New Garden Update

It’s been almost three weeks since we began the new garden project in our backyard.  Since then my parents and I have been out there a lot, tilling, raking, weeding, planning, planting and watering! 

The first week, we laid out a couple of shade flower beds on the hill at the back fence line.  We put in hostas, violets, ferns on the left and hydrangeas, irises, hostas and azaleas on the right.  Then we bordered the beds with little clumps of striped liriope.

So far, we have a row of burning bushes and lilies on the right border.  In front of the burning bushes we outlined a flower bed that will be full sun.  To highlight this bed we put a couple of little Eastern Redbud trees.  My Mama found these on sale at Food Lion of all places. :) 

Along the creekbank, we have lilies and black-eyed susans.  We also put some wildflowers here but they haven’t made themselves known yet.  There is some stuff sprouting but for all I know, it’s more weeds! :)  We’ll just give them a chance, yet.

Mama got some shrubs from a friend who had a few too many.  They are mature japanese holly bushes and we put them at the entrance.  It’s starting to look like a real yard, but of course, we are a long way from finished.  We are planning to unload a trailer full of mulch this weekend which will make the beds look nicer and help the plants hold water, as well. 

Last week after my father finished tilling the ground for the second time, we put in our first vegetables!  We have two rows of sweet corn, a row of green beans, a couple tomatoes, some sweet potatoes, a row of pumpkins and a whole row of zinnias and mini sunflowers!  Can’t wait for those!  :)  The beans and corn are already up, and if you squint you can see the rows below:

It’s still a mess down here, and it is so hot and humid that I don’t even want to go outside, but slowly we are making progress on the project.  My Mama is tireless, and she keeps coming back with her truck bed full of plants from her yard.  After a few minutes in the hot sun and humidity, I am soaked in sweat with knees and back aching from digging and pulling carts up the hill.   But she just continues to bring plants, so we keep on working.  I’m sure it will be worth all the toil next year when everything is beautiful! :)

I’ll be back with after mulch pics soon!  Stay tuned!