I spent months getting The Sunny Border carved out from the lawn, digging in compost etc. to make it ready for planting, of course while also doing the same for The Puddles. Lots of work, lots of sod to dig up, move around, lots of compost to incorporate in the soil, lots of planting and so on and so forth.
And then from Monday evening to Wednesday afternoon I do this:
How the *BLEEEEP* did that happen? And with only a few blisters? No broken back, no need to lie down for a week or visits to chiropractors?
This new flower bed is noticeably larger than The Sunny Border, and the soil in that part of the garden is every bit as heavy and clay-y as in The Sunny Border, so I’m really surprised I’ve gotten all this done in so little time. Was I really that lazy last winter/spring, since it took me so long? Or am I just getting the hang of this whole digging-malarkey?
The flower bed has a slightly odd shape; rounded in one end and cut at an angle at the other end, but though this be madness, yet there is method in’t. You see, I have a dream about continuing this flowerbed further, and intersecting it with a path that cuts through at an angle so it appears more or less as a continuous flower bed. It may or may not happen, of course, but at least there’s the possibility.
So… In went a blackcurrant bush that has been sitting mirthlessly behind the annex ever since we bought the summer house, a gooseberry that comes from The Flâneur Husband’s grandmother’s garden (and has been languishing in a far too small pot for a year and a half), those Rhapsody in Blue roses that I bought in spring but never got around to planting, the two asters I bought Monday morning and a poor hydrangea that had been sitting around in a dark, overgrown corner of the garden, just waiting to be rescued.
It turns out only 4 out of the 5 Rhapsody in Blue roses survived their miserable stay in the pot, but the 4 look healthy and strong, and the blackcurrant was rotting away at the root, so it came apart when I moved it, resulting in 3 separate plants that each have fresh root systems and look viable, so there is hope that my neglect won’t have any serious consequences.
Also, the fuchsia that I bought this spring to brighten up The Courtyard has proven to be two separate plants, so I divided them and planted them a few feet apart. They will probably need some protection over the winter to settle in, but if they make it, they make it and otherwise it was not a lot of money spent on something that flowered from I bought it ’till now!
And the two aster plants I bought in the supermarket on Monday morning? Well, I divided them into the separate plants, and each pot yielded 6 plants.They look rather puny at present, but I have confidence that next autumn these will look great.
Apart from the joy of having a new flower bed, these two days have also – finally – seen the end of the Flâneur Husband’s birthday present from his mother (a cubic meter of compost). It is great stuff, really, but I think it might have been the wrong time to get it delivered in spring. After all, than meant that I could only really use it in new beds and borders, so a lot of it has just been sitting out by the road for the entire summer, looking rather messy in a huge white fibre bag.
(Mind you, since my own composting efforts yield FAR too little organic matter to count when laying out a new flower bed, let alone three in a year, it was great to have that “bag of plenty” sitting in the drive.)
Anyway, there you are. A new flowerbed in less than 48 hours from the first digging to the final planting. (Okay, okay… The final planting is going to be whenever I can fill the gaps, and probably it will be a spring.sowing of annuals next year…) I feel terribly accomplished and efficient!
I do find it gets easier the more you dig.
Still a lot of work though!
I suppose the body needs to get used to hard physical labour, but it surprises me that after a summer of relaxation my body should be more fit for the task this autumn…
Sometimes I think what a body wants to do and what the brain wants to do are two entirely different things!
In my experience that is quite frequently the case… Still, for this new bed it seems there was no great struggle between one and the other, and the result is not only pain-free but also satisfying.
Happens to infrequently but it’s lovely when it does.
Sometimes you just feel in the mood and can get so much done and other times it is just a bit more of a struggle. I notice it when I go swimming, some nights I whizz along and feel full of energy, other times it is like dragging a sack of coal through the water.
You should feel rightly pleased with all your hard work. I have an afternoon of manure moving ahead of me, since I didn’t get to do it yesterday. Hope my back holds up.
I could have continued, if I hadn’t had to go back to town today, and maybe I will in a few weeks’ time. Perhaps… Perhaps next spring I won’t be lacking space to plant and sow things in?
I hope the back didn’t suffer too much under the weight of the manure…
That’s speed digging !!
I swear, I have no idea how I got so much done. After all, I spent most of the time having coffee while waiting for the rain to clear up.
Oh well done! Certainly removing sod is hard labor (hauling it away is the worst IMO) but what a great outcome. And you’ve planted it too. Next spring all those new/rescued plants will be like a party– I’m just waiting for some rain so I can ungrass some more ground too, and your work inspires me!
The hauling is definitely the worst… Especially because it’s getting harder and harder to find places to hide the sod away!
And yes, planted, but with plenty of room for more. It feels great to know there is actual SPACE for PLANTS!
I also find that the more time I spend laboring in the garden, the fewer aches and pains I have as we move further into the seasons. Unfortunately, winter will be here soon enough, and the cycle will start again in the spring. haha
I love getting bonus plants. I am sure that your garden is going to be fantastic. I am still trying to attract toads. I love the your idea with The Puddles, and I am trying to figure out how to do something similar in our garden.
The Puddles are just three large black plastic tubs (90 litres each – the sort used for mixing mortar or cement), dug into the ground and surrounded by lots of plants. I think even one tub would have made a difference, and if you dig it into an existing flower bed it really wouldn’t be too much of a project.
I think all gardeners should try to find some way to keep fit during winter; it can be such a shock to the body when you suddenly start digging and planting and sowing and lifting.
I don’t understand how that is possible (have you developed super-human powers??) — but congratulations!! (Want to come do some digging in Maine?)
I think I was just bored, really, and I interspersed bouts of digging with coffee breaks.
But it felt good when it was done; I just need to find some more compost to heap on the flower bed to ensure it remains at a higher level than the flooding-prone lawn around it.