Would you believe it was 60 degrees at my house yesterday? In January? The daffodils are popping up all around the neighborhood and the street in front of my house was packed with walkers in short sleeved tee-shirts. How can that be? What happened to the rain, wind and crappy weather?
Well who cares, right ? I have a garden to plant! 🙂 🙂 🙂
Yesterday, I started to re-work the rock path alongside our house. When we first moved here I had all these grand plans of yanking out the river rocks and installing a mulched walkway with a brick border. And then I realized it would cost me about $500 to do that {not to mention all the blood, sweat, and tears}.
And with last Sundays impromptu planting of the arborvitae hedge, I decided I didn’t really need to go all out and install a totally new border… the old one would just fine with a little tweaking and a fresh load of pea gravel {which I’ll lay once I finish the border}.
And for those of you who are worried I planted the arborvitae hedge too close to the house… it’s hard to tell from the pictures but the hedge actually sits about 3 1/2 feet away from the house. My goal is to have the hedge grow 6 feet tall to conceal the utility boxes from the road. and still have a 18 inch path between the hedge and the house for any access needed for repairs.
Several other people in the neighborhood have well trimmed hedges like this and they look fantastic. Not to mention the lush, green backdrop.
I also dug up a boatload of yellow daylilies that were in the front of the house and transplanted them to the side of the house. 
I’m not a huge fan of daylilies, but hey, they were free.
Digging up the daylilies of course left me with a bunch of giant holes in the front garden bed. Over the next few weeks I plan on leveling the area, removing the lamp post that’s not really a lamp post {because it has not a lamp nor any electrical wiring} and transferring the soil to the new vegetable garden area. It will take some time, but it really needs to be done if I want a nice, cohesive look from the road.
Now, if I could just get those garden beds built soon. 🙂
Keep calm and garden on, right?
~Mavis
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Sandi Fleury says
You’re off to an awesome start, Mavis!! Funny, I was going to comment about the arborvitae being so close to the house. 😉 Good plan! Are you going to place your garden beds right over the grass or will you be placing plastic or weedblock down first? Can’t wait to see how things shape up. Great job!! It has been so wonderful out the last few days here in the Pac NW! I even played with my worms (in my composters. 😉 )
Mavis Butterfield says
Thanks Sandi. I’m going to place the beds right on top of the grass/moss. 🙂
Theresa says
Hi Mavis,
I put cardboard in my raised beds. It keeps the weeds at bay and the worms love it. I can’t believe how fast your getting things done. Your my hero!
Sue V says
i would highly recommend several layers of cardboard over the grass before you put the soil over the area for the garden beds. You will save time later and avoid the constant weeding of grass from the bed. Trust me, I learned from experience. Cardboard is cheap (free) and eco-friendly.
CathyB says
Yes, like the above comments, I recommend a layer of cardboard or a thick layer of newspaper over the grass and under the soil. It will kill the grass and keep it from growing up through the soil. It also helps break the grass down to release the nutrients.
Anastasia says
Thanks for sharing your progress! I was wondering if you will be putting the raspberries and blueberries in raised beds and how many plants you’d put in a smaller space. I was gifted about 20 raspberry plants and am trying to decide how to plan an area for them in my little backyard.
Shannon says
I think you’ve made great progress! I have one question. In the picture of the “holes in the front garden bed” it looks to me like you’re going to be leveling a hill or mound of dirt with a tree planted on top. Can you do that? We have a tree planted in our front yard in a raised cement block planter about 2′ in diameter. The uphill side is about 12″ deep and the downhill side is about 18″ deep. I would LOVE to remove the planter and level the dirt with the rest of my front yard but though it would damage the tree. Would it be ok?
Mavis Butterfield says
Hi Shannon, you are right, I am planning on leveling that area… I guess we’ll see what happens.