Thursday, September 25, 2008

New Project


I live in an old neighbourhood where many of the houses are very close together.  Our house is on a corner so we have only one close neighbour, but that one is very close.  There is probably only about 18 feet between our house and the neighbour's screened porch, just enough to allow for passage between the houses.  The people who live next door are not gardeners, and don't mind that I use the little strip of their land -- about 4 feet wide -- to plant, and in return I keep it tidy and pretty.  But one spot has always been a problem -- the earth banked against their foundation grows a wonderful crop of weeds.  I have pretty much left it alone because it is really poor soil, and I don't have to look at it because I keep the blinds down on that side.  But now I want to improve things there, and I am beginning to plant.

I have a load of leaf mulch coming tomorrow, and I will lay down newspaper and mulch to cover the weeds and plant ground cover through the layers.  In the back garden I found two spotted ajugas (I HATE those things, but they were free!) and a forsythia (ditto) and have moved them to there, plus a PeeGee Hydrangea Tardiva.  I have also started two flats of pachysandra cuttings, and plan to use those, some golden lysimachia, and blue ajuga to plant below the shrubs.  

So, here's what it looks like now, and I will have to wait to see what will transpire!

 


Sunday, September 7, 2008

Tropical Storm Hannah

Tropical Storm Hannah came and went yesterday, leaving a whisker less than 7 inches of rain in my rain gauge, a little water in the basement, and a much refreshed garden.  Some of the pots fell over and had to be rescued and the big coleus uprooted itself,  but all told it was a non-event for us.  Tomorrow afternoon I hope I have time to get out into the back and pull out some of the ivy and myrtle around the steps, in preparation for replanting that area.