My New Garden Plot, Part 2
| I've proceeding as far as I can on the first plot,
which is against my neighbor's house. I'm now trying to decide what
I should do about my neighbor's run-off. They don't have gutters on
my side, so the rain would fall directly onto some of my plants. You
might notice all the dirt on their brick. That is from the rain
splashing.
In the pictures, you might be able to see what I've planted. From
back to front: Silver Lace Vine, Oakleaf Hydrangea, Boxleaf
Euonymus, and a Purple Passion Nandina. The bed is lined with Silver
Dragon Grass. |
Garden Plot 1
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| Until I made some decisions, I've decided to move to
the back yard. The basic plan is from 'Home Landscaping - Southeast
Region' by Roger Holmes and Rita Buchanan - page 52. The only
changes made to the plan are to replace the bedding plants with miniature
roses. |
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Day One - Monday, May 13th, 2002
| The first day consisted of marking the
area to plant. A trough was made, so the boundaries were easily
identified. Some digging took place, but not too much. Worked for
about a hour. |
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Day Two - Wednesday, May 15th, 2002
| It was too windy to go sailing, so it was
time to dig up all the grass. The types of soil varied from packed
clay, to sandy, back to packed clay. Apparently, the bricklayers
leave quite a bit of sand behind. Worked about two hours. |
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Day Three - Thursday, May 16th, 2002
| After working late, I drove to Shawnee to make some
purchases. Zina, whom I work with, found me some GREAT buys. At
Atwoods, she found the rain barrel I was looking for, at a great
price. On the internet,
with shipping, the barrel would cost over $70, she found it $27! I
will need to add a mosquito net on the top.
I'm using the barrel to collect rain water and to assist with
run-off. The back yard floods every time it rains. The neighbor's
house contributes to this problem.
Next, Zina found a K-Mart in Shawnee with the humus I wanted. It
is Hyponex
Organic Humus, for the price of $1.60. Plus, each bag has a
rebate of .80 cents. I was buying Scott's 3-in-1 compost mix for
$3.20 a bag. A huge savings in the long run. I'll probably add some
old mulch to add some bulk. |
Used Greek Pepper Barrel from Atwoods
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Day Four - Friday, May 17th, 2002
| The best laid plans of mice and men ....
Well, it rained last night and flooded my entire plot. Since it
is mostly clay, I'm not sure how long it will take to dry. At least
I plugged up the downspout, so it could have been worse. I took
the day off to work in the garden, but I guess I will drive around
looking for plants and ideas. I'm having a problem finding a
smokebush that I like, and I'm not sure what evergreen I'm going to
plant. Oh, well. |
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I couldn't wait for the water to evaporate, so I got
a bucket and drained my little pond. Lots of work, but it needed to
be done. |
Day Five - Saturday, May 18th, 2002
| I spent the majority of the
day buying plants and soil amendments. With just a fork, it
took a while to get the soil ready. I also set-up the water-barrel,
per instructions I found on the internet. If you want them, I will
email them to you. |
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Day Six - Sunday, May 19th, 2002
| Early in the morning, Ty came over and
helped me install a lattice against my wall. It is for the climbing
rose. Then, it was time to put in the plants. What do you think? The
plants on the side will be purchased on put in on Monday night. |
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Day Seven - Monday, May 20th, 2002
| All done. I bought plants that can be
shaped for the side of the house. Since it won't be visited often, I
thought adding some things with visual interest would be helpful. |
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I will put in the drip-sprinkler system in a couple of weeks. The
plants probably need to be hand-watered for a while. Also, the lights will
be added once I have a clear picture on how the whole yard will look. I
only made a few changes. Didn't have room for the daylilies, and the side
didn't end up as I had envisioned - but I still like it.
The two things I will do next time is have a much clear vision of what
plants go where, and buy enough soil amendments (humus, mulch, peat, etc).
I made a large number of trips to TLC and Lowe's.
Day Eight - Wednesday, June 5th, 2002
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