This is on the other side of the front porch stairs.
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| Flowerbed before |
You can see, it was an overgrown mess. That's what happens when we just put stuff there and then don't get to it over the Fall and Winter. Several of the plants we put there in containers were lost in the January freeze.
So the first thing I did was take everything out, threw away what was dead, then I cleared out as much of the weeds and grass as possible and put down cardboard (missed that picture).
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| Flowerbed after |
I put in extra timbers, along the front and rear, and locked them in place with the rebar. We had another Vitex tree (like on the other side of the stairs in the corner bed) and I put it in the ground so that we'll have the same bush on each side and we'll keep it pruned to bush size (purple flowers). The last thing to do was to fill it all up with soil and there are several bags in here. Since we had a couple of marigolds left over, I put them in too. The rest is empty for now.
Our main goal is to get them built and filled with soil now so they are ready for plantings. Then we can buy small plants and/or seeds later and let them fill in.
It's hard to tell in this picture but this bed stops about 18" from the water faucet/main water valve shut off to the house. The timbers will ultimately run the full length of the front of the house including the water faucet area but the soil parts of the bed will stop and start on each side of the faucet. My next project will be to keep going and get the faucet area cleaned up and filled with gravel, then start on the flowerbeds further down from there.
It just time and labor, right?
Now if the weather will just cooperate!
You are really fixing that up nice and once all filled in with lovely flowers that will make for a very lovely entrance to the front door.
ReplyDeleteNow, for that tied up Vitex tree; that twine will cut into the bark of the tree. Cut yourself a piece of the run over garden hose you have and run the twine or something a bit heavier and something that won't break as easy and rub it through the rubber hose so that it's wrapped around the tree in place of the twine. The twine will rot and eventually break after a short period of time.
You don't want to ruin the trunk of that tree.
Thanks, it's all about curb appeal, even if the curb is 1/4 mile up the driveway, ha.
DeleteThe twine is only on for the week, the soil was still soft and we were expecting the heavy rains and I didn't want it to fall over. It should come off this weekend. :-)
Wow, what a transformation.
ReplyDeletexx
Aww, thanks for that. It's work but I enjoy every moment of it (well, some more than others, ha)
DeleteWhere is everybody today? I love what you did. Seeing this progress, even just a bit at a time, inspires me to work on our little hideaway. Keep it up, you are encouraging others you don't even know about!
ReplyDeleteMonica
It has been a lite comment day? Weird. Hope I'm not boring anyone. And what a sweet thing to say that we inspire others. If someone even gets a moment of inspiration to either plant something or redo a room or cook a meal or just get out and enjoy the beauty around us, then we feel like mission accomplished.
DeleteWow, what an amazing transformation! Looking really good!
ReplyDeleteThanks!! More to come this weekend, looks like we have a beauty coming!!!
DeleteI love the work you're doing. We're doing a lot of work around our home/property and it is such an inspiration to come here and see what you're doing. Beautiful work and a beautiful home.
ReplyDeleteAww, thanks for that. It lifts us up and keeps us going when we hear stuff like that. Thank you so much. It still needs lots of work but we try to make the best use of time and resources. Doesn't always work but we try. :-)
DeleteCome back and visit!!
It is looking awesome! Is there a way to add a photo album to your blog; it would be fun to look through all the pictures you've taken over time.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good idea. I'll have to work on that sometime. I have thousands of photos to sort through, would be nice to find some before during and after, ha.
DeleteOne planting bed at a time! I love seeing all the progress. I have a bed lined with timber near my front porch. Sadly my timbers have begun to rot and I am pulling them out and going to replace them with stone. I also need to replenish the river gravel mulch in the same bed.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure how long these will last but I tried to make it so they could be easily replaced. We'll see in time I guess, ha. Thanks for stopping by, missed ya!!!
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