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Heres the photos of how I redid some gardens I created over 30 years ago.
They have been sadly neglected for the the last 15 years and became overgrown with various species of grasses, Oregano, small form Hosta, Soapwort, Milkweed, Wild Asters, Goldenrod and various species of annual weeds, and some very well rooted euonymus!
The fun part was digging the sandy soil over and sift through the sand to extract all the root systems!
I dug out all the rocks that I originally used to create a rock wall and placed them aside so I could move the sand upwards, then rebuilt the walls!
I also created a garden around an old maple tree stump, and another closer to the road!
Heres the photos I snapped as I worked along:
I planted as I went along and then mulched the areas after planting!
I did not toake long to see everything growing and then some of them started blooming!
I drilled out planting holes in the stump and planted Jovibarba (mixed small rosette forms), which is a relative to Sempervivum (Hens and Chicks). These little gems grow fast from seed I started in March. They also quickly form offsets which fall off the parent plant if they are disturbed.
It wont be long before the stump is completely covered with them!
They make a wonderful ground cover!
Went through several drill bits to create the planting holes.
I am planning to drill some more to help speed up the jovabarba take-over.
I still have lots more in pots to plant!
Looks like you are making headway there Ron! How is the soil? It doesn't look too bad from the photos that you posted. Unfortunately we have total crap at our new house...clay and sandstone. We had some decent soil in Goderich, but were perched atop a limestone mass and that made digging tough.
Jade
It is almost pure sand with just a hint of organic matter!
I ammended with peat, well aged sheep and cattle manure, and compost!
I then covered everything with shredded cedar bark after planting.
All the plants Im using require very well drained soil such as sand.
It will be great to see how well everything blooms next year!
Working with sand is so easy compared to clayish soils! All the plants have to be draught tolerant and that is what I researched when looking for hardy perennials. A lot of them would never survive growing in the soil in the city even with being a warmer zone then I am here!
Ron, sounds like you have your situation well in hand. I am so not used to working with clay soil, it makes me wonder why we didn't buy a house after doing soil tests at all of the contenders. I am having a hard time growing even the easiest perennials, and that is after amending the soil when planting the beds. I didn't know it was possible to kill sedum 'autumn joy', but I have managed to kill 3 of them. Even our
Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm' isn't happy. Oh well, I guess we will just have to give it time.
Ron, sounds like you have your situation well in hand. I am so not used to working with clay soil, it makes me wonder why we didn't buy a house after doing soil tests at all of the contenders. I am having a hard time growing even the easiest perennials, and that is after amending the soil when planting the beds. I didn't know it was possible to kill sedum 'autumn joy', but I have managed to kill 3 of them. Even our
Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm' isn't happy. Oh well, I guess we will just have to give it time.
*lol* That really is a novelty idea....I'm not sure if that would take off down here in NZ, but I should try and get a movement going (re. your Stump idea) though we're unable to saw down big trees even if they're on our own property without the councils consent....hence perhaps the lack of stumps for such a garden....
Thanks RW!
Welcome to our forum!
The stump is from a sugar maple that died a few years ago! It will be many years before the stump breaks down by natural processes, so I thought I would help speed it up!
There are some interesting fungi growing on it to add to the interest!
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