Back in early May, Nut 2 and I worked on some gardening chores in exchange for a honking Lego Friends Cruise ship thing. She came over three times and we mostly pulled ivy and random spindly trees out of flower beds. The last gardening day we planted a flower bed.
The flower bed is in front of the house and is the former site of an oak tree. We don’t know if the tree was damaged in a hurricane or if it just got sick. We’ve seen some old photos when the tree was massive and healthy and some when the tree looks terrible. At any rate, the people who sold us the house had it removed and the stump ground. It was overrun by weeds and mushrooms.
The better-half tilled it and added composted manure and top soil:
Then Nut 2 and I planted some bulbs (a lily mix and Dutch iris) as well as some plants from Lowe’s. I don’t remember what they are called but they are all perennials and will likely clump and spread out. I can describe them as purple, violet and red/orange. How’s that for technical names? I plan on filling in with some daffodils and crocus this fall.
Finally, yesterday after work, I removed all the encroaching weeds and dug a trench around the bed with a hoe. ‘Ho on hoe action! Then I put down 11 bags of hardwood mulch. The bed looks so much better now that it has been weeded and mulched. I fully expect this bed to be something that just gets better in the coming years. Right now it is the little flower bed that could:
