with my vision of the garden, so I decided to move some of the dirt I had behind the fence and make the whole area into a flowerbed. Moving the dirt would also clear a space for me to make a compost heap, which is something I badly need.I imagined it would take maybe 10 barrow loads of dirt, but it was closer to 30! I also had 'help' from Leo who would dig away the fresh dirt as quickly as I laid it! It's amazing how much dirt he can move with just a few scrabbles of his paws, I would think it's at least 10 shovels fulls, and it's very annoying!
It was well worth the effort as it looked great. I bought a few plants and was all excited about planting last weekend. Then I suddenly had the brainwave that if I bought some drainage pipe I could put it under the flowerbed and it would channel the water off the patio and under the flowerbed!
Of course as the flowerbed was already made, it meant digging a big trench - 80 feet to be precise - though tree roots and through the bed, but I knew it needed to be done or else I risked my whole flowerbed being washed away.
I also had to dig up a section of my patio.
The fact that Adam is in these shots makes it seem like he did all the work! He fitted the drain for me and re-laid the pavers, but I'm too scared to ask him to dig for me in case he throws his back out again!
He had his team of 'helpers' to assist him!
There are so many carpenter bees in the yard at the moment and so the kids favorite thing is to try to hit them with tennis or badminton rackets.I finally got the pipe laid but then I was too tired to plant anything! I did that the next day and I was planning on mulching this weekend but I don't know where time went, so two weeks on and the flowerbed is still not finished. Once it's mulched I'll post pictures of the finished project. It did rain most of the night and the bed is fine, the drain got a bit blocked but it channelled a lot of the water away, so I was happy that the flowerbed will solve my drainage issues and it looks wonderful.I did get to finish the flowerbed under the bottom tree thanks to some free day lilies from my friend Jennifer. I just need a couple of azaleas in the corner and it will be perfect.

Adam and the kids burned all the old fence panels and wood so now I have a clear area for my compost bins and the yard is almost cleared up and neat. As Adam says, the yard is never done, but the landscaping part is, now in the fall we will plant soft fruit and maybe next spring I'll try vegetables!

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