Friday, May 13, 2011

Edgestitching

WOW, it has been cold. Around here, May is usually a beautiful month, with June being the rainier of the two. This year we've only had one or two partly sunny days interspersed among the otherwise constant rain and cloud.

I've been out in the garden a lot, though. We're planning a family reunion here this summer, so I want to make things look nice for when everybody gets here.

A few years ago my friend introduced me to the idea of the 'mowing path', and I cottoned right on to it. It took me a while to get it done, mainly because of the expense...I prefer the look of a wider paved strip, and that multiplies your cost by a lot.

I put this raised bed in several years ago, and - partly because of the shape - it has always been a pain to keep the lawn tidy around it. I don't mind things growing where they're not supposed to, but I'm not so keen on losing my carefully-stacked rockery in a wild, leggy frontier of grass.

I had some pavers left over from a different project last year, and by miraculous happenstance there were exactly the right number to go round the front of the raised bed.

So, it was time for a little clever spade work (supervised by Piper). 

I levelled the soil (difficult - old roots everywhere) and put down a double layer of weed barrier. I laid the pavers, and transplanted a bunch of 2" chunks of creeping thyme from the front yard to fill the larger cracks.


I poured on a bag of jointing sand and swept it into the cracks...this process took the better part of a day and I'm still not sure I'm finished...as long as the sand keeps settling, I'll need to keep adding more.

But for now I'm satisfied, and I must say, I think the effect is pretty sharp.




That green thing on the right side is rosemary. It's doing a little too well...the left side of the bed is decidedly disadvantaged, being planted up with a failing hydrangea and a leggy, wildly self-propagating chrysanthemum.

And now, with that done, my new wellies and I are taking a few days off.






6 comments:

kate said...

This turned out beautifully, Shan, well done.

quintessentialknits@yahoo.ca said...

The garden and the wellies are beautiful!!

Dave Hingsburger said...

so if you click your finely rubbered heels together three times do you end up in Butchart's Gardens?

Rona said...

Love the stone work, rosemary & wellies! I think they should all be on my must see list! ;)

Annalea said...

I {heart} mowing strips. They look tidy, and make weed whackers much less necessary. And the fewer engines hollering away, the better. Someday, I aspire to owning a lawn just so I can install a mowing strip. ;o)

Good work, Shan. And I love those wellies!

kristieinbc said...

I don't know which I like better - your mowing path or your puddle boots. And I am more than a little jealous of your rosemary bush. Rosemary does not overwinter in Kamloops, so there is no chance of having one like yours here.