Week 9 - New Garden Beds

Enough fooling around, it was time to get those plants I dug up to make room for the giant photinia (that story is here) back into the ground!  They need full sun and I was all out of full sun areas, so I made two new garden beds.

 

Do you think I should try to plant grass in the in between areas again?  I like having grass under the kids' swing.  Hmmm?

This was an area of dead grass and weeds.  I sprayed it and then covered it with cardboard.  I was waiting to get some compost, but couldn't wait any longer, so I planted the pants in tiny little mounds of soil, with nothing in between them.  It was about a week before I filled the area in with compost.  I can't believe I didn't take pictures.  Really, I swear I did, but I can't find them anywhere.  I can only imagine what people thought when they drove by and saw my cardboard, half dead plants and yellow grass.  Too funny.

This was a few weeks ago.  The picture actually makes it look a lot better than it was.  That's not grass, it's all weeds!

Behind that big moppy grass (above) is a big bushy thing of sage that I planted a few years ago.
Honestly, I do really use it as an herb, but I do like the plant.  It's perennial, it has nice flowers, and
 it fills out without going crazy like the damn mint.  Lol.  And it's a tough spot.  I've tried a bunch of other things in that long bed and I usually end up moving them somewhere else.

 My neighbors were sad to see the turquoise bench go, but it was falling apart and had to be 

replaced.  This area is all put back together.  I moved two of the bamboos into the spot where 

a lot of the plants above had been.

I am still bummed that we planted (clumping) bamboo years ago.  We should have just planted photinia! 

 Or any other evergreen hedge.  This stuff is so S-L-O-W!  And it was not cheap.  :(

The photinia got a much needed pruning and I staked it to itself in a two spots.  Behind the bench you can see my canna are starting to come up.  I planted a new variety this year that I'm so excited about!!

I still need to fill the flower pots.  Oops!

Don't you worry, I only paid $1 for these in the fall.  Best time to buy!!

 Our gnome relocated himself so he could be closer to a mushroom that sprouted up 

from a yard sale last week.

  The porch misses him.

Have I told you about the plant on the right of the porch (above)?  I searched high and low for the perfect plant to cover my water meter and even though I had never heard of it, I knew I was going to like Cotoneaster Franchetti.  It's evergreen (which was a must-have), gets berries in the fall and flowers in the spring.  And it's purdy!

Here's more of a peek at the deck railings.  This is garden #7 of my map and I love it.  It was one of the first ones I planted.  The double windows are my office and there's a single window blocked by the chimney, which is the family room.  The view from these windows used to be T-E-R-R-I-B-L-E and for the first year I always dreamed of having something pretty to look at out there.  Tada!  My lamb's ear are crazy, I know.  My kids love them and they're right next to the sandbox. 

FYI - The rain barrel isn't supposed to be that far from the house, I just had to move it while I was working on the deck.

That's if for this week... see you next week!

Thanks for stopping by,
          Smart Girl

If you need to catch up, check out these older posts:
April

• Week 1 - A Still Sleepy Garden
• Week 2 - Looking Forward to Some Nectarines
• Week 3 - Cute Little Garden Helpers
• Week 4 - Getting to Work

May 

• Week 5 - Planting Gladiolus 
• Week 6 - Rainy Days in the Garden
• Week 7 - A Garden by Garden Tour
• Week 8 - Peonies Please!