General Discussions > Nature and Pastimes

Third garden

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Oldandcreaky:
Thanks for the replies. Today, a pallet of granite cobbles are being delivered. They'll border the beds that abut the front of the house. Carpenters will start to build a portico on the front of the house, so between the portico and beds, the house's face is getting some major surgery!* First, I'll amend the soil. Then I'll lay a rope on the ground to guide my digging. Then I'll dig a trench following the rope, put sand in the bottom to seat the cobbles, and use topsoil on the sides of the topsoil to make them secure. Tomorrow, I'll go fetch some enriching mulch and then I'll slowly add plants. I'm thinking of irises for the early summer and delphiniums for later. There are already azaleas for the spring and rhodies too. I've four Japanese maples too in these front beds, which are de facto flowering plants, as they're as colorful as flowering trees and bushes.

*I also just had the house reshingled in gray and had new windows installed too. The windows are wood, but clad in fiberglass on the outside, so I'm all set to go deep into my dotage without much upkeep needed.

Oldandcreaky:
I have achieved so much in my garden. I live in New England, so it's a four season garden, as pretty in the winter as it is in summer. I've planted more than a hundred evergreens and dozens of trees and bushes with beautiful bark. I begin my mornings watching what I call Bird TV, for I sit at the window and watch the woodpeckers (hairy, downy, and red-bellied), crows, chickadees, blue jays, nuthatches, titmice, mourning doves, and sparrows feed. The hummingbirds and finches are gone for the winter, but when they return, there will be dozens of them feeding at a time. There are also gray and red squirrels and chipmunks.

One day I'll post a photo, but a garden needs years to reveal its glory. My big surprise was my delphiniums. I was able to provoke their blooming from early summer until now. Yeah, they're still blooming in mid-November in New England. Amazing. And some of them bloom in blue, which is the rarest color and thus the most treasured.

I pulled my petunias yesterday. I have seven wave petunia beds and anyone who's grown them knows they grow and grow and grow. I'll install flower boxes next spring. I also created two mounded beds and built five, raised, hemlock beds for veggies, berries, and herbs. The biggest challenge in building raised, wooden beds is filling them. They're four feet high, so they take tons and tons and tons of soil. I managed to fill three this fall and will do the final two next spring. My centerpiece is a 60-foot flagstone path, lined by boxwoods.

I've done 99.5% of the work myself, unlike the rich women in the neighborhood who hire people to design and build "their" gardens. The only thing I can't do is place the boulders, which require excavators and tractors.

Jessica_Rose:
I'm jealous! Creating a beautiful garden should be a labor of love. It's hard work and you're never really 'done', but being able to relax in the garden you designed and built provides such a wonderful sense of accomplishment. Maybe one day you can post a few photos. For now your description allows me to imagine how beautiful it is, an appropriate reflection of your soul...

Love always -- Jessica Rose

Oldandcreaky:
Thanks, Jessica Rose!

Karen_A:

--- Quote from: Oldandcreaky on May 19, 2021, 06:02:17 am ---Carpenters will start to build a portico on the front of the house, so between the portico and beds, the house's face is getting some major surgery!*
<snip>
*I also just had the house reshingled in gray and had new windows installed too. The windows are wood, but clad in fiberglass on the outside, so I'm all set to go deep into my dotage without much upkeep needed.

--- End quote ---

IIRC correctly you live in New England.. How was getting contractors (with price and availability)?

 I live a bit outside of Boston and my house needs a lot of work inside and out... I was planning to start it when covid hit, then the resulting material shortages and all the decent contractors getting booked up, and of course inflation is still raging...

Some of the the things I need done can't wait too much longer, but I am worried about prices and contractor availability... I keep hoping things start cooling down... (or I win the lottery! ;) )

-Karen

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