Mulching the New Garden

So after my family came to unload mulch into the new garden beds, my Mama spent the afternoon spreading it around all the plants and edging the beds.  While she worked on that, I planted some new shrubs, garden veggies, and built a small rock pathway. 

Here’s where we are now:

You can really see the outline of the beds now.  I wanted them to be curvy and interesting.  The little island we created around a sewer access pipe that we couldn’t get rid of.  The pipe is now hiding behind some bushes.

Here’s another access pipe that we still have to cut shorter.

Mama brought these rocks from her collection.  (Yes, she’s a rock hoarder! haha!)  I decided to just plop them down in the mulch so it would be a seamless bed from one side to the other.  Now it’s my favorite spot!  The gate leads into the woods and up a little hill into the English garden.  Eventually we are going to work on that area and put in some steps so you can get through a little easier.

We have a couple Adirondack chairs that go in this corner bed, but I removed them for mulching and they found their way to the deck, so we’ll see what happens with them! :)  We have some more seating plans in mind for the other beds, so we might not need the chairs down here.

In front of the fence we finished off our row of azlaleas in a zig zag pattern.

And that stick bush in the center is a crape myrtle.  Or it will be someday! :)

We now have a little bench in the corner.  It’s perfect for resting when the heat gets to be too much.  Or for family photos post workday. :)

I added three knockout roses in the large full sun bed, as well as two drift roses.  It still needs weeding behind and mulch all over, plus more plants! :)

We also got most of the bean supports up in the garden.  We used string to create a scaffold for the vines to climb.  That wonky row in front is zinnias and junior sunflowers.  I’m so excited to see them make their appearance later this summer!  Beyond that is more weeds… le sigh.

The corn is about ten inches high. :)

Tomatoes, peppers and cantaloupe are on the far left end of the garden.

Despite the heat, some of the plants we put in this month are actually blooming!  The coneflowers:

And some calla lilies that we just planted Saturday are blooming!  This bed has butterfly bushes, hostas and calla lilies right now.  Eventually I’m going to expand it and add some more plants, just not sure what yet! ;)  The other plants are looking rough.  But I’m sure they will perk back up and next year they will shine!

Another area we worked on last weekend was the middle of the hill bed.  It was full of stumps and roots (like most of the area!) but Mama kept on digging with her mattock until it was cleared.  She has an idea to put a little rock wall (more from the collection) around the tree and fill it in with soil before planting.  Sounds nice!

We are making progress, but we still need another load of mulch or two, more edging, plants and of course, some grass would be nice!  We’ll get to that! :)  There’s lots of work to be done… stay tuned!