I just can't stop myself

Despite the best advice from my mom, Kronk, Ali, and every other gardener who's ever bought a home, I'm progressing with yard puttering and flowerbeds. That's right. We've tamed the lawn and I feel compelled to start mucking about with the perennial beds.

No one ever said I was very bright.

Now. Before anyone panics, least of all myself, I'm starting with the flower bed that is in the best shape and just in need of a small makeover. I've been looking at this spot for weeks now and have done numerous sketches, watched and calculated the amount of sun this bed gets and researched the plants and their living conditions. With shovel and rake in hand, I spent the last three days playing in the dirt.

Step One

I grabbed the garden hose and laid out the new border of the bed. The original bed went from corner to corner of the small triangular section, but I wanted something a little bigger and a scalloped edge seemed much harder to mow than a wide, gentle curve.

The soil here hasn't been worked in years and is very sandy. I decided that since I don't have a compost pile yet, that I'd pick up a bag of peat moss and some compost from Martin's Farm and start building up my soil.

Step Two

I picked up my brick of peat, a 60 foot roll of black plastic edging, eight metal stakes to help keep the edging in place, and a bag of compost. Total cost: $43.

The original border of the garden was made up of rocks, and while I like the natural look of stone, I have to keep in mind that Husband does the mowing. A nice clear black line gives him something easy to follow and clearly delineates lawn from flowerbed.

Using my trusty pointed shovel, I dug a trench about 4 inches deep that followed along the curve of the hose. I unrolled the plastic edging and let it sit for a minute or two, then dropped it into the trench. I hammered in the aluminum stakes every 4 feet or so to help keep the border in place, then filled the trench in with the dirt I removed, smoothing it out along the way. The whole process took a couple of hours and was pretty simple.

I pulled up all the rocks that formed the border of the old bed and placed them along the new edging. I figured that as long as the rocks were inside the edging, Husband still gets his nice mowing edge and I still get my natural materials. Everyone wins.


Step Three

This is where the real fun began. Although I had sketched out several ideas for where stuff would go, I'm really more of a hands on person. I like to be able to see it in front of me and move it around as necessary. I take this approach with many things, such as my soil.

I know there are mathematical ways to calculate how much organic matter per square foot plus compost divided by the hypotenuse of nutrients your soil should have. Whatever. I say, a gardener knows good soil structure when she sees and feels it. Sure I my be low on potassium, but that's what the soil lab is for. In the meantime, I can start working my sand into something.

I pine for the soil in my old veggie garden... like chocolate cake it was so light and rich and crumbly. That took years to build, and so will this. I can be patient.

I dug up the top 4 or 5 inches of a section of the new bed and tossed it into the wheelbarrow. I added several big shovels full of peat moss and of compost. I mixed this all together like I was making bread dough and added more peat or more compost as it felt necessary. When it reached a consistency that felt right, I shoveled it all back into the bed. Are the more mathematically inclined shaking their heads at me? Are there soil scientists pinching the bridge of their collective noses in frustration at my methods? Probably, but this is my garden and this method of soil amendment has worked well for me in the past.

The first plant to get a new home was the mint. It had escaped from the original bed and had begun its walkabout of the yard as mint is want to do. I love the smell of mint, but I harbor no illusions that this herb probably belongs in the Weed of the Day section of my blog. Mrs T, my new gardening buddy at the store, actually cringed when I told her I had mint. Ali over at Henboggle has a mint that she'll need to nuke from orbit if she ever wants to get rid of it. Where could I put it that it wouldn't bug anybody?

Enter the dog.

Muttley loves a good dog wallow. His preferred spots are usually in flowerbeds, under a shady, non-prickly bush. It makes me crazy. That's when the bolt of inspiration whacked me over the head. What if I stuck the mint in his current favorite wallow, on the far end of the bed? There's a big shrub between it and the rest of the plants and it can fight with the dog for dominance. It's right near the pool gate, so we can brush past it on our way to and from a swim plus let's not underestimate the added bonus of a minty fresh dog. I don't know if my plan will work, but I dug up the wandering mint and stuck it in it's new home at the end of the bed.

The next plant under scrutiny was the lavender. The last time I had lavender, my garden was in a very wet area. Lavender prefers to have good drainage. Needless to say, mine didn't do so well. The lavender in this bed, however, is big and thriving. I liked the location, so I decided to leave it alone. I pruned off the dead bits, raked the old leaves out from under it and called it good.

The bellflowers were also doing well where they were. Not too tall, not too short, these lovely purple flowers were deemed Fine-Where-They-Are and left me options for things to put in front of them as well as behind. They received a deadheading and were left alone.

I moved on to the iris and the geraniums. Both had been left to their own devices for so long they sort of looked like drunks leaving a party; all over the place with no sense to their pattern. One group of iris was quietly minding its own business over by the lavender. I call these the nerd iris. They were obviously too busy studying to join any plants-gone-wild foolishness. I dug up the party iris and a random blob of geranium and decided to stick them over on the other side of the shrub. They'll get plenty of sun in the afternoon and they help tie the two ends of the bed together.

Now, it's back to my day job. There are two holes which need to be filled and I've got some great ideas for what to do with those spaces, but that's a project for next week.