"How I Spent My Summer Vacation"

The vacation days I took last week were devoted to the flower bed near the 1972 portion of the house. As you recall, the evergreen bushes that formerly occupied this area were victims of the severe winter so we had to take them out this spring. Their loss left me with a 26' x 19' x 5' space to fill.

Here's the "before." The beds were outlined and segmented by railroad ties. One bed was full of vinca which I have since relocated.

Each of the segments contained a different type of decorative rock. I found enough river rock on the east side to make a nice bed of it on the south side of the barn. The lava rock and the tiny white rocks that were in the south side were removed and taken by the wheelbarrow-full to their new home on the north side of the barn. I should have counted how many hours I spent pulling this rock out! Exhausting!

Poor barn! We hope to turn some attention to this side sometime this summer. We need to do a better job of arranging the odds-n-ends that act as weather-proofing.

Scott thought it would be a struggle to lift out the railroad ties but their age was in our favor and they crumbled when nudged.

The Ranger hauled the old ties down to the brush pile behind the barn.

Once the beds were cleared of timbers and rocks (mostly,) Scott spent a lot of time grading the soil. It is now properly sloped away from the house.

I made two trips to Home Depot Saturday to get plants. Most of these are perennials so should produce colorful flowers each year. I also kept the colors in mind so that Kathleen can use them for the wedding.

The plants include: Wand Flower, Cosmos, Coreopsis, and Cat Mint in addition to Star Aster and Angelonia. That little picture of my legs lets you know that I wasn't messing around . . . I was working hard - and I've got the cuts, scrapes, bites, and bruises to prove it!

Finally, by 7 Sunday night, all the plants were in and a nice layer of brown mulch was in place. I'm pretty proud of all the work and I think the result will be fabulous (as long as I remember to water and the deer read the plant tags that clearly state, "deer resistant."

Stay Tuned for Our Next Adventure!