We have a lot of re-grading to do to bring the house up out of the ground (at some point someone back-filled the yard too deep against the house and the moisture has started rotting the sill plates of the exterior walls). Because of all of this work we had pretty much resigned ourselves to the fact that we wouldn't really have any gardens this year. However, sometimes things take an unplanned turn that makes for a nice surprise.
A few weeks ago Mike asked me to move some hostas that were going to be in the way of some excavation work. The only place that was available was a spot under the trees at the front of our property that had been used as an area for dumping some of the excess soil.
So one afternoon the girls and I headed outside to tackle the task. Maia manned the rake for a short time until she gave up and relegated herself to the position of wheelbarrow and tool manager. Ran was content to pick rocks and provide snacks (a delicious combination of gold fish crackers and granola bars ... mmmmm!)
This is what we started with (my FB friends will have already seen the first two pictures) ...
and by the end of the afternoon we had this ... we were so pleased with the results.
The garden is now filled with several mature hostas, periwinkle, lily of the valley, ferns, astilbe and moss. Everything was reclaimed from somewhere else on our property except for the ferns, which our neighbour gave us and six small moss plants which I bought.
To take things one step further I have been adding some rock over the last week. The bed is now outlined with a beach rock border (the rocks were recovered from under the cottage last summer when we had our crawl space dug out). I have also laid a flag stone path in the clearing that cuts through the trees at the front of the yard.
While a garden was not part of the plan for this year it sure is nice to have at least one patch of pretty out in the yard.
It looks fabulous sis!
ReplyDeleteWOW! You have done a beautiful job!
ReplyDelete